Asking “What’s Next?” ... Start With These 10 Creative Surplus Questions
"What else?" and "what's next?" are not questions of dissatisfaction. They are questions of creative surplus.
Sometimes it whispers. Sometimes it nags. Sometimes it wakes you up at 3 a.m.
Two questions: “What’s next?” or “What else?”
Most accomplished people reach a moment where they realize something surprising: the greatest untapped resource in their life is not time or talent. It is unfinished work.
How many of us have ideas that never made it out of our journals? Projects that have stalled at 80%? Drafts of essays, poems, songs, or talks that exist in Google docs or Notes but have never been shared? Collaborations that were discussed but never launched?
Even if Substack is a force of creative output, I am certain that most of us would sheepishly raise our hands.
Be bold! This is your creative surplus, your dormant ideas and imagination that keeps pulling at your pant leg.
I’m nearing completion — and publishing — of a Creative Surplus workbook. It grew out of a simple observation: most people do not suffer from a shortage of ideas. They suffer from a shortage of finishing systems. The average knowledge worker generates more than 150 ideas each year but implements fewer than five percent of them.
That leaves a massive amount of dormant potential sitting quietly inside people who are already capable of doing meaningful work. If you are asking what is next or what else, you are probably carrying some of that surplus.
The workbook is designed to help people find it, fuel it, fund it, and finish it. But before you do any of that, you have to ask better questions.
(Message me if you want to be alerted
when the Creative Surplus workbook is ready to ship)
Here are 10 questions extracted from the Creative Surplus Workbook that will help you answer “what’s next?” and “what else?”:
1. What projects have you started but never finished?
Look through old notes, hard drives, voice memos, and conversations.
Your unfinished ideas are often your most honest ones.
2. What idea keeps returning, even after years of ignoring it?
Some ideas fade. Others persist. The persistent ones are rarely random.
3. What do people keep telling you, “You should do something with that”?
Sometimes others see our creative surplus before we do. Pay attention to the reoccurring comments and reactions of others.
4. Which idea energizes you just by thinking about it?
Joy and energy are clues. The projects that give energy back are often the ones that matter most.
5. If you had to pick five ideas you care about most, what would they be?
You do not need to finish all of them. You just need to identify where momentum could start.
6. Which of those ideas is closest to finished?
Most people chase the most exciting idea. But momentum often comes from finishing the one that is already halfway done. Completion breeds completion.
7. If money were not a factor, would you still want to make this?
This question separates side hustles from creative surplus. One is transactional. The other is transformational.
8. What story from your life keeps trying to find expression?
Many creative ideas are not random. They are rooted in experience, curiosity, or something you have lived through that still wants to be expressed.
9. What unfinished idea creates the most emotional tension for you?
Research shows unfinished work occupies mental bandwidth and creates background anxiety. That tension is often a signal that something meaningful is waiting to be completed.
10. What would “finished” actually mean for one idea in the next 90 days?
A finished draft. A prototype. A short film. Three songs. A talk. A workshop. Something that exists in the world instead of in your head.
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Ok so most of the creative advice I hear focuses on generating ideas. The bottleneck today is not ideation, however. It’s execution. The world does not need more ideas.
The world needs more finished work.
Good news! Finishing is a skill that can be learned. That is what the Creative Surplus workbook is about. Not starting ten new things. Finishing one thing that matters.
Before you go back to your inbox or your to-do list, consider this: what unfinished idea inside you would feel like relief if it finally existed? That might be your creative surplus. And someday might be closer than you think.
If you want to go deeper, the Creative Surplus Workbook walks through a seven-session process to:
Find your dormant ideas
Fuel your creative energy
Fund the last mile
Finish one meaningful project
Flourish beyond it
The next revolution is coming — from those who start and finish.
Message me if you want to get an early copy of the Creative Surplus Workbook
