And I think in general to stew over a problem is not the way to solve a problem , think to hold the problems lightly . And , and if , and when I say a problem , you know , when we're , when we're starting a project , there's usually this feeling of um there's a question mark at the beginning of every project , I , I , I'm always anxious when I start a new project because I have no idea what's gonna happen . I never know .
And in the best of situations , I have something else to totally engage myself in , in between . So instead of working on project A for five hours and then leaving and doing nothing , I'm hoping to engage in a project B or BC and D with all of myself before going back to project A again , which might be the next day . Let's say this um relates to an amazing uh chapter and series of writings in your book that I'm not going to describe because I want people to find it for themselves about disengaging , about disengaging from the process .
How do you clear the static , what , what are some of the operational steps that you think might be more um generalisable to regardless of where somebody in , you know , um Africa is listening to this . Now , when I , when I engage in a particular project , whatever it is , I , I dedicate all of myself for that period of time , whatever it is , whether it be uh 20 minutes or whether it be five hours , whatever it is , um total focus and no um outside distraction whatsoever . And when I leave that process , I do my best not to think about it when I'm away from it .
I don't bring any materials with me . I don't leave the studio with works in progress and spend time listening to them during the day or looking for ideas . I , I stay as far away from it when I'm not directly engaging in it as possible .
But something about having that glimmer that it's not a blank , we're not looking at a blank page , you know , we're looking at , ok , we have a , we have , uh , the beginnings of , um , I would say a map but it's a map that we don't know where it takes us and it's just the beginning . It's just like it's just a start , you know , you are here . Was it if you have a map and it says you are here , even if you can't see the directions , knowing where we are , feels .
