Here’s What You Can Do With Excessive Daydreaming
You might be able to consider excessive daydreaming as the opposite of writer’s block (I wouldn’t go that far) but in some respects, it can be a nuisance.
Sometimes our excessive daydreaming can take us out of reality at the wrong times.
Say you’re listening to a professor about an upcoming exam and then suddenly you are whisked away into a magical land where the evil Snorgels are threatening the very existence of the Nubian race. It is genocide at its worst.
After living through a couple of major battles you come back to reality to hear your professor say, “study hard. This exam is worth 50% of your semester grade.” 😱🤦♂️🥺
What would Flemshaw Commander of the Nubian race do? I think he’d grab a Snorbo Spear and throw it through the professor’s…no no that definitely won’t help your grade…
Sometimes excessive daydreaming can get in the way of real life, but those who have this problem can also condition it, train it, and use it for its advantages.
Try journaling.
You might have been told this several times, but if you haven’t started journaling your daydreams yet, you might be missing out on some serious story power.
Not all of our daydreams are novel-worthy, but most of them can be turned into great short stories. (Here are 30 places that’ll publish your short stories.)
Certain magazines publish short stories and what’s the harm in trying to get published?
Also, when we are recording our mind musings it is more likely to condition our brain to deep think about these scenarios at more appropriate times (not during a pop quiz.)
Take time to record down the thoughts that won’t seem to go away and you might just find that this is a very powerful tool for you.
Turn your daydreams into short stories.
Embedded in the last major point was actually my personal favorite thing to do with daydreams.
Turn them into short stories.
I recommend doing this almost every time.
Short stories are extremely useful. They not only are able to be turned into novels or lessons later on down the road, but they can take you back to a time you might have forgotten.
I can still remember the times revolved around most of the short stories I’ve written. Sometimes vague memories pop up thinking about them, but other times more vivid memories are accessible.
It’s like catching a time and space and locking it into memory in the midst of mundane circumstances.
The short story is like a placeholder.
Write it to get it out.
Some people should write because they are excessive daydreamers.
It’s like having a machine in your head that takes energy and time away whenever it wants to generate these amazingly vivid moments of imagination and thought.
But when we don’t take the time to get it out of our heads by writing it down the machine continues to overload our brain system with these vivid imaginations on its terms instead of on ours.
If we instead write it down to get it out then the next time it is more likely not going to take control of our entire thoughts as easily as it did before. Get it out to help train your brain when it’s appropriate to daydream and when it’s not.
Create a shorthand for thoughts.
Create your own shorthand to quickly jot down daydream ideas for later.
Here’s an example:
C F K I A 4 y/o T M T A R O: Castian’s family was killed in front of him at four years old then the murderers took him and raised him as their son.
This type of shorthand might not work for you. You’ll have to practice with your own and see what sticks with you.
But you can see how you could be almost anywhere in the world, you could jot down some letters, numbers, and symbols real quick and then later look at it to remind yourself of your idea.
This trick might save you time and help you not lose cool ideas.
Write multiple ideas.
Don’t hesitate to write down multiple ideas whenever they come to you.
Even if you’re working on one big project it’s better to go ahead and quickly jot down other ideas when they come so you can get back to the big project without distractions.
One big problem for daydreamers is that we get ideas on hyperdrive.
It is a common problem that it is hard for us daydreamers to finish any one thing. This is because halfway through we get a new idea and that new idea eats away all of our brain space.
This problem occurs because we like the new idea. It’s shinier and newer than our old idea. It sounds more fun than the hard work of finishing the one we’re currently on and also because we don’t want to lose the cool new idea we just had.
To allow our brains to let go of thinking about the new idea we need to quickly write it down so we feel good that it’s stored away and not lost.
Another thing that has worked well for daydreamers is to actually spend some time working on one project and then switch to another.
Daydreamers are often able to put good work into two or three big projects all in the same 8-hour shift. Not simultaneously, but a couple of intense hours on one and then the other. Our brains just work that way.
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Stand up and stretch.
It’s easier for a daydreamer to lose track of time and reality when they are comfortable.
If you stand up and walk around it helps you refocus on what you want to be focused on. Try also taking long slow breaths to get refocused from daydreaming.
The same thing with a little bit of exercise. If you’re in the middle of a big project and you suddenly start to drift off you can stand up and go for a walk or do some quick jumping jacks.
Anything to get your heart pumping fresh blood through your brain helps bring us back from the daydream and into reality and whatever we need to focus on at the moment.
Keep idea files.
You might not be the type to daydream about stories and characters.
You might come up with business ideas or stuff to do with life, work, or school.
Keep files for different things you like to daydream about.
I’ve got short story ideas, daily life stories, business ideas, etc.
Daily life stories for example are little moments in my life that I want to keep as stories that are real and not fiction.
“Like the other day, my wife and I were looking at a house buy. It’s 100 years old. It’s a bit of a fixer-upper. It has a Michigan basement. And the bathroom upstairs is a complete gut job, but underneath those things, this house has SO much potential.
It has beautiful hardwood. Some really neat old fashion doors that otherwise wouldn’t be there if it were not so old. We as a couple see that potential and could see ourselves investing into it and giving it time and care to see its true potential shine through even though at first glance it has some misgivings.
When I thought about this house, I thought about people.
Most people are like this house (I’m not talking about being 100 years old.) I’m saying some people seem to have certain baggage or setbacks for whatever reason, and a lot of us might write them off as “unlovable” or “insufferable.”
But what if more of us saw the potential in other humans? What if we were willing to take time and energy to care about them and invest in them? What would they become? What would shine through them?”
That would be my example of a life story. In my daily life stories file, I probably recorded that idea like this:
“saw broken down fixer-upper house today with Haley. It’s broken but it’s got huge potential. We are willing to invest in it. What if we saw more broken people this way? Worth investing in?”
And then because I have that file I can remember that idea and use it for later. (Like right now.)
You can see how it doesn’t take long to write down an idea and save it for good use later.
By keeping idea files daydreamers can quickly record things that are distracting them from the reality of the moment and also have useful material to go back to later.
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Want to get paid to write? Check out Writing Paychecks
- There is a simple method over 30,000 people use to get paid for freelance writing online.
- Opportunities can get started in just minutes a day, all from your home couch.
- It’s easy to get started! No previous experience or degree required to start.
- Exclusive job listings for writers, updated daily.
Check out Writing Paychecks to see if you can start getting paid to write today.
That’s all for now.
Hope this helps!
Happy writing!
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