What to do with too much of a good thing.

“I don’t have anything to write about.”
I hear this from my copy coaching clients.
I’ve been known to say the same thing to myself.
Raise your hand if you’ve been there, too.

It’s so frustrating to feel like you don’t have a single thought that will materialize as a blog, a newsletter, or even a feeble little social post. No one would fault you if you blame writer’s block for stopping your flow, but it might actually be the opposite that has you stuck; an overabundance of ideas. It’s like walking into a closet full of clothes and saying you don’t have anything to wear. What you have is too many choices.

If it’s not writer’s block, what is it?
Saying you have too many ideas kind of sounds like a humble brag, but it can be a real problem when you’re trying to convert those thoughts into insightful, inspiring content. It’s an actual thing and there’s even a name for it: Too Many Ideas Syndrome (TMIS).

TMIS is a downward spiral that starts with a bunch of ideas noisily rattling around in your head making it hard to focus. From there, your brain shifts into decision paralysis. That, in turn, makes you feel overwhelmed, so you procrastinate and nothing gets written.

The TMIS Workaround
TMIS doesn’t just impact writers. It can make creators of all kinds – from entrepreneurs to artists – feel completely stuck. There’s no awkwardly named pharmaceutical to cure TMIS, but I do have four surefire steps to tame the chaos and capture your best ideas so you can get on with it.

1. Get all the ideas out of your head.
   Give your brain a good spring cleaning and take 20 minutes to write down all the ideas you can think of. Put them in a Google doc, use an app on your phone, put pen to paper, whatever works for you. Emptying your head gives you room to think. It ensures you don’t forget any of your good ideas. And, that list – which you’ll add to on the regular – will be ready to serve every time you need inspiration.
2. Give your ideas some structure.
   At this stage your idea list might be a little messy, which can be as distracting as TMIS. Time to organize. I like to put my ideas in categories by topic and delivery method and have a wall in my office just for this purpose. Each idea gets its own Post-It note (pink for blogs, green for emails, etc.) that then gets stuck under a topic header. My wall gets rearranged a lot as I change my mind or come up with other ideas, but it works for me. There are no rules here, you decide what structure is best for you.
3. Be OK with saying goodbye.
   I can’t tell you how many pink and green Post-Its I’ve pulled off my wall and tossed. What seems like a great idea in the moment will sometimes refuse to thrive or even germinate. If you keep revisiting an idea and it keeps failing to inspire, let it go. This can be a hard thing to do because every idea starts out with such promise. Releasing it keeps the clutter at bay (you don’t want a TMIS relapse!) and makes room for something even better to take its place.
4. Focus.
   Coming up with new ideas is fun! It’s like getting constant dopamine hits, which is why it’s easy to become an idea junkie. At some point though, you’ve got to settle in and turn those ideas into actual content. Pick one and focus. Whether it’s the idea that excites you the most, the one that’s due first, or the one that’s the easiest to get across the finish line, focus on that and ignore the rest. You’ll get the work done more quickly and your chosen idea will benefit from having your full, undivided attention.

I think British poet William Blake must have been suffering from TMIS when he said, “You never know what is enough until you know what is more than enough.” Having too many ideas can feel like a burden instead of an embarrassment of riches. Take a deep breath, focus on managing the abundance, and you’ll find that too much of a good thing isn’t such a bad problem to have after all.