Tag: creative process

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creativity self care

Self care = good work

Even before the pandemic hit, there was a big movement in the American marketplace catering to the idea of self care. Products were created, experiences curated, and blogs written emphasizing the importance of one’s self being a top priority in order to achieve happiness and, frankly, sanity. However, in a capitalist society what value is given to the care of workers when the money engine runs on productivity? I have found that self care actually makes me a better worker bee by allowing me the mind space to harness and compartmentalize my focus when it matters most. Let me explain.

There’s nothing new in the argument that self care makes us feel better. It works. We’re nicer people when we’ve had time to decompress and sit with our own thoughts. Who has woken up from a restful nap angry or short-tempered? Who looks down at their pedicured toes and thinks, “Now that I feel pampered, who can I yell at?” But does taking time away from the blessed 8-hours that we’re supposed to be tapping away at a keyboard in order to spend more time doing the things that make us feel better actually help achieve a new level of productivity in less time? For me, yes.

I began working from home again during the pandemic. I had quit a full-time, in-office job and decided to go back to freelance design. I found a few great clients and went to work. However, before I decided to go back to work, I had established a routine for myself where I worked out in the mornings, took time to eat a healthy breakfast, make the beds, straighten out the chaos my children inflicted on my house the night before, shower and usually by 10:00 or 11:00 a.m., I was able to sit down and focus on some good-old fashioned contributions to society. When I hadn’t done my routine first, I would sit down at my computer, half awake, and those small things that I really wanted to do for myself, would sit in the background of my head and actually make me feel guilty that they didn’t get done. I would be distracted because, well, I missed me. I felt edgy and uninspired. On the other hand, there was the feeling that I had to be at my desk from 9-5 in order for it to “count” as a workday. I soon realized, I had to let that go and realized that I could get more done in less time if, and only if, I let myself have some time for me.

The results: I workout every morning. I may sit down at my desk, a sweaty mess, for a couple of minutes afterwards to answer any super emergent cries for design help, but then I go about my morning, eating a good breakfast (away from the computer or phone), cleaning up a bit (including my sweaty mess of a self), and then set to work. I also take a break mid-day to walk my dogs and eat lunch outside (weather permitting) for a quick recharge. Then I work a bit more before usually being summoned to my kids’ school by some sports commitment or carpool. I never feel like I don’t get what I need to do accomplished. I never feel guilty that I took that time for myself, because I realize this works.

I work better when I feel better. I work well when I feel like I am not a slave to my clients. I feel balanced and positive about my work instead of harried and beholden to it. If there is a unique project that requires a full eight hours that day, I may take care of it in the evening and order takeout for dinner or throw that hot potato to my spouse to deal with. I have also learned not to take on too much to begin with. You can read more about how to do that here.

In the meantime, namaste.

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creativity

What box?

It’s easy to say to creatives to “think outside of the box,” or, look at things from a different perspective, but exactly how, as a creative, does one do that successfully and with a purpose?

Tobias Wacker, group Executive Creative Director at hasan & partners, recently was published discussing how corporate creativity is at a crisis point. He states “There is no value in being different just for the sake of being different, but unless you are leading the way with your brand, you need to come up with something better and different – otherwise the economy of scale will wipe you out before you are learning about the next big thing.” Let’s face it, creativity helps a brand stand out and express how it is unique by being, well, unique. But, there needs to be meaning behind that difference.

The greatest challenge for me, and I imagine many creatives, is that when it comes to the pressure of deadlines and bottom lines, the worker bee in me wants to get it done, check that task off that list and call up the next person in line. However, by not taking the time required to explore the “outside of the box,” and all of the boxes around it, we lose sight of the very thing we were hired to do: bring a creative solution to a unique problem.

Time is always the enemy. We want to be profitable and successful. We do not want to be inefficient. We do not want to ignore the five other projects awaiting our attention. This pressure sometimes means we get sucked into trends. If everyone else likes pastel pink and army green paired with bold, geometric shapes and a slab serif, maybe this auto mechanic would like that too! The sad thing is, you could probably get the client to agree with your choices because in your heart, you might convince yourself that having an on-trend look means you are successful at having your finger on the pulse of what’s “out there.” However, with this ease of hegemony, we end up just adding to the white noise of predictable advertising.

To keep this brief, my point is this: force yourself to take the time. Remind yourself of why you enjoy this field to begin with. Remember why your client hired you in the first place. Take a walk before sitting down to work. When you do sit down, don’t hop on the computer, hop on your nearest pencil and whip open that dusty sketch book. Watch an inspiring TED talk or a tutorial on a new feature of an updated design application. Give creativity the space it needs to breathe, because it takes a lot of energy and willpower to climb outside of that box.

Categories
creativity

Wait, but first

Some people call it Monkey Brain, but I like to think that those whose minds have a tendency toward “Wait! But first I have to [fill in the blank],” those who never seem to sit down long enough to remember the many items they’ve added to their lists, actually have an advantage when it comes to creativity. Adam Grant, psychology professor and author of The Originals: How Nonconformists Move the World, puts it this way: “Procrastination may be the enemy of productivity, but it can be a resource for creativity.”

Case in point: when I was in college, I had a really hard time starting my papers unless my room was clean and all the small items on my to-do list were taken care of (which in college usually meant emptying my trash can and balancing my checkbook; that was still a thing in those days). I had a really hard time focusing in on that big idea when there was so many little clouds covering my sun. But, once those clouds were blown away, I had no excuse and I found the peace to focus.

What it took me a long time to realize is that while I was doing all of those small tasks, my brain was already working on what compelling argument I’d make in my next thesis, or how I’d tackle the next original logo mark or clever tagline. My brain was picking through what worked and what did not, what felt novel and inspired, as I dutifully checked off the items on my list.

In the same book, Grant puts it this way: “If originals aren’t reliable judges of the quality of their ideas, how do they maximize their odds of creating a masterpiece? They come up with a large number of ideas.” Not all of those ideas are winners. We need to learn to give ourselves the time and space to try them on for size and poke them a bit. See if they can stand up to being looked at and interrogated. I, as do many creatives, tend to do this in the background without even realizing it sometimes. (Ever wake up with a great idea but no paper to write it on?)

Procrastination has a bad rap. It is normally characterized as an avoidance of work towards a purposeful end. But I’ve learned to give in to my need to tidy my space, because in essence, it allows me to tidy my mind as I’m keeping my body busy.

Some people do this better by exercising before a big project, walking the dog, cleaning out their refrigerator, or even, yes, still balancing their checkbook. As our society’s advancements in technology have made outcomes so immediate, communication so instantaneous, we’ve lost the time we used to allow ourselves to draw out those ideas.

Think about it. I’ve typed this entire post in a matter of minutes, when 100-plus years ago, a person had to take a pen to a paper, scratch out words that didn’t work or add sentences in the margins to reiterate a point. Ink leaked, pages were stained by teacups and that was all part of the process. That extra time it takes to draw out each word, in cursive, feel the nib of the pen imprint the paper as it skates out the ink of one’s ideas, that is the space where true creativity finds a home. Inside those measured, careful hand motions is a crucial pause in our minds that we’ve lost now that we can so easily hit “delete.”

Successful creatives today have found ways to add that time, that connection, back into their consciousness. Whether it be procrastinating in whatever way suits you, or finding a slow hobby (mine is knitting), creativity is best inspire when body and mind are in tune with one another in a very tactile and intimate way. How can that happen when your bed’s not made?! That time spent busying myself with wrote tasks I could do in my sleep freed up my brain and allowed for that next big, new Aha! find its new home.

So, next time this happens to you, don’t be frustrated with yourself. Give into the taskmaster knowing that perhaps your brain is just dangling a carrot at the end of that to-do list.