Creative work matures off the clock

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I have recently found a pattern of reigniting interest in projects that I paused a few months back.

I was developing a course on “Positioning and Value Proposition for Professionals” a few months ago. I have mentored a dozen professionals now who are looking for a career transition, and in most cases, the reason for getting rejected in their applications is that they fail to reposition their current experience to the industry they wish to transition to.

They often fail to answer the question of what value they provide to the recruiter that someone who has worked in the same industry wouldn’t.

I started the project with the clear motivation that I can offer this perspective to thousands of people who are struggling with the same problem and help them start thinking in terms of

But after a few days, I just stopped. I wouldn’t say I lost motivation, but I was conceptually stuck. When I was mentoring someone, it felt much more fluid, as it was a conversation. But in a course format, I missed the fluidity and didn’t know how to structure it. I paused it and just kept it on the back burner.

A few weeks ago, I started documenting another course based on another strong suite of mine: “Interview Mastery.” And every time I wrote something on this topic, my mind automatically tried to connect it to the Positioning modules. Between the time I paused the earlier project and recently, I didn’t think about the old project even once.

But now, when I started working on this project that is closely linked to the previous one, my mind automatically started forming the connections.

I’m sure we’ve all experienced it—things that don’t make sense at the time they happen, but later become clear once your mind has acquired new information and is able to see them in a different context.

It’s said that Leonardo da Vinci took 16 years to complete the Mona Lisa. Many believed he was constantly distracted by various projects and experiments. I remember enjoying the Assassin’s Creed games, where da Vinci assists the protagonist by supplying him with several of his inventions to complete missions.

One of these so-called distractions was his optical experiments. His deep studies of light, shadow, and human expression were crucial to giving the Mona Lisa her enigmatic quality. Without those explorations, she wouldn’t be what she is today.

Creative work resists timelines and often matures in phases.

But some of the most meaningful work doesn’t happen on a schedule. It happens in the gaps between active effort, when you’re paying attention to something else, or seemingly doing nothing at all.

When I look back, I wasn’t stuck because I lacked discipline. I was stuck because I hadn’t found the right context yet. The “Interview Mastery” course unlocked a new vantage point for the “Positioning” course. And now I see them as deeply interconnected - two parts of the same initiative rather than isolated initiatives.

So maybe the real progress happens when we stop trying to force it. We need to acknowledge that not all progress is visible or tangible. Creative work has its own pace, and our job is to stay curious and keep circling back, even if it takes sixteen years.

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One Bias that impacts our decisions:

Action Bias:

Action bias is the tendency to prefer doing something over doing nothing—even when taking action isn’t necessarily helpful. In a world that values visible productivity, staying still or pausing can feel uncomfortable, even if it’s the wiser choice.

This bias often leads people to act prematurely, solve problems too quickly, or complete projects before they’ve fully matured.

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Action bias makes you think that doing more is always better, but some of your best work will come from waiting, circling back, and letting the idea ripen on its own terms.

One Question to reflect for the week:

This helps you distinguish between true stagnation and the quiet incubation that precedes growth.

I hope you enjoyed this week's version. See you next week.

Best wishes,

Nimalan.
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