When there’s too much to create, no creation is created.

December 23, 2025

There are moments in my life when my head fills with ideas for what to write about, and titles of future thoughts pop up like a popcorn machine. Usually, these moments come when I’m walking on my own, and nothing else is overcasting the headspace.

In those moments, my desire is to sit and burst it all out into words. I rarely do. The overstimulation is such that it becomes challenging to even know where to start. Sometimes I write down the titles in my notes, with the utopian desire that soon I’ll have the time to sit and put it all into concrete form. I rarely do.

The titles get lost in the multitude of other notes that come after - to-do lists, email drafts, phone numbers…and just like that, a thought that could have become a post becomes a mere passing wind.

Occasionally, I’ll go back to old notes and (re)find some of those ideas, and dig a bit deeper after all. Most of the time, I don’t.

Yesterday, in the middle of one of those hurricanes of thoughts, this title came to be: “When there’s so much to create, I end up not creating.” I wrote it down.

I thought about writing more under the title as soon as I got home. I didn’t.

I thought about writing in the silence of the night, before falling asleep. I didn’t.

This morning, as my coffee brewed in the Bialetti, my banana pancake in the making, Nils Frahm playing in the background - the daylight barely shining outside, a cold breeze slipping through the walls - this was the time. If not now, when?

I lit a candle, got my laptop, and finally, the writing started. Putting it all out. The thoughts, the feelings, the world inside in words.

With it came a desire to do this more often - using the early hours, when the collective silence is still intact, to express what has been stuck inside. A release before the day starts, before the buzz begins.

It wouldn’t be the first time I tried. I’m not a virgin to the concept of morning journaling or dedicating time slots for creative work. Routines…

My sister, a Brazilian artist, often explores the idea of “creative discipline”.

Below is an explanation by ChatGPT of what is meant by it:

“Creative discipline is the practice of reliably turning imagination into finished work. It’s the blend of inspiration and structure—the habits, systems, and mindset that allow creative ideas to actually materialize instead of staying in your head.

Here are a few ways to describe it more fully:

1. Showing up consistently, even without inspiration
   Creative discipline means treating creativity like a practice rather than a mood. You work because it’s time to work, not because you feel particularly inspired that day.

2. Building structures that support creativity
   Routines, deadlines, constraints, and workflows aren’t the opposite of creativity—they’re what give creative energy somewhere to go.

3. Managing your attention with intention
   It’s choosing focus over distraction, making space for deep work, and protecting your creative time like something valuable.

4. Balancing freedom with accountability
   You allow room for exploration, but you also finish things. Creative discipline is about closing loops—completing drafts, shipping projects, iterating with purpose.

5. Training your mind like a craftsperson
   Just like athletes or musicians practice daily, creative people refine their craft through repetition, study, and reflection.

6. Respecting your ideas enough to do something with them
   Ideas are everywhere. Creative discipline is what transforms them into art, writing, design, inventions, or solutions.”

My reality tends to be more impulsive—spurges of creativity flow in occasionally, sometimes becoming something, sometimes getting lost, as mentioned above. Maybe I could use a little creative discipline…

With this year’s end (after months that felt like internal and external buzz), I seem to have managed to leave enough space for things that matter - dedication to my creative work being one of them. So here comes another trial this month: enjoying the cold, quiet early mornings to dedicate myself to this kind of work, which requires time, complete focus, and no room for distraction.

Let’s see how the practice of the theory plays out.

Are you a disciplined creator? Can you relate to the above? I’m curious to hear how other creatives manage the spurts vs. the blanks - the unpredictability of it all.