“Make before you manage.”
Even the most time-sensitive items can usually wait 60 minutes, and by make something, I mean anything.
You just need to feel like you’ve pushed a millimeter ahead in some creative direction.
The psychological difference between zero acts of creation and one act of creation, no matter how small, is impossible to overstate. If you’re lucky, sometimes that one idea, one sentence, or one shitty first draft can turn into something bigger. But the point is to be able to say to yourself, even for five minutes, “Hark! I am a creator, not just a janitor of bullshit! Here is proof that I can—and will!—do more than just manage minutiae… ”
We all spend time on the struggle bus. At the very least, this mantra has helped me to find a window seat when it’s my turn.
When in doubt, try it out: make before you manage.