What do you do when you get stuck on a task? Some push ahead. Others get lost in research. I myself often table the task and come back later. But when you simply must go on right now, I recommend using an old trailblazer trick: climb a tree and get a fresh perspective on the terrain.
Here’s your word for the day: Axonometric projection. Look at Definition 2. An axonometric projection is a way of showing the third dimension of any object — say, the elevation or height of a building as based on its floor plan.
I have an axonometric map of a section of Midtown Manhattan (thanks to Edward Tufte). Besides being a very interesting poster, a work of art in itself, I find it a much more efficient way to understand the terrain than with the usual flat-plan or road map. Such maps are intentionally drawn “flat” to show features with limited detail so the location and the relationship of place to place is clear. You seem to be looking down on the area from directly above.
The axonometric map of Midtown Manhattan shows all the buildings, with their height or elevation, accurate to the number of windows visible — the third dimension. Each building looks to be in its right place on the map and in relative scale to what’s around it, but all the buildings in the picture or map seem slightly tilted, as though we were looking down at them from an angle, not from directly above. I can imagine myself on a street corner and really see what’s there and where I am in relationship to the place, just looking at the map, and get much more out of it than out of a traditional two dimensional map.
The additional dimension makes all the difference. When you’re stuck or lost, a new angle is what you need. That’s why I suggest getting up and away from your project plan or todo list — your 2D map — and find the angle and perspective that will show you where to go or what to do next.
And for a different way to get another angle, this time an oblique one, I highly recommend a little card deck originally created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt: Oblique Strategies – get your set from the source. You can also find many online versions as well as one for your iPhone, but I really like the physical cards. Call me old fashioned, but the act of shuffling and selecting cards is part of that physical process, climbing the tree, so to speak. I keep mine handy in my desk drawer for times when I need a fresh perspective, when I want a different angle. Here are three cards, just to give you an idea:
- Remove specifics and convert to ambiguities
- Turn It Upside Down
- Retrace Your Steps
It’s not the I Ching; I’m not looking for meaning out of them. They are strategies that may help you get started (or restarted) on a project that is stalled, or stuck. When I use them, I’m only trying to step back, get a different perspective, and see what an “oblique” strategy might be, and whether it sparks an idea. If one doesn’t get you started, try another — use whatever works to get you moving in the right direction again.
Then there’s lateral thinking, but we’ll talk about that tomorrow.
What do you do to gain perspective? How do you break through those project impasses and writer’s blocks?
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