As a new calendar year begins, I’ve had many ideas come to mind of things to write and music to create. There are more ideas than I could possibly accomplish in a year, and I also know there is wisdom in bringing focus to just a few things versus getting spread thin across too many things.

But how do you know which ideas to pursue?

As I sit with this question, I’m using three steps to guide my consideration process.

• One, ask yourself, “Which idea(s) am I excited about right now that I can get my energy behind?”
• Two, ask yourself, “Which ideas(s) do I actually have the needed energy, time, and space to commit to in this season?”
• Three, consider a method used by Liz Gilbert, who has something like a team meeting with all her ideas, and has her ideas make proposals to her about what they want her to do. It’s almost like she’s an angel investor, and they need to make the case of why she should invest her time and money into them. In this process, some ideas end up fizzling because they’re not very formed and not actually ready to be real, and some are ready and have their act together. (scroll to 1:13:52 to hear Liz talk about this)

I’m also keeping in mind the image of finishing a few projects I’m really proud of and what it would feel like versus having tried to do too much and not have finished any of the ideas, or have finished a few of them poorly.

A fourth question arises here: which ideas do I want to be in conversation with, growing with, and learning from over the course of some months? Almost like choosing my collaborators, if my ideas were people, who am I most excited to work with, spend time with, and get to know better?