Scheduling Creative Work: Impossible Is Nothing

If we could do whatever we wanted to, and whenever we wanted to, life would be very different. For a start, it would be much simpler, especially for those of us in creative fields. .

It is the way we think, act, and perform between those fixed 8 – 9 work hours every day, that determines our productivity and hence, our growth in the organization.

One would argue, however, that creativity cannot be timed, scheduled, or set in a routine.

And as we fit the flow of our creative juices into company hours, the tension between the upcoming deadlines and the ideas we generate (or do not generate) tends to get our minds wondering.

I’m sure you’ve asked yourself this one particular question –

Is It Possible to Schedule Creativity?

While even the best and the most experienced of us find it hard to feel inspired at the snap of our fingers, the answer to this question may just be in the affirmative. There may be a few practices that we could use to help ourselves draw out creative concepts from our brain when required.

We all know about research findings and theories related to the functioning of the left and the right sides of the brain. As per these theories, the left side of the brain is more organized and rational, while the right side is imaginative and arty. And that’s how we balance creativity and organization.

All of us are controlled by one side of the brain. Which one is predominant? Well, that differs from person to person.

You may have at times felt more inspired at 3am rather than at 10am while at work. As much as you would love to work when feeling spontaneously creative, doing so can result in heavily-caffeinated mornings and slack-y grammar when churning out creative output at the office.

While setting schedules for starting and stopping the creative ideas may seem impossible, there are certain techniques to help you be creative on order.

Develop a Routine

Unless you have to report to work at 8am, waking up and working at 3am should not lead to you having a hard time staying awake at the office.

While this may work for your mind, it will surely not work for you professionally. Doing actual creative work consistently outside your work hours will only train your brain to be creative during those hours.

Instead, you can set a routine and follow it to let your creative juices flow during your work hours. Over time, this will ensure maximum productivity at work.

You could start by waking up at earthly hours in the morning, prepping your mind by doodling some sketches while sipping on coffee, coming up with a to-do list for the day while bathing, and even listening to some inspirational talks on your way to work.

Think you might lose the plot and get distracted at lunch? Not if you squeeze in a lunchtime scrum to regain the focus. Do this for a couple of weeks and watch how your brain gets accustomed to this routine and starts delivering.

Set Guidelines

Ah! If lunchtime was the only distraction!

When at work, various other tasks are bound to spring up from time to time. Whether it is attending the boring meetings, answering emails, or making important phone calls, they have to be done, regardless of how unimportant or distracting you think they are.

Many of us tend to postpone tasks that may seem like an impediment on our road to creativity, and concentrate all our time and energy towards tasks that may be more important to us. That, however, doesn’t solve our problem.

To counter this, try scheduling certain mandatory tasks at the start/end of your day. Doing so regularly will give you and your creative team the time you need to dedicate to your assignments, without interruptions.

If you’re working on something particularly important, do let your team know that you wouldn’t be answering calls/emails immediately and that they can come and meet you, if the matter needs urgent attention.

Ideate with Your Team

Persuading your brain to ignore the distractions and single-mindedly focus on work can be tough, but not impossible. A variation of an Agile technique called pair programming (which advocates teaming up, thereby helping you break down complex tasks rapidly) can be applied to creative work.

Instead of working alone all day, you could start off the day with a brief brainstorming session where you ideate with your team. This gets your as well as their mind stimulated for the rest of the day.

Not just that, you would also have a plethora of inspired ideas to work with, which can result in more efficiency.

Reconnect with Your Creative Side Every Day

It makes sense to spend 10 minutes every day to reconnect with your creative spirit, especially because the environment around us can tend to get extremely chaotic, which can hinder the creative process. Reconnecting with your creative side can be difficult with multiple things running through your mind simultaneously.

Here’s how you can jumpstart your mind and allow your creative streak to take over –

• Start penning your thoughts in a journal. Whenever you feel a brainwave or an out-of-the-box idea coming along, make a note of it, lest you should forget it later.
• To kick start the creative process, take the help a book. Open a random page, copy the first sentence on the page and create a one-page story that begins with it.
• Look at a poster/painting and design 3 – 4 versions of it with diverse mood themes.

Conclusion

Saying that creativity cannot be scheduled into slots is more romanticism than pragmatism speaking. There is nothing the mind cannot be trained to do. In order to work efficiently, it is necessary that you schedule your mind and use the available resources advantageously. Do let your mind run wild, but also give it a support structure to be able to do so fruitfully.