From the Top of the Tree

Marco Casol

Writer’s block: defined by Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary as “a psychological inhibition preventing a writer from proceeding with a piece.” You should know this article is being written as I experience this harrowing complex, and I can’t promise the results will be good. This is our magazine’s 15th issue and on such a milestone you would think the words would flow freely, but I am unfortunately in a writing rut.

Writer’s block, I would like to believe, extends itself beyond writers. Ever work on a project for your business and get to a point where you are just lost – you can’t remember where you started from and where you want to go? Well, I am hoping your answer is yes and I am not alone in this as well. How do we escape this rut and continue to move forward? How do we find the motivation? Is there a point where we crumple up what we started, throw it in the trash, and start over? Is the psychological inhibition a point for us to reevaluate; is it a gut feeling telling us we have run off course; or are we psyching ourselves out with insurmountable pressure when the answer is simply in front of us?

I can’t and won’t even attempt to answer these questions in a broad sense because the truth is I don’t know; but they serve as a great starting point to get to the heart of the matter of what’s plaguing us and blocking our productivity. In this particular case, I will be my own guinea pig and attempt to diagnose and solve this particular problem. For starters, this column always presents a bit of pressure. Confession: I want you to enjoy what I write, and the battle to find a topic that you will find compelling can be cumbersome. It is also quite difficult to interject opinion, humor and sound business advice into one short and concise piece. I have already written a few drafts, crumpled them and started over – so, check that one off. Do I need to reevaluate my approach to this column? Maybe I do, but I don’t want to deviate too much or then you will all wonder where the voice from the past issues went, so perhaps that’s a bit much.

The motivation to overcome this is certainly there, and having now written a third of this article I may be onto something. So, perhaps the answer to this dilemma is two-fold, I have certainly come a long way from what I had originally set out to write, proving sometimes a change of course is in line, but that also by simply refocusing on what was in front of me, I have almost completed this editorial column for you. Now, I know it took a mere few sentences to solve my simple writer’s block and I can’t promise larger problems will find as quick of solutions and/or involve deeper questioning, but you have to start somewhere.Think of the alternative: if I didn’t push through this column, you’d be staring at a blank piece of paper.

Here’s to solving your “writer’s block.”