The Hidden Cost of Being a Big Ideas Person
- Mar 7
- 5 min read
When creativity turns into energy fragmentation.
There is a quiet habit many of us develop without noticing.
When life begins to feel heavy, scattered, or unclear, we start searching for something new.
A new routine.A new idea.A new book.A new productivity system.
Something that promises to fix everything.
For a moment it feels exciting - like possibility has returned.
But after a while, the same feeling creeps back in.
The mental clutter.The lack of direction.The quiet sense that our energy is being pulled in too many directions.
This cycle has a name.
Energy fragmentation.
My Confession: I Am a Shiny Object Chaser
If I’m honest, this is something I’ve always struggled with.
I’ve always been a big ideas person.
My mind is rarely quiet. It’s constantly buzzing with new ideas, new projects, new possibilities. I love creating, experimenting, trying things that haven’t been tried before.
When I was younger, this felt like a superpower.
I felt unstoppable.
It seemed like there were no limits to what I could do. If I had an idea, I believed I could make it happen.
And in many ways, that mindset served me well.
Creativity has always been one of the things I value most about myself.
But as I’ve moved into my late thirties, I’ve started to notice something else.
Ideas are abundant.Energy is not.
There are limits to what we can realistically do.
Limits on our time.Limits on our finances.Limits on our energy and attention.
And while we might not always like admitting that we have boundaries - we do.
When Creativity Turns Into Fragmentation
For a long time I didn’t realise the downside of being someone who constantly sees new possibilities.
But eventually I started noticing a pattern.
I would start lots of things.
New projects.New systems.New ideas that felt exciting in the moment.
But many of them never reached the finish line.
Instead, my energy became fragmented.
I would feel overwhelmed, exhausted, and strangely unproductive - even though I was constantly busy.
The problem wasn’t that I lacked motivation.
It was that my attention was being pulled in too many directions.
I See This In My Work Life Too
This pattern shows up in my professional life as well.
In meetings, I’m often the person who loves to see a problem and immediately start thinking about solutions.
I enjoy coming up with new ideas, new approaches, new ways of doing things better.
But as anyone who works in an organisation knows…
If you’re the person with the idea, you’re often the person who ends up doing the work.
Before long my inbox can be filled with projects.
Things I’ve promised to explore.Things I’ve started but haven’t finished yet.Ideas I was genuinely excited about at the beginning.
But eventually the number of moving parts becomes overwhelming.
I’ve had to learn something that doesn’t come naturally to me.
Sometimes the most responsible thing you can say in a meeting is:
“That’s a great idea, but I don’t have the capacity to take it on right now.”
Because when our time becomes too fragmented, nothing really moves forward.
One idea that helped me rethink how I use my energy comes from Greg McKeown in Essentialism. He writes:
“If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.”
It’s a simple sentence, but it holds an uncomfortable truth.
When we say yes to every new idea, every opportunity, every request for our time, we slowly lose control of our energy.
Our days become filled with other people’s priorities.
Learning to focus our energy often begins with learning to choose fewer things — but choosing them intentionally.
And It Happens At Home Too
The same thing happens in my personal life.
I’ll come up with wonderful new ideas for the household.
New routines.New systems.New ways of organising things.
I start them with enthusiasm.
But if I’m not careful, I end up starting too many things at once.
And when that happens, something strange occurs.
It looks like nothing is getting done.
Even though I’ve been working hard.
I can end up feeling discouraged or overwhelmed, wondering why the house still feels chaotic.
But when I step back, the truth becomes obvious.
I didn’t fail because the ideas were bad.
I failed because my energy was scattered across too many directions.
The Fear of Forgetting Ideas
Part of the reason I used to start things immediately is something many creative people will recognise.
That quiet fear of forgetting.
In the ADHD world they call it “out of sight, out of mind.”
I worried that if I didn’t act on an idea right away, it would disappear.
So I would start it immediately.
And then another idea would appear.
And then another.
Until eventually my energy was stretched thin across everything.
What I’m slowly learning is that creativity doesn’t disappear if you write it down.
Ideas don’t need to be acted on immediately.
Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is simply capture them and return to them later.
Learning to Gather My Energy
These days I’m trying to approach my ideas differently.
Instead of chasing every exciting possibility, I’m learning to ask a simple question:
Does this deserve my energy right now?
If the answer is yes, I try to give that idea my full attention.
To finish the thing I started.
And if the answer is no, I write it down and place it in a queue.
Because the truth is, most of us don’t lack ideas.
What we lack is focused energy.
Cal Newport writes in Deep Work:
“Clarity about what matters provides clarity about what does not.”
This idea has stayed with me.
When we feel overwhelmed, it’s rarely because we have nothing to do.
It’s because everything feels equally important.
But when we slow down long enough to decide what truly matters right now, something powerful happens.
The noise begins to fade.
And our energy finally has somewhere meaningful to go.
Books That Helped Me Rethink Focus
From Fragmentation to Clarity
This realisation is part of what inspired the work we do at Marsh & Muse.
So many women today are living in what feels like permanent mental noise.
Too many responsibilities.Too many possibilities.Too many things pulling at their attention.
And when our energy becomes fragmented, life can start to feel overwhelming very quickly.
But clarity doesn’t come from chasing more ideas.
It comes from slowing down long enough to gather our energy again.
A Gentle Place to Start
If you’ve been feeling mentally scattered or stuck in survival mode, you’re not alone.
We created something simple to help you begin reconnecting with clarity again.
The 7-Day Reset
A gentle guided reset designed to help you:
• quiet mental noise• reconnect with what matters most• move from overwhelm toward clarity
It’s not another productivity system.
It’s simply a small space to pause and reflect.
✨ Start the 7-Day Reset and join the Marsh & Muse community.
A Final Thought
Being someone who sees possibilities everywhere is not a flaw.
Creativity is a gift.
But like all gifts, it works best when it’s grounded.
The goal isn’t to stop having ideas.
The goal is to gather your energy long enough to bring the right ones to life.
Join the Community
If you’re learning to move from overwhelm to clarity too, you’re warmly welcome inside the Marsh & Muse community.
✨ Start with the 7-Day Reset and begin gathering your energy again.
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