I was three weeks into a project last month when I realized I was solving the wrong problem entirely.
Somewhere between the project design phase and the actual work, it had drifted away from what I actually wanted to create. The gap between intention and action had quietly widened, and I was too busy executing to notice.
What would you do in this situation?
You could:
- Scrap the whole thing and start over, throwing away weeks of work to begin with a clean slate.
- Power through by ignoring what you learned and putting your head down until you hit the original, now-irrelevant goal.
- Freeze the project entirely and chase something totally new and exciting instead.
I’ve been guilty of all three approaches and recommend none of them.
If you are mid-day, mid-project or mid-anything and realize that things have changed, deviated or seemed to have gone off the rails, first congratulate yourself for recognizing it.
I’m serious, pump your fist and say “Sweet.”
Just by observing that things have changed, you’ve already taken a huge step forward in not only adapting but potentially using that moment as an opportunity.
Rather than judging the situation or lamenting how things should have gone differently, try experimenting with what we’ll explore in this week’s Flux & Flow—designing clarity within our creative productivity systems in a way that includes recalibrating mid-process.
Why Mid-Process Check-Ins Matter More Than Perfect Plans
Creative work is fundamentally unpredictable.
No matter how well we plan, the process of working teaches us things we couldn’t have known at the start.
→ New insights emerge.
→ Priorities shift.
→ External factors we have no control over transform what felt important last week into something irrelevant.
This isn’t a failure of planning. It’s the nature of creative exploration.
The way to navigate this isn’t front-loading more planning or trying to predict the unpredictable.
Instead, design agile and responsive systems that benefit from the unknown instead of breaking. This includes elements and behaviors that allow you to iterate mid-process, not just at the start and end.
The most resilient creators I know treat their work like a conversation, not a monologue.
They check in regularly with their process, asking not just “Am I on track?” but “Is this still the right track?”
If you’re checking in consistently to observe what’s working and what isn’t, you’ve already done more than half the work.
Let’s explore some ways I’ve found to be particularly effective.
Three Tactical Approaches for Mid-Stream Recalibration
The approaches I’m about to share all use the G.A.P.S. framework (Gratitude, Action, Prioritize, Start), which is a system that works like a fractal pattern.
The same structure that helps you course-correct in a 5-minute break also guides major project decisions.
Like Russian nesting dolls, each scale of application contains and informs the others: daily insights feed weekly recalibrations, which shape project-level pivots.
Whether you’re checking in with your morning, your week, or your creative work at large, G.A.P.S. gives you a consistent way to ground yourself in appreciation, acknowledge real progress, clarify what matters most, and take the next right step forward.
It’s the framework I teach in Focused Days, Smarter Weeks and can be applied in all sorts of contexts including:
1. The Daily Interstitial
This is my favorite micro-practice for daily course correction.
Pick one moment during your workday. It can be a specific consistent time or in reaction to disruption or feeling lost. Set a timer for five minutes and move through this quick G.A.P.S. sequence:
Gratitude: Pause and notice how you are feeling. Then ask yourself “What opportunities have I been able to work on so far today?” Write it down if possible.
Action: What have you actually moved forward since your last check-in? Based on what you’ve learned, what adjustments could help you build on that momentum?
Prioritize: What’s one behavior or action that will either keep you moving in the right direction, or allow you to shift direction based on what you have observed?
Start: Start that action.
Add more sessions throughout the day if you find them helpful or are struggling with feeling confused or lost.
2. The Mid-Week Reflection
Mid-week is the perfect time to pause and recalibrate, especially at the project level. I use a modified G.A.P.S. approach that’s designed for a weekly scale.
It follows a similar process to the Daily Interstitial but may take a bit longer. Pick one small block of time during your week. It can be a specific consistent time or in reaction to disruption or feeling lost. Set a timer for 15 minutes and move through this G.A.P.S. sequence:
Gratitude: Pause and notice how you are feeling. Then ask yourself “What opportunities have I been able to move forward this week?” Try to focus on the project level and habits.
Action: What projects or habits are gaining momentum right now? What specific changes could amplify that progress for the rest of the week?
Prioritize: Look at your list of what might need adjusting (or continued) and prioritize one thing to focus on.
Start: What’s the next action you can take to move that project forward? Start it.
Iterating a project (including canceling it) can be challenging because of the perception of sunk costs.
That hesitation or resistance you may feel is normal, but remember that the intent is to leverage agency and alignment, not adherence to a plan that’s no longer serving you.
Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is acknowledge that a project has taught you what you needed to know and redirect that energy toward something more aligned.
3. The Project Pulse Check
G.A.P.S. isn’t limited to time-based frameworks. It can also be incredibly powerful within the context of individual projects, no matter how big or small.
Try integrating the process mid-project to get a great sense of what needs adjusting and what can keep moving forward in the same direction. Follow the same setup as the previous two examples and be flexible with the when and how long. Some projects might need more time or more check-ins than others.
Gratitude: What’s been unexpectedly rewarding about this project so far? What aspects of the work are you genuinely enjoying?
Action: What seems to be working? What hasn’t worked well? What have you actually created and learned? Are there any unanticipated factors that need to be explored? Is the project still aligned with its original intention?
Prioritize: What elements of the project that you thought were going to be important aren’t anymore? What elements need to be focused on right now? Based on what you now know, what’s the most valuable action you can take to move forward?
Start: Start that most valuable action.
As you explore these processes, keep a few things in mind:
Simply observe rather than judging. This approach is not about whether you are doing a good or bad job or whether your initial plan was right or wrong.
Personalize every step. Add questions, take questions away, experiment with frequency, timing and intensity.
Balance consistent execution with being reactive to your needs. Integrate the process into your schedule or project management but also leverage it as needed.
One of the most powerful ways I use this approach is when brain fog or low energy levels hit me unexpectedly during the day. Instead of feeling guilty or trying to “power through,” I observe what is happening and adjust my intentions and behaviors accordingly.
The Permission to Pivot
Changing direction mid-process isn’t evidence of poor planning or lack of discipline. It’s evidence of awareness and creative intelligence and is an essential part of being an Antifragile Creative that can leverage disruption and change for professional and personal growth.
The best creative work emerges from this dance between intention and adaptation. We plan enough to create forward momentum, then stay awake enough to course-correct when the work shows us a better way.
This requires a specific kind of courage: the courage to hold our plans lightly and trust our ability to navigate uncertainty in real time.
What Becomes Possible
When you build reflection into your process rather than saving it only for the end, something interesting shifts. You stop feeling like you’re either “on track” or “failing.” Instead, you start feeling like you’re learning your way forward.
Projects become more aligned because you’re actively steering toward what matters, not just executing a plan that has become irrelevant.
Decisions get easier because you’re in ongoing conversation with your values and intentions, not making choices from a place of disconnection or overwhelm.
Most importantly, you start trusting your ability to adapt and respond, which is the foundation of creative resilience in an uncertain world.
When you know you can course-correct skillfully, you become willing to take more meaningful creative risks because failure becomes information, not identity.
Have a wonderful, agile and creative week!
Jeff
If you’re interested in diving deeper into building strategies and systems to support your creative growth, I’d love to connect with you in the Antifragile Creative community.
We’re a group of creative professionals who support one another as we design personalized systems to grow with clarity, creativity, and sustainability.