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The summer malaise has come early this year. Perhaps it's because it was such an unusually brutal winter, or the flagging economy, or the fact that people are having such a hard time recovering from those Anthony Weiner images. Regardless of the reason, over the past week, I have had more people in my practice tell me that they don't want to create anything new these days. One writer I work with (who gave me permission to quote him), said pointedly, "Why would I work on my manuscript when we are right in the middle of drinking season?"
The fact is that, making time to create is never easy, and there is always a reason to put it off. However, continuing the pursuit of the Creative Imperative is critical to your emotional well-being, and, contrary to popular belief, there is always time in the day to do make use of your creative energies to pursue projects of personal expression. In the spirit of counteracting the creative stagnation, here are three tips for how to work more efficiently during the work day so that you will have more time to create...
1. Set mental boundaries about when you are "on duty" or "off-duty." One of the blessings and curses of the digital era is that you can work from almost anywhere. Many of the people I see routinely do work while they are eating breakfast, talking with their spouses, or are vacationing at the beach. Doing work when you are not actually at the office may be necessary, but making decisions about private time and time when you are working can improve your sense of self, help your relationships, and of course, give you more protected time to create.
2. Respond to emails once. If you can answer emails only when you feel that you have all of the tools (i.e., information, files, etc.) at your disposal to do so you will save time and mindshare. Otherwise, you are liable to answer the same email in parts, which is both less efficient for you and the recipient. Responding to emails with incomplete information simply for the sake of responding only serves to make you uncertain of your response, which will take up more mental real estate and make you less focused on other things. This can have a snowball effect on your performance and self-confidence, which makes you more dependent on office "face time," and takes you away from time you could be using to do other things, like creating.
3. Create during lunch once a week. Set aside one lunch break a week to actively work on your project. If it is not practical to create during a lunch hour, use this time to write down notes or ideas that will help you to work on your own project.
