How Isaac Azimov Avoided Getting Stuck While Working
When you hit a wall while working on a project, there is no point in banging your head against it. This is how Isaac Asimov , a prolific science fiction writer and naturalist writer, overcame creative hurdles.
Asimov wrote over 500 books in his life , so he was no stranger to productivity and felt stuck. What was his secret of success? Michael Chu highlights the strategy outlined in Asimov’s autobiography It Was a Good Life on Medium :
I don’t look at blank sheets of paper. I don’t waste days and nights wrestling with my brain without ideas. Instead, I just walk out of the novel and move on to any of the dozen other projects currently in development. I am writing an editorial, essay, story, or working on one of my popular science books. By the time I got tired of these things, my mind was able to do its right job and fill up again. I go back to my novel and again find that I can write easily.
The project you’re stuck on might be at the top of your to-do list, but you need to give your brain some time away from it. You don’t need to stop being productive, you just need to let your mind work on it in the background. When inspiration finally comes again, pull yourself together and feel yourself being pulled out of your mental routine.
It was a good life | Amazon via Medium