4 Navigation Tools for Any Creative Project

Inner navigator or Daily Navigator? Weekly Navigator or Project Map?

If you have looked at or tried the tools in the Creativity Compass, you might wonder which one is really worth your 3 minutes daily or 10 minutes weekly, or if you even need a navigating tool for your current project.

Those questions make sense. Here’s how to evaluate. 

Every project is different, even if on the surface it looks like one you’ve done before. Some are small, short-term, and familiar; others are long, complex, and require a lot of new skills and information. Sometimes you head is easily, firmly, in the game. Other times, not so much.

Fit the tool to the project, starting by checking to see if you even need one.

Follow your nose.

How long, complex, or unfamiliar is your project? If the answer is Not a problem, I’m good to go, you may not need a navigator at all—or not yet. 

Do you regularly write short stories, develop modest variations on a product line, create presentations, or do your creative thing without needing to think much about how you will do it? You’re already navigating without any tools. 

Is your creative activity straightforward and familiar enough to just jump in and see it through without delay and get results you’re pleased with? Do you have a process that feels automatic and works well for you? 

Jump in and make it happen. You have internal navigation already plugged in.

Navigate daily. 

If your view on this project is, Mostly I’ve got this, but I could use a little more confidence and focus, try the Daily Navigator. It will give you a strong start to every work session, consistent clarity, and confidence that you’re thinking through many of the potential obstacles of the day before you have to solve them.

Get smarter weekly. 

But what if you said, I’m not that confident about where I’m headed with this project or how I’ll get there. The unfamiliar territory gives you pause. Maybe you’re not sure how to get started, or you’re facing the messy middle. 

You are probably working at a deeper level of creativity. More uncertainty and newer territory mean challenging your creativity muscles and benefiting from regular, thoughtful navigation. 

Along with your Inner or Daily Navigator—whichever one gives you a strong start to your work whenever you need it, you need a stronger, smarter navigation tool to help you steer and strategize through the unknown, reach breakthroughs, and make good use of them. That’s what your Weekly Navigator is for. For deeper creativity, add weekly navigation. 

Is your project complex enough to get lost in?

If you want even clear guidance, better grounding, or a more strategic view, you’ll want to step up to the Project Map [LINK TO Get out of the details…]. The project-level navigator helps us locate ourselves on a map and trace a thoughtful path forward not just for the day, but for the stage we are in and for the whole project. This is the navigator you want for better perspective and decisions to move your project from where you are now to where you want to be. 

 If your project calls for more than the next turn view—the clarity and direction you need from a daily navigator—get ready to find your project stage and navigate it well. 

More than one?

Do you sometimes, or often, work on multiple creative projects simultaneously? One might be on autopilot with your inner navigator, while you could benefit from just the Weekly Navigator for occasional check-ins for the second project, and all three navigators in the Creativity Compass for the big, hairy, exciting one. 

Experiment, evaluate, evolve. Do what works. Not too much, just what you need to happily, successfully creative in whatever you’re working on.