This past week I was reconnecting with a colleague and she shared her difficulty with scheduling creative time.
“I find I fill it with busy work, not particularly creative”, she said.
I realized in that moment I never schedule creative time. I simply allow myself enough free, unscheduled time, to seize the creative spark when it hits.
For example, today, as I’m writing this, I have a single thing on my schedule: 90 minute massage in my garage. Otherwise, beyond being a parent, the day is mine.
I completed my Frolic 100 article that will be sent out for this week, and then 5 minutes ago the inspiration for this article hit me.
Because I have this free time, I was able to immediately sit down and start writing. You’re getting it hot and fresh out of me.
I’ve written over 200 articles, and none of them were written on a schedule, beyond that I need something to go out every Wednesday. Sometimes I can be writing on a Sunday afternoon, other times it could be a Monday or Tuesday morning.
Some weeks I manage to write multiple articles, as inspiration hits, and then schedule them for release over the coming weeks, and other times I’m writing something on Tuesday to be released the next day.
I’ve found that that the Tuesday articles can be some of my most powerful and most response generating.
I have also found that I have the most creative juices from the moment I wake up, for about 2 or 3 hours after that. I seldom have much creative output after 11am, so I don’t bother trying.
When I completed my book under my 60 day schedule, I was doing most of the work on it straight out of bed, before I ate or did anything else.
Money has not made this schedule possible. This is how I’ve lived my life for the past 25+ years. When I had no money, I lived with a lot of stress, and this schedule was still where I operated from. I lived with uncompromising freedom. I at least enjoyed my days, even if I was broke and worried about how I was going to generate rent. I did, eventually, get everything to align into the life I live now.
For a long time I had a story in my head that no one could learn anything from me unless they were me. Me writing this today, and describing my creation process might have never been spoken until recent times. Now I see that it’s good to give voice to it and share it, because I am so different.
I finished this article in about 7 minutes from inspiration. It flowed straight out of me because I was in that inspired state. It was effortless. That’s how I’ve managed to do this week after week over 200 times.
I measure my productivity by things achieved, not time spent on task. 200 articles is no joke.
What was the value for you from reading me sharing my process today and how might you apply that for yourself going forward?
