″...By the end of August, I was mentally drained, more drained, I think, than I had ever been. The creative potential, the capacity to solve problems, changes in a man in ebbs and flows, and over this he has little control. I had learned to apply a kind of test. I would read my own articles, those I considered the best. If I noticed in them lapses, gaps, if I saw that the thing could have been done better, my experiment was successful. If, however, I found myself reading with admiration, that meant I was in trouble.”
I think it’s true. Short of crude measures like stimulants, it does seem to ebb and flow for no obvious reasons. And it’s useful to know if you’re currently in a doldrum—you can give up forcing yourself to try to work on creative material, and turn to all the usual chores and small tasks that build up.
His Master’s Voice, Stanislaw Lem; p. 106 from the Northwestern University Press 3rd edition, 1999
I like the self-test idea, but this sort of defeatism is kind of, well, self-defeating.
I think it’s true. Short of crude measures like stimulants, it does seem to ebb and flow for no obvious reasons. And it’s useful to know if you’re currently in a doldrum—you can give up forcing yourself to try to work on creative material, and turn to all the usual chores and small tasks that build up.