Sometimes the best way forward is sideways

A few days ago I made the decision to not publish my planned Substack post for this week.

I had a draft I was working on, but it just didn’t feel right, and every time I sat down to work on it, I felt my brain being pulled in other directions.

I have quite a few projects that I’m working on at the moment. Writing consistently is one of them, but on Thursday evening as I was writing my post I realised it was not the most important thing that I wanted to be working on at that moment in time.

And so I decided rather then writing for the sake of writing, to work on something else that felt more pressing instead.

Normally I’d call that procrastination, but this time it felt different.

Letting go of what I thought I should do

When I asked myself what really mattered, I realised that it really didn’t matter if I missed publishing a post this week. And that writing for the sake of writing didn’t benefit anyone.

So instead of writing, I ended up staying up far too late, and going down a few rabbitholes planning an upcoming holiday. I don’t normally plan holidays. I usually just book flights, accommodation and have a rough idea of what I want to do. And this time had been similar, except that I’d also been experimenting with using AI to help me plan it - which was both helpful, but also sometimes overwhelming.

Suddenly it felt like there was so much research and thinking I needed to do. I’d already spent what felt like forever finding good places to stay, and activities to do, but it still felt like I needed to spend more time on it.

As I started to explore this I realised in my excitement and haste earlier, I’d booked a few things that in reflection weren’t the right fit. So I spent the next few nights revising the plan, doing the research and getting clear about what I really wanted from this holiday.

Now I’m feeling great about the trip again. And that gave me space, and energy to start tackling the other projects on my list.

Finding focus

But despite feeling on top of one project, it still felt like I had too much to do, and not enough time to do it.

So I tried something simple: I picked the three things that, if I finished them this weekend, would feel great.

Narrowing down my list freed up a surprising amount of mental space. It also gave me flexibility — I could choose what to work on based on my energy or mood, as long as it was one of those three. Everything else got moved to “nice to have” or “later.”

It seems so simple and obvious, but this approach is really helping me create focus and make progress on the important stuff instead of feeling overwhelmed or distracted.

Moving meaningfully

Instead of chasing progress in everything, I’m moving more meaningfully on the few things that matter to me right now.

And when I complete something from the list, it gives me an energy boost that helps me tackle the next thing.

This morning I finished all three of my “top threes” for the weekend 🙌, and now I feel like I have time and space to do other things — like writing this post.

Sometimes, the best way to get back on track isn’t by pushing harder — it’s by stepping sideways.

And that was the reminder I needed this week.

By taking that side quest, I ended up getting everything I wanted to done this week, and I enjoyed the process a lot more.

Have you had a week like that? Where stepping away actually helped you find focus again? Any other tips when you have too much to do and not enough time? Let me know, I’d love to hear from you.