Structuring Creativity: How to Really Get Things Done
Between attempting to balance your career and personal life, you may not have the luxury of waiting for the muses to find you in a hotbed of chaos
What you can do instead is set the stage by tidying up your creative habits. David Allen, productivity consultant and author of Getting Things Done and Ready for Anything, has plenty of advice on how to get organized on the job, but the same principles apply to creative work, too.
If you’ve been waiting around to find time for that big project you care about, or wondering how to figure out what your creative calling actually is, tune in. You’ll discover a new way of thinking about creativity and unearthing your own through the art and science of note-taking, time-keeping, and scheduling.
The power of writing it all down
Whether it’s a screenplay, a photo project, or a symphony, starting a new creative project requires a lot of mental horsepower. Consider the work of a screenwriter: First, she’ll need to craft a compelling story and do her background research. Along the way, she’ll also have to invent effective visual metaphors for the characters’ emotional states. Apart from narrative concerns and symbols, she’ll also need to be sure the story doesn’t require too many different locations so that she can keep production on budget.
It’s a lot to think about, and our screenwriter needs to be able to add new information and recall older decisions at the drop of a dime. If she has a life outside of screenwriting, it’d be near impossible to manage. Why?
Getting Things Done
- 22 min reading time
All of the information that will be relevant in the short- to mid-term is stored in what David Allen refers to as psychic RAM. Info stored there ranges from calculating the tip at your brunch gathering to the fact you need to grab a bottle of wine on your way home.
And in addition to mundanities like your grocery list, creative thought also draws from this psychic RAM.
Therein lies the rub: our minds, just like our computers, have limited storage capacity. Run too many mental “programs” and your psychic RAM can’t process new ideas or recall older ones, which leads to creative frustration. Worst of all, because psychic RAM is limited. Buying toilet paper pushes the great twist in your novel to the back of the shelf to gather dust. David Allen’s solution is simple: get organized by writing your ideas down.
Whether in a journal, on a napkin from your favorite lunch spot, or with a tool like Evernote, find a place to record your ideas. Become a faithful pilgrim to it, too: visit it every day, multiple times, and record everything—big and ambitious, or tiny and attainable now. When you put your creative ideas in writing somewhere that isn’t your own fallible brainbox, they will be present and accessible the moment you’re ready to use them.
Making mental space
So, you’ve got your treasure trove of ideas recorded somewhere, but your life is hectic and full. When could you possibly start putting those ideas to work?
Say a sculptor wanted to start something new in her crowded studio—bringing in an 8-foot slab of marble out of which to carve a tribute to her childhood spaniel, for example. She’d see pretty quickly such a hunk of rock wouldn’t fit, and even if it did, she wouldn’t have space to move around and work. Instead, she’d be using a great deal of mental energy just to avoid distractions from and stumbling over bric-a-brac. Before she started in on her masterpiece, she’d have to clear away the clutter—and that’s precisely what you need to do with your mind.
Disorder sets off a flight response in our minds, so to get away from the bigger undertaking, whether that’s spaniel carving or novel-writing, you’ll tackle non-essentials and fritter away your time. But, if you organize your work into a system that puts all your to-dos in one place where you can keep track of them, you won’t feel overwhelmed. Instead, you’ll be in control and with more time and psychic RAM to devote to being creative.
Make a list of outstanding tasks. Now, identify which ones you’re sure won’t take more than two minutes—they are the clutter of your creative world—and take immediate action on all of them. By swiftly dispatching the little mindless tasks, like replying to a routine email or sending out a birthday card, you’re clearing a patch of floor space in your mind’s studio and leaving it free for new creative endeavors.
Understanding your own priorities
Picture this: an old professor of yours, an illustrious, prize-winning film theorist, contacts you out of the blue. He’s shooting a documentary and he wants your help on site for the next 3 months. You’re flattered, plus, it would look great on your resume to say you’ve worked together.
But you’ve just started a new job as a Media Science Lecturer and have committed to going to your writing group twice a week so you’ll actually start penning that novel. You glance at your calendar: you could cram in a few hours a week, mostly late nights and early mornings. If you forego sleep on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and reschedule class on Wednesday, find someone to cat-sit on the weekends, you just might be able to make it all work…
Whoa there. Stop.
The siren song of a new opportunity can be compelling, but each new venture requires time—which, like psychic RAM, you have only so much. Typically, when we’re offered a new opportunity, the first thing we do is run to our calendars to see when we can fit it in. Whether or not you go for it, however, shouldn’t hang on the pronouncement of the mighty Gcal.
Instead of deciding whether or not to take an opportunity based on time constraints, assess with an eye to your role and goals. If that new opportunity arises at work, consider how important it is in relation to your job description: if your job is Media Science lecturer and the semester has just begun, then clearly teaching will be closer to your task than making that documentary.
But life isn’t just about work. It’s important that when considering new opportunities you align them with your aspirations. Is it your ultimate goal to become a filmmaker? If so, then maybe you should consider quitting teaching and taking the opportunity that’s in front of you, no matter what your date planner says.
It all boils down to this: when offered a new opportunity, make sure to you don’t forget about your purpose. What are you here for, whether “here” is your 9-5 or “here” is your existence on this planet? If that new opportunity will divert your energy and talents away from developing further into your role or areas of passion, then don’t be afraid to say no. Give yourself only to that what matters based on your priorities rather than your schedule and you’ll find that you have more mental and temporal room to get creative.
Leave room for surprises
Ready for Anything
- 15 min reading time
- audio version available
You’re ready to respect your psychic RAM, you’ve got a list of ideas, and you know your goals and which commitments will get you closer. By now, maybe you’re sold on having a system that will help you get your creative project off the ground. But remember this: creativity still requires a certain amount of serendipity.
Allow enough flexibility in your note-taking and task-mastering to let in a few happy coincidences. Chances are you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the way an unexpected influence can add just the right touch to your creative projects.
If you could use more tips on how to get your work and creative life organized, check out Getting Things Done by David Allen, on Blinkist.
