Right now, I have about new 10 ideas scrambling around in my head for attention that span the gamut. If you got a sneak peek into my thinking, you’d leave feeling confused and dizzy. Not that my ideas are ambiguous but when I get a surge of creativity/ideas, I tend to get mental/verbal diarrhea which of course to me reads as completely understandable but to others perhaps not always so.
We all I know I’ve got a shit load to do but on Friday I was completely taken over by a refreshing wave of creativity and determination. Naturally, I want to roll with it and I did at the cost of that shit load I need to do. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t abandoned it completely and I’m working through it but perhaps not as fast as I could if I could just mute my creativity. That’s where my problem lies.
Last week, Michelle of Holley & Gill shared a post about how her creativity seeps into her everyday life called Design is Everywhere. Here’s a portion of my reply. While it’s not all necessarily related to this post, I do think there are points in there that describe how being ambushed with creativity affects me.
“Being creative can be overwhelming. At times it’s hard to navigate through your thoughts when you’re being pulled visually in all directions. My mind goes a mile a minute sometimes and it can be exhausting. But, eventually I think this is where your gut/instincts kick in. Often all the different paths we see lead to the same destination creatively… one where our true self emerges. We just stopped and had a few “conversations” along the way.”
Like most people, I tend to get these ideas logged in some format whether it be in writing or simply firing up Illustrator to do a quick mock-up. Sometime I keep it all in my head but that’s a whole other form of mental jello. Anyways, somewhere along the way the idea(s) begin to consume me and before I know it I can’t think straight. Sometimes, I’ll look up and the day is drawing to a close, I’ve often forgotten to eat and the items I’ve struck off my need to do now list is shall we say… dismal.
I consider myself a pretty self-aware person. So, when I become a creative pig, I try to take away what I’ll call my creative carbs so I’m not so fueled. Some days, okay most days, I fail miserably, but here’s what I found can work:
- Rearranging/cleaning up my work space. Though an organized person by nature, when I’m on a roll crap tends to invade my work space. So, by putting it back into an orderly fashion, I find this in turn reorganizes my thinking and forces me to address the items needing my immediate attention.
- Changing work location. Sometimes this can simply mean moving to another place in my condo or other days leaving entirely. But, when I remove myself from my “creative hot spot” sometimes it’ll short-circuit myself to get back on track.
Yep, that’s all I’ve got folks. Clearly I need more tactics. Like I said though, this doesn’t always produce the golden ticket to getting ‘er done. While it’s great to be hit by a wave of creativity sometimes it’s so big my focus sails away. And even though I love need to feed my creative side sometimes I just want to hit the mute button.
I put a question out there in Twitter land and here are the responses I got:
How do you tame your creativity when you’ve got other less creative stuff to do? @modernemotive
No taming. Just don’t sleep to get the max out of 24 hours! :D @nottypooch
The muse is fleeting so if I find myself very inspired to create I try not to stifle it, the business side might have to wait @madeinlowell
Listen to music – usually classical or jazz. Seems 2 stimulate the creative side of my mind so I can get the mundane tasks done @amypotch
Make a list of the creative stuff so you dont forget, then put it in your sight the whole time your working, speeds it up @ashenhurstphoto
Use noncreative work as break from creative work @copybabe
What about you? Do you find yourself being consumed by your creativity? When you are… how do you mute it when it’s the better thing to do? Do you even bother?
Photo Credit: Katie Tegtmeyer
I really struggle with this. I am one of those people who have WAY too many ideas which can come in handy for my ‘day job’ marketing and pr biz but can also hinder it when I go off on a tangent with a bazillion ideas for creative things that I wanna do or eventually create for my illustration biz. I can be inspired by anything from my son’s toys or the back of a cereal packet, a new word I hear or the pattern on the inside of an envelope. My husband always tells me to write down my ideas, doodle, sketch for an hour maybe then put it aside to come back to when I’ve finished my real work. As a non-creative he doesn’t really understand that it kills me to have to put aside a new idea and even when I put it aside it is still there eating away at me (even when I’m sleeping!) until I can get back to it. When I’m in the zone, I’m in the zone and I want to keep working on it. Now I have a child (and another on the way) gone are the days where I can work onan idea for 30 hours straight so I’m having to try the whole write it down and get over it tactic.
I always think of the end purpose, and funnel the creative energy into other work or side projects.
As mentioned, I always try to squeeze in the max in 24 hours when that happens. I usually like to take a power nap in the afternoon (it makes me more energetic throughout the day!) but I know that when I was hit by this whole creative thing, there is totally no room for napping. I could be there closing my eyes but my brain is running and working on my next project. Eeek!
As you can imagine, many times I’m neglecting the important ‘must-do’s’. Ha. Very bad. :(
Great post!
I often find myself unable to act productively when I have something “creative” I’d like to get done…its like my brain cannot manage to focus on the task at hand (usually the task that results in PAID work). I always feel the need to get to the creative stuff AFTER I finish with the “important” paid work, but then constantly find myself in the same philosophical conversation (which, BTW, is a productivity-nightmare) about what is actually more important…Creative work or Paid work (unfortunately, at the time, they rarely go hand in hand for me).
I loved this post because I enjoyed reading about how your Twitter friends responded to the dilemma…very interesting perspectives on what is more important to different people.
I also can relate to the things you do to keep the creative juices flowing. I am CONSTANTLY moving furniture and decor around in my office – it makes me feel like I’m in a new place (physically) which is always inspiring to me (half the reason why the travel-bug bites me at least twice a week). Rearranging furniture allows me to be able to focus on the non-creative work – especially in my office which is designated as a work-only space.
Sometimes I have so many things floating through my little brain that I also find it’s helpful to journal and write it all down. I believe @ashenhurstphoto suggested making a list that remains in plain sight – this is also a great idea. I write down my thoughts in my journal, including why I’m frustrated that I cannot work on the fun creative projects and then I feel relieved and can get back to paid work. The ideas are also recorded so I’m no longer anxious that they will slip away when I have free time.
Again, thanks for the thought-provoking post (and the suggestions)! Keep up the GREAT work!
*Tania
Oh boy am I with you on this!! It’s so hard for me to put aside doing something creative that I enjoy for more mundane tasks. I find though that listening to music keeps me focused on my task (and makes it more pleasant) and then I know that I can get to my creative, fun things later! (I also make sure I jot a note down so I don’t lose my creative thought – I’ve been known to do that before!!