Your Internal Navigator Is Not Enough
Actually, your internal navigator is enough if it’s getting you where you want to go with any size or shape of creative project you take on.
So, try it on: Are you starting easily any day you want to work? Is that work usually moving you in the direction of the vision you started with? Do you feel as grounded in the big picture as in the important details of the day?
If not, consider adding some external navigation.
Have you tried the 3-minute Daily Navigator for getting a fast start on your daily creative work?
Maybe you’ve considered the 5-10-minute Weekly Navigator for doing smarter daily work—more insight, less stuck, more lined up with your goal and the reason you are doing this work.
Do you really need both? Or either?
Size Up your Project
Some creative projects are smaller, short-term, and familiar. Possible examples:
An experienced poet crafting a poem in a familiar style
A designer lightly freshening up a brand image
An engineer rethinking a presentation approach for a client
Others are long and complex. They may require a lot of new skills or perspectives, or they may threaten to drown you in possibility, complexity, or information:
A leader new-in-position creating culture change in her organization
A writer starting a new novel
A researcher tackling a new subject
We can’t say a shorter, simpler project is easier than a more involved one. There is much more than time and familiarity involved in the difficulty of a creative act.
We can say that these projects may benefit from different levels and types of navigation. We want to fit the navigation tool to the project.
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 today.
Do you regularly and nimbly write short stories, develop modest variations on a product line, or do whatever creative activity is in front of you without needing to think a lot about how you will do it?
Can you 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?
If so, congratulations. You have excellent internal navigation already plugged in, and it’s a great fit for your project.
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 must solve them.
For Deeper Creativity, add Weekly Navigation
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 Daily Navigator, you need a stronger, smarter navigation tool to help you steer and strategize through the unknown, reach breakthroughs, and make good use of them.
The Weekly 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.
Two Dimensions
If your project calls for more than the next turn view—the clarity and direction you need from a Daily Navigator—get ready for more. Experiment with the Weekly Navigator.
Zoom out on your progress, get ah-ha’s about your challenges, and make more of your daily work by checking in weekly.
When you need the down-and-in as well as the up-and-out on your work, navigate in both dimensions and see if makes the difference you need.