A Secret Play Date.

Every Tuesday.

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Playing with loose ends.

I've got a bunch of projects that need finishing.

They're all calling for my attention at once.

It's so frustrating to realize that the thing you thought would be no big deal to finish last Tuesday? It's still not done a week later.

But I'm not even sure what steps I need to do to tie each project up.

So my Secret Play Date today is going to be about mapping out the next steps for each one.

That way, I won't be fooled into thinking, 'no big deal' when there are ten more steps to go before I can announce a thing (the newly refurbished Society of the Secret Play Date Membership, for example).

List-making and unraveling.

First, I'm going to write out a list of all the projects sporting loose ends, because I'm not even sure I know how many there are.

Then ... you're going to think I'm crazy.

But ... being a fledgling knitter, I'm finding that knitting really helps me percolate. I finished my Happy Hat. I took the leftover yarn and knitted a swatch, just to have something to knit.

I'm going to -- yes -- unravel that swatch and knit another one.

Does that sound ridiculous? I think it'll really help, though.

Alternating list-making (or mind-mapping -- we'll see) and knitting, layer-cake style, I'm hoping to end up with a better picture of what needs to be done to wrap all these projects up.

Last week's Play Date.

It was great. Super productive.

I wanted to get my tax materials together, and I have huge resistance to this task, every year.

I figured I could stand to do 10 minutes of tax stuff, and then reward myself with 10 minutes of playing in my Secret Play Date notebook (with gold nail polish!).

It also happened that I did this tax time Play Date with the Society of the Secret Play Date. Hearing my Play Dating friends' voices and knowing we were all in it together -- I got so much energy from it, and I'm sure that helped keep me going.

The upshot: got the tax stuff done.

Done!

In less than 2 hours!

I'm still celebrating.

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Join me?

Pick a project or a piece of a project.

Maybe it's something that's stalled. Maybe it's something that's been just a gleam in your eye until now.

Take one hour out of your Tuesday to work on it, but not in the traditional way.

We're going to mess around with tactile materials to shift ourselves and our projects. With no special supplies, just whatever's at hand.

If you have art or craft supplies, that's great. But you could also use highlighters, dry-erase markers, wite-out, aluminum foil, food coloring, ketchup ... you see where I'm going with this.

Why?

Because switching gears from writing or crunching numbers or formatting a web page can help energize you, help spark new ideas or solutions.

Secret Play Date is a space you can just drop into for an hour, open all day Tuesday.

Part co-working space, part art studio, part secret hide-out.

You can make a Post-It mosaic.

You can make washes of color that describe how you feel about that business plan.

Work on your marketing plan. Your sales copy. Your next event. Your talk.

Why is it secret?

Well, you might work in an office. An office or studio where they would not quite get this. So maybe you sneak off for an hour to a coffee shop with a fistful of colored Sharpies and a glue stick.

At the same time, you're part of a secret band of people who like to inject a little fun into serious business, who like to do a little something with their hands besides tap a keyboard, and who like trying new things to get their creative juices flowing.

We're all doing it on the same day. We're all rooting for each other.

Then what?

In the comments, you can check in to let us know how you're doing, and give a yay for the people who are joining in.

You can use this as a format if you like, but you don't have to.

What I'm working on today:

How I'm going to work on it today:

How it's going:

You can post to the smArts & Culture wall on Facebook.

You could post it on twitter with the #secretplaydate hashtag.

You don't have to share, though.

You could note it in your journal, or whisper it to the cat, and still feel the glow of being part of a group that does things a little differently for an hour every Tuesday.

Is there something you're working on that could use a little Play-Dating today?