For most creative people, being organized or having structure seems to threaten their creativity. These people typically cringe when they hear the phrase “time management” and having tools and a system for managing themselves is simply unheard of. Some feel as though it’s against their grain to have any kind of structure.
The truth of the matter is that concentration is vital to the creative process. So, if you’re someone who creates for a living, having a time management system is essential to your creative process. That process requires focus on the task at hand. It’s hard to be “in the zone” experiencing creative flow when you are faced with interruptions that you don’t know how to handle and the anxiety you might feel about the other things that you have to do. Having a system will only contribute to your creativity instead of threatening it.
This age of information overload can be bad for you no matter what your profession is, and even worse for creative people. Handling interruptions and the many tasks at hand stand to wear away at your concentration while you are “in the zone”. You have to have a way to manage daily demands in a way that supports your creative process instead of stifling it.
Now, I’m not suggesting that you have a system that resembles something that you might see as rigid, or that rubs you the wrong way, but something that works for you. You don’t even have to call it a system-let’s call it a rhythm. Freedom is essential to the creative process, but you have to have the rhythm (structure) in order to give yourself that essential freedom. The system is as much of the creative process and the inspiration to create is. You can be creative with the system or “rhythm” that you create. There are steps that you can follow to establish your rhythm. I’ll share them in my next post.