Take it Bird By Bird

When Jason Sudekis yelled “Bird by bird! Bird by bird!” in a recent episode of Ted Lasso I couldn’t help but chuckle at the obscure reference.

“Bird By Bird” is a fantastic book by Anne Lamott about writing and it was a fun reference to catch.

The phrase’s deeper meaning is about overcoming overwhelming situations one thing at a time.

If you look at a large task you’ll immediately feel exhausted because there are so many things to do that you don’t know where to start. So you end up paralyzed and don’t tackle the issue, leaving it for another day.

Instead, Lamott recommends a stoic approach of “one thing at a time.”

Instead of being overwhelmed with the enormity of all the tasks that you need to get done, you take them one at a time with careful intention and finish things methodically and calmly until all the tasks are done.

A creative project, whether it’s producing an album, writing a book, or building a business, has such an endless list of tasks that if you wrote it all on toilet paper you could probably TP the average atomic family’s house.

I know that I can certainly act like a juvenile adolescent when I’m overly stressed.

But it helps to remember that you simply have to take it bird by bird. Focus on one thing at a time and work your way through the project to its completion.

The only way out is through and if you’d like to succeed with your creative project, check out my book You Get What You Give for the inspiration you need to get there.