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SMARTY.

The human side of business

Big Life

Artificial Deadlines.

November 28, 2017 · By Amy Swift Crosby

Some finish lines are self-made.

In work and life, when we think of limitations, we tend to think of them as a bad thing. At the same time, constraints also serve a purpose – and can be the impetus for actually getting something done.

More often than not, creative types appreciate knowing what’s not possible, so they can create within known parameters. Just as kids don’t ask for boundaries, but thrive within them, projects – in my experience – succeed when the walls, whether they be budget, audience or format, are known at the outset.

I recently attended a talk and book signing by the amusing, fantastic, handsome and eternally witty John Hodgman (Vacationland). During the Q&A, someone in the audience asked for advice on how to keep writing now that he was out of college and working in a bank (adorable). All the writers in the room of course knew the answer before he finished his sentence, but John said what we were all thinking:

“Create an artificial deadline. And then keep it.”

I find my own writing to be best served by a deadline because I know what I’m pushing up against. Even this blog has a self-imposed hard stop. My fantasy is that readers will be up in arms if it doesn’t show up in their inbox with regularity. But riot aside, I know that if I don’t publish once a week, I feel adrift. Writing helps me know what I think. So without it, I feel a loss. The fake deadline benefits from knowing how these stakes affect you.

The open road – as you may have discovered if you’ve ever tried to create/write/build something from scratch –  can be a paralyzing place. While I think it’s worth exploring, even a few decisions about what that thing is not going to be is immeasurably helpful in shaping what it is going to be.

It may come as a surprise, but I actually love responding to a creative brief; writing someone else’s speech, taking over a brand’s Instagram feed, channeling a founder’s voice, or even helping to craft an application to kindergarten as a favor to a nervous, non-writer parent. Why? Because it’s responsive. I know the job ahead of me. Copy writers are pro’s at becoming other people and in some ways, are professional channeler’s.

But there’s a sweet spot.

When the writing assignment looms too large, I do nothing.
When it seems too small, it feels transactional, constricting, and less sexy.

The perfect (personal) project has a wide enough berth for me to be expressive and brave, but enough of a guard rail to keep me from going off the road.

Manufacturing this magical highway, when it’s not mandated, is the work.

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About Me

photo of Amy Swift Crosby

Amy Swift Crosby is a brand strategist and copywriter who has positioned or voiced messaging across the commercial spectrum, from icons like Ford, BVLGARI, Pottery Barn, Pantene and Virgin, to boutique brands like The Wild Unknown, fitness franchise Barre3 and the rebrand of legendary metaphysical bookstore, Bodhi Tree. She has leveraged this expertise to help entrepreneurial women and small businesses owners hone their skills, mission and message, while uncovering their own “voice.” This blog explores “the human side of business,” and universal themes like uncertainty, anxiety, the tension between engagement and disconnection, personal value and most importantly, of finding - and hearing - our own voices in our everyday life.

Photo - Andrew Stiles

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SMARTY began as a thriving community in Los Angeles and Boston with weekly panel discussions and events designed to better understand the mindset and growth strategies behind successful entrepreneurs. Today, SMARTY is a weekly blog written by Amy Swift Crosby who chronicles her life as a creative, parent, entrepreneur and spiritual seeker. As an urban refugee living in a New England seaside village, she unpacks topics ranging from uncertainty and doubt to the built environment and advertising. More on Amy.

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