The Strategic Pause in Creative Work
There are moments in business when momentum alone isn’t enough. When moving faster won’t create clarity. When what you actually need is a deliberate pause. And sometimes in that pause you could do with a second perspective.
Here are some critical moments at which I’ve observed business owners, writers, bloggers, designers, investors and inventors pause and invite a second set of eyes on their project. And the pause has made all the difference.
The moment you realise you may have overbuilt.
Energetic, tech savvy go getters like to act quickly. Maybe that’s you? You’ve taught yourself to build a site, and went down the rabbit hole of YouTube tutorials, add-ons, plugins, and custom CSS to help your self-built website stand out. It has been an energising process for you. But as the time has drawn nearer to publish your site, you have a sneaking suspicion that, from a design perspective you may have overdone it! You may be asking, now that I’ve done all of this work, does my site design read as professional?
The moment your taste outruns your skills.
You can see what elevated, calm design looks like but translating that vision into your own site has become frustrating and draining. You have such a strong sense of what looks good, that it would take years to build up the skill set to achieve your design vision. This can be deeply depressing! Despite how tired you are, your internal tastemaker won’t allow you to settle for a ‘blah’ website. At this point, though, your refined sense of taste might require that you ask for outside help.
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit...”
Read the full quote from Ira Glass here or if you’re more of a visual learner, watch the video here.
The moment fatigue sets in.
As a business or NGO founder, you have carried everything yourself for months. You started a new venture, and the strength of your idea has carried you along on a wave of optimism, hope and the vision of a better world. But as you get closer to launch date, you find yourself experiencing a kind of mental fatigue that makes decision making difficult. You struggle to distinguish what is good or not anymore, what is important, what is of strategic value. You may need someone to help hold you up and get you over the finish line!
The moment your identity shifts.
Your work is evolving, but your website still reflects a previous version of you. Somewhere along the line a new field, opportunity, service, skill or audience has opened up for you, but your existing website reflects an outdated identity that no longer feels like you. You’re not ready to completely overhaul your existing site, but you’re in the process of realising that the shift is happening in you, and you need eyes on your site to help match it to this new professional identity that is emerging. You need alignment before you need a rebuild.
The moment you become an expert.
Previously you did everything for everyone at all times, but with years of experience under your belt you’ve stepped off the hamster wheel of hustle culture. Your goals are clearer, your time is precious, and you have a deep sense of focus. Some of your extraneous offerings and services are falling away to help you share your core truth with the world. Your website no longer reflects this and needs to change. Before rebuilding, you need a thoughtful review to realign your online presence.
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”
A pause is powerful.
There are natural pauses in our professional and creative journeys. A pause allows us to stop and evaluate. A pause allows us to change direction. A pause allows us to let go of what no longer works. A pause allows the new thing to emerge fully. A pause allows us to recognise our own tiredness and ask for help. A pause is an invitation.
Sometimes that pause simply means giving yourself space. Sometimes it means inviting a professional perspective to help you see what you can’t from inside the frame. That’s the work of a website review. Not to dismantle what you’ve built, but to clarify it. To make sure your online presence reflects who you are now.
