Too Many Good Ideas? How to Know What to Do First

You know what makes me want to dance around the house to high-energy praise music?

All the connections my HSP brain makes.

You know what makes me want to crawl under the bed to hide with my three cats?

All the connections my HSP brain makes. 😂

For me, “an idea” has never been just one idea.

I think, Oh! I could do this! and almost immediately:

… this connects to something else I’ve been thinking about … which reminds me of that thing I started three years ago … which could work really well with THAT idea … except first I’d probably need to do this OTHER thing … and if I’m doing THAT, shouldn’t I also … ?

Suddenly, one interesting possibility has turned into a whole wall of Post-it notes connected by invisible red string.

And because I can see how ALL THE THINGS connect, it can feel impossible to answer the seemingly simple question:

What should I do first?

Sometimes I have so many ideas that I have no clue where to begin.

Other times, especially after a particularly full or exhausting season, I can swing all the way to the other extreme:

Please do not ask me to do ONE MORE THING.

I’m increasingly convinced that these aren’t opposite problems. For many of us as HSPs, they may be two sides of the same challenge:

Everything is connected … and we’re trying to figure out which thread to pick up first.

So here are a few things I’m learning — and re-learning — about how to do that more gently.

1. Get ALL THE THINGS out of your head

I’ll confess: I’m a piler, not a filer.

As in, if I put something in a file folder, <poof!> It ceases to exist.

(Yes, I’ve tried alllll the lovely filing systems … and multiple pretty label-makers … #EpicFileFail)

I finally realized that a binder works for me because a binder is basically a pile on its side with a spine. 😂

So my ideas have a whole evolutionary process.

1. They start on a Post-it note.
2. Then graduate to a clipboard.
3. Then a clear plastic 2-pocket folder.
4. Then a binder — with a title in the see-through spine
5. And if enough pieces start accumulating, they go into a project box.

Is this a scientifically validated productivity system?

ABSOLUTELY NOT.

But it works with my brain.

Which is key.

Because one of the worst things we can do when our HSP brains are already full of interconnected ideas is insist on HOLDING THEM ALL IN.

As if memory capacity is an indicator of good character. (Spoiler alert: It’s not.)

So get those ideas OUT!

• Journal them.
• Brain-dump them.
• Talk them into a voice memo.
• Use Post-its.
• Buy dozens of binders. (Okay, maybe that’s just me … )

But give your brain somewhere to PUT the ideas so that you don’t have to keep rehearsing them just to make sure you don’t lose them.

During a recent Sensitive & Strong Community Café Zoom session, one member described this as “just spittin’ it all out there.”

Yes!

You’re not committing to anything.

You’re simply getting the bits and pieces out where you can see them.

2. Before you choose, look for what belongs together

When I look at a list of 17 ideas, it can feel like I have to choose: Which one is THE ONE?

But a far better question is:

Which of these naturally go together?

Because sometimes what looks like ten separate ideas is actually:

one main idea …

… with three important pieces …

… two possible ways to express it …

… and four things I can completely ignore for now.

😂

During that same Sensitive & Strong Community Café Zoom session, Leslie Newman — our Biblical Boundary-Setting Coach — described her own ideas as often feeling like clutter: notebooks, loose papers, arrows, circles, highlights, hundreds of ideas. But she’s learned that when she gives herself enough time, the creativity begins to sift and funnel toward a clearer focus.

This process feels so familiar!

Things start rising to the top … connections become clearer … and eventually I realize:

• Ohhhhhhh. This isn’t really seventeen different things.
• There’s one main idea here.
• Some of these other ideas belong underneath it.
• And some of them simply belong somewhere else.

Which brings us to …

3. Some good ideas are simply NOT FOR RIGHT NOW

This can be SO hard, especially when an idea is genuinely good.

We can start assuming:

This is a good idea, thus I should do it now.

Whoa there, eager little filly!

Consider your season. Something may genuinely matter to you and still not fit the life you are living right now.

And sometimes what a season most needs is buffer — enough breathing room that one unexpected thing doesn’t send the whole week toppling over like a line of dominoes. 😂

An idea does not have to become TODAY’S PRIORITY in order for you to honor it.

You can say:

• I see you.
• I like you.
• You are not for now.

And put it on the shelf.

4. Notice what has LIFE in it

This one is harder to turn into a checklist.

Because sometimes, after I’ve gotten all the ideas out … noticed the connections … considered my actual season and capacity …

… something keeps rising.

• I feel drawn toward it.
• There’s curiosity.
• Energy.
• Expectancy.
• Invitations to joy.

Now, this does not mean that whatever feels exciting MUST BE GOD’S WILL.

But it is worth noticing and pray-cessing.

When I’m discerning what deserves my attention, I’ve started asking questions like:

1. What feels nurturing right now?
2. What might be freeing?
3. What feels genuinely life-giving?
4. What keeps grabbing my attention?
5. What might the Holy Spirit be gently nudging me toward?

And I especially want to distinguish that last question from:

What do I feel like I SHOULD be doing?

There are a LOT of voices willing to supply us with “shoulds.” Many are expectations we’ve absorbed so thoroughly that nobody even has to say them anymore.

I want to get increasingly curious about whether the “should” in my head came from a mere mortal …

… or whether I’m discerning an actual invitation from God.

5. TRY something before requiring yourself to KNOW

I grew up hearing:

“Cheri, you’re always starting things and never finishing them.”

So I spent a LOT of my adult life believing that before I start something, I should know whether it’s worth finishing.

Which means I waste time trying to gather information I cannot possibly have yet.

😂

During that same Zoom session in the Sensitive & Strong Community Café, another member suggested something beautifully simple:

Try some of the ideas. If you don’t finish, the attempt will still give you information.

YES YES YES!

An unfinished experiment is not automatically a failure.

Let me say that again for Teenaged Cheri (and for Younger You — feel free to repeat it right along with me):

An unfinished experiment is not automatically a failure.

Sometimes it’s how you find out:

• Oh wow — I LOVE this!
  or
• Huh. I thought I wanted this, but apparently I don’t.
  or
• This idea has something to it, but THIS version definitely isn’t it.
  or
• I want this … but not now.
  or even
• Well, THAT was interesting. 😂

There’s nothing inherently virtuous about finishing something simply because I started it.

• Sometimes stopping is wisdom.
• Sometimes changing direction is wisdom.
• Sometimes quitting gives me exactly the information I needed in order to take the next better step.

Which means I don’t necessarily have to choose an idea and immediately turn it into A FULL-BLOWN PROJECT.

• I can give it 20 minutes.
• Have one conversation.
• Try one version.
• Make one phone call.
• Move one tiny “playing piece” forward.

And then ask:

What did I learn?

You don’t have to figure the whole thing out before you start

This is what I want you (and me!) to remember:

Because we can see SO MANY CONNECTIONS, it’s easy to believe that we have to understand the whole chain reaction before we even touch the first domino.

But you don’t have to figure out the whole thing first.

You can simply get those ideas out of your head.

You can step back and notice what connects.

You can pay attention to what has life in it.

You can try one small thing.

You can gather data.

And then?

You can tend what actually grows.

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If there’s one idea you’re ready to begin, restart, or approach differently, there are 2 spots left in ​Gently Tending What’s Just Beginning​. We’re practicing how to start small, gather data, and tend what actually grows—without rushing or forcing the process.