I can usually find another angle
That is both the talent and the inconvenience. An idea arrives and I immediately want to know what else it could become. What if the story started somewhere else? What if the obvious audience isn’t the most interesting one? What if the strange version is actually the right one?
I like that part of my brain. I don’t want to switch it off. I just need to stop it from turning every decision into a small research institute.
A brief gives curiosity somewhere to go
The most useful briefs do not tell me every answer. They tell me what matters. Who are we talking to? What is getting in the way? What needs to be different when the work is done? What are the actual constraints?
Once those things are clear, exploring becomes more productive. I can still make surprising choices, but I have a way to tell the useful surprise from the interesting detour.
I separate making options from choosing one
Trying to judge every thought as it arrives can make the work timid. Refusing to judge anything can make it endless. I find it more helpful to give exploration some room, then change the question.
At first: what could this be? Later: which direction best serves the brief? The change sounds small. It keeps me from defending an idea just because I had fun coming up with it.
A little humour helps the room
I like working with people who can take the work seriously without making every conversation heavy. A joke is not a strategy, obviously. But a relaxed conversation can make it easier to admit what isn’t working, ask the awkward question, or say that a supposedly brilliant idea makes no sense.
I want that honesty. I would rather laugh at an idea in the room and improve it than protect it all the way to a disappointing launch.
The goal is not less thinking
It is thinking that eventually becomes a decision. A direction. Something made. Something another person can respond to.
I’m still curious by default. I just think my curiosity does better when it has a place to report back to. Preferably before the deadline.
Still curious.
