(“CREATION II: Birth of a sculpture”; courtesy of Akbar Simonse)
Although there are many methods to coax creativity, get “in the flow”, connect with your muse, and so on, in order to create you have to begin by making the time to create. The image of the creative genius who lives in complete chaos and creates at odd moments when inspiration suddenly hits is simply a silly, romanticized version of the creative process. You can learn to turn inspiration on like a faucet by practicing your craft on a regular basis, that is, by carving time out of your schedule for the process of creation. The intent of this post is to help you do just that.
Prioritize Your Creativity Time
Steven Covey highlighted the importance of prioritizing important but not urgent tasks in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
One of the secrets of highly creative people is that they show up to create on a regular basis. Schedule a regular time to practice your craft–whether it’s writing or anything else–and show up, even if you’re not feeling creative. For example, every weekday block out the time from 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. to write, compose, sculpt, or whatever your craft may be.
Shut off All Distractions
Create the digital equivalent of hanging a “Do Not Disturb Sign” on the door. Turn off the telephone ringer and let your answering service pick up in case anyone calls, turn off your e-mail, cell phone, and blackberry, and disconnect from twitter and other social media. Every time you’re interrupted by a phone call, an instant message, and so on, you have to break your flow of thought and shift your attention to the interruption. Aside from the time that you use to deal with the interruption, when you get back to work you need to regather your thoughts and spend more time getting yourself back on track.
Establish a Clear Purpose for Every Creativity Session
When you sit down to create make sure that you have a clear sense of what you aim to accomplish during that particular creativity session. For instance, your goal could be to spend forty minutes researching an article on the effects of stress on creativity, to spend fifteen minutes creating an outline, and to spend the remainder of the time allotted to get started writing the article.
Have Creativity Triggers
When you’re in creation-mode you’re accessing the right side of your brain. The right brain hemisphere loves symbols, rituals, and routine. Therefore, one way to signal to your right brain that it’s time to create is by having creativity triggers. These triggers can include things such as lighting a candle, using an oil diffuser to give off a particular scent, playing soft music, making tea and serving it in a particular mug, and so on. At the time you’ve set aside each day to create, begin by setting off your triggers so that both your logical mind–the one that sees the time scheduled off on your day planner–and the intuitive, creative mind–the one that notices the candle and the smell of lavender–show up.
Beware of Other Distracting Stimuli
In my post, Sleep Extravaganza – 40 Tools, Tidbits, & Resources to Help You Conquer Sleep , I linked to an article written by David Hamilton in which he explains that even as you sleep, your mind continues to respond to stimulants from all of your senses, such as small amounts of light, soft noises that are not loud enough to wake you up but are detectable, and so on. These seemingly insignificant stimuli can disturb the quality of your sleep. The same concept can be applied to your concentration when you’re trying to create.
When you’re trying to concentrate, random noise such as traffic from the street, a loud neighbor, a dog barking, and so on, can disturb the quality of your attention. In addition, visual distractions, being thirsty or hungry, and being physically uncomfortable, can also break your concentration. Therefore, it’s important that you set up your working environment to help you direct your focus to the task at hand.
Make sure that the room you’re working in allows you to be comfortable. Is the room temperature adequate? Is your chair comfortable? Is there adequate lighting? You can block out extraneous noise with a white noise machine, or you can access the simplynoise.com web site and choose from white, pink, or red/brown noise. You can also consider using Bose noise-canceling headphones. Have a glass of water close at hand and maybe a snack–such as a handful of peanuts–in case you get hungry.
Set Up the Proper Work Environment
In addition, the room where you work should be clean, organized, and clear of clutter. Disorganization and clutter create distraction. Even if you make a point of not looking at the clutter while you’re working, your mind knows it’s there, and your attention will be continuously tugged in the direction of the clutter despite your best attempts to keep it one hundred percent focused on your work. An organized and uncluttered workspace contributes to feelings of relaxation, peace, and focus, helping to establish the proper mood for creation.
Your tools should always be easily accessible. If your art is writing, have a dictionary and a thesaurus at arm’s reach. Other reference books, inspirational material, and so on, should also be nearby. Gather your tools before you begin creating instead of breaking the flow by getting up to look for the things you need in order to create.
Focus Only on the Task at Hand
Set an egg-timer for forty minutes and during that time focus solely on the task at hand. After forty minutes you can take a five minute break, stretch, close your eyes, and walk around. Then come back for another forty minutes and repeat the process as many times as you can in the time you’ve allotted yourself to create. During these forty minute sessions you should aim to become completely immersed in what you’re doing.
Have a Notebook Nearby to Jot Down Any Passing Thoughts
While creating it is very likely that random thoughts will enter your mind, everything from “buy milk”, to new business ideas, to a great title for a screenplay, and so on. If you don’t do something about these thoughts they’re likely to pester you and detract from your concentration. On the other hand, if you get up to act on the new idea or to go to the store to get milk, you’re interrupting your creativity time. Therefore, it’s a good idea to keep a notebook nearby while creating so that you can quickly jot down any extraneous ideas that come to you during your creativity time.
Respect Your Creativity Time
Once you’ve identified yourself as an artist and you’ve made the commitment to devote time and effort to honing your craft, you have to respect the time you set aside for creating. There will always be items to cross off your to-do list, other people will always be vying for your time, and there will always be other things that you could be doing. However, your creativity time is sacred, and you have to make sure to treat it as such.
Conclusion
There are many ways to stimulate your creativity once you’ve sat down to create. However, no creativity technique will help you create if you do not fence off time on a regular basis for the process of creation. Your creativity time has to be zealously protected from interruption, the environment has to be ready to support your creative efforts, and everything should be set up so that the flow of work is not disturbed. In the words of Gustave Flaubert: “Be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work.”
How do you make time to create? I would love to get your input in the comments section.
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