Author of seven books, including The Accidental Creative, Herding Tigers, Die Empty, Daily Creative, The Brave Habit. I help creative pros and leaders to be brave, focused, and brilliant every day.
What are your "escape hatches"?
|
Ever notice how the “smart thing to do” often sounds suspiciously like an excuse? In this week's episode of Daily Creative, I dove into a phenomenon I see all too often among talented, ambitious people: the subtle art of building “escape hatches” that keep us from committing fully to our creative goals. Waiting until the last minute feels like a productivity quirk, but it actually shields us from ever discovering what our best looks like. When we rush, we retain an out: “Hey, I only had two hours.” The antidote is intentional: break big projects into step goals and time-block your calendar for those tasks. When you measure progress at manageable milestones, you eliminate the drama of all-or-nothing deadlines and give yourself space to uncover your fullest potential. Where in your work are you leaving things “until there’s pressure,” and what is one step goal you could set this week? Doing too many things at once can feel like ambition, but often, it’s fear of failing at the one thing that matters most. Spreading your energy across projects insulates you from risk, but it also robs you of the chance to find out what focused effort could accomplish. The solution? Pick your “big three”—the top priorities where impact would be most significant if you gave your all. Say no to distractions masquerading as opportunities and protect time for the work at your core. Which three priorities, if tackled, would move everything else forward in your work this quarter? It’s easy to shift your definition of success after a project is over: “Well, we didn’t do what we planned, but this outcome is good enough.” Rationalizing results lets you avoid the sting of failure, but it also prevents learning and diminishes honesty in your team or yourself. Define clear metrics for success at the outset, be objective, and establish external accountability—so you know when it’s time to celebrate, or time to course correct. Before you start your next project, what concrete metric will tell you that you’ve actually succeeded? Backup plans, “just in case” scenarios, or “waiting for the right time” often look like prudence, but they’re usually fear in disguise. We talk ourselves into delay by dressing it up as wisdom, but those moments rarely move us forward. Real progress starts with closing these safety exits—committing to your next move and trusting yourself to adapt if the unexpected happens. There’s a difference between being prepared and being perpetually uncommitted. What’s the escape hatch you keep just in case your current venture doesn’t go perfectly—and what would closing it look like? True creative confidence doesn’t come from endless backup plans. It comes from knowing you can “adjust and adapt” as you go, and being willing to risk failure for the sake of real growth. Close an escape hatch—set a milestone, pick your big three, or define a concrete outcome—and see what happens when you give yourself no choice but to move forward and trust your abilities. What’s one area this week where you can commit fully, allowing yourself neither an excuse nor an easy exit? Remember, escape hatches might feel like they keep us safe, but more often, they just keep us where we are. This week, close a hatch and lean in. That’s what real leadership looks like.
P.S. If you'd like to hear our full episodes and interviews, they're free at DailyCreativePlus.com. Sign up and you'll get your own private podcast feed featuring bonus content and full interviews with all of our guests. |
Todd Henry
Author of seven books, including The Accidental Creative, Herding Tigers, Die Empty, Daily Creative, The Brave Habit. I help creative pros and leaders to be brave, focused, and brilliant every day.
BRAVE • FOCUSED • BRILLIANT How Beats By Dre Became Iconic Designer Robert Brunner shares how he turned an idea into a legendary product, and Neri Karra Sillaman shares insights into how to build brands that last. No one sits down at once to create an iconic product. They're crafted in small moments over time that layer up into something great. But that process requires one critical quality: intuition. Where does it come from? Is it innate, or can it be developed? How do we learn to see the...
BRAVE • FOCUSED • BRILLIANT 20 Years of the Podcast! This week marks the 20th anniversary of the first episode of the podcast. Here are some things I've learned over the past few decades. It feels more like 20 days, but here we are. This week’s Daily Creative episode (technically episode 88 of the re-branded show, but actually something like episode 1,398 of the podcast) is a little different. I'm in the hot seat reflecting on the past twenty years and the unpredictable journey of turning...
BRAVE • FOCUSED • BRILLIANT 5 Questions Every Creative Pro Should Be Asking We're in an era of unprecedented change and uncertainty. Here are five questions that every leader should be asking to ensure they're not falling prey to "uncertainty drift." Ever wondered if you could be running full speed in the wrong direction—and still win a trophy for it? On this week's episode of Daily Creative, I shared five questions that I think we all should be asking right now. These questions aren’t just...