The “Lace Method’ - Part Two
The theory bit is over, now we are hitting the road on how to be productive and stay creative.
If something about the idea that we need both structure and novelty is making little lights sparkle in your brain, this is the fun bit.
Like the start of any good project, we’re going to start with a brain dump all the things that we need and want to do, then we can categorise.
The braindump should be
all inclusive
written without self-judgment (don’t think, oh, that’s not really valid… just write it down)
specific and personal (what grinds you down and lights you up will be unique)
Step two is less instinctual and requires more cognition because now it’s time to categorise whether those things
💕 you actually want more of, or
🧠 just think you want more of,
📌 or lastly, simply have to do.
So for example, cleaning the bathroom might be a braindump under ‘at home’ and when you come to categorise it, it could end up in either of those three categories, depending on you.
Exercise is also a very personal one: want, should, or need?
There’s no right or wrong answer.
Maybe exercise is something you want to do, maybe it’s a voice saying that you aren’t an adult unless you do it, or maybe it’s a non-negotiable.
Now to take this bit and apply the Lace Method.
Remember, we’re going to tweak it so we hopefully find get the right level of routine/structure combined with novelty/variation.
Step three asks you to chose 5 things that you want more of (e.g. painting) and 5 things you actually have to do (e.g. feeding yourself).
✏️ Note that it discards anything you categorised as feeling you should do more of - ha! We’re only focussing on the good stuff.
Then work through your priorities that you’ve listed and work out whether they need more structure or novelty.
Don’t be surprised if
↳ all the things you want to do more of need structure and
↳ all the things you have to do need more novelty
Lastly, step four prompts you to work out how to tweak those priorities.
So for me, reading is something I wanted to do more of.
As long as the book is good, it’s a novel activity every time but I didn’t have a time or place when I prioritised it.
Laughably, it wasn’t until I really knuckled down on this Lace Method idea that I twigged that one of my kids reads every day after school. She is now my signal to stop fussing with whatever I felt I ‘should’ be doing, and sit down with her for thirty minutes. I leave my book on the coffee table, not the bedside table where I never touched it, and now we sit in silence semi-regularly.
I want to know what sparks you have when you do the steps.
I would love to hear how you go - email me here if you’ve got thoughts!