How To Consistently Get Creative Work Done: A Short Guide For Type-A Creatives
Photo by Inês Pimentel on Unsplash
I’ll admit it:
I have a pretty un-romantic view of creativity.
I think the people who can get high and write poetry (that actually sounds good) or drop acid and paint a masterpiece are few and far between.
They exist, yes…
But if you don’t naturally consider yourself a hyper-creative person — then getting creative advice from those people might feel like getting advice on how to do a 360 windmill dunk from Lebron James.
Technically, the advice is accurate. But hearing it isn’t going to help you all that much.
Instead, I’m in favor of a “workhorse” approach to creativity.
Creativity by sheer force of will, rather than other-worldly genius.
I’m a strong believer that, if you’re constantly working to get better at your craft…
And you’re not afraid to do it very badly for a while…
You WILL get better. And eventually, you’ll probably even create something you’re proud of.
But for a while, pursuing your craft will feel like walking through a Jell-O swamp on peg legs.
And even once you’ve improved, you’ll feel that way sometimes too. It’s part of the game.
Anyway, I’m rambling now. And that’s not the point of this article.
The point of this article is to give you a few tips for getting creative work done on a consistent basis. So let’s get into it.
I’ve broken this down into 3 main categories:
Before you start working
While you’re working
After you’ve finished working
Before You Start Working
This part will be short, but it is the most important.
“If it’s so important, why are you making it so short, Robert?”
Because everyone has said it before a zillion times. And I don’t want to waste anymore space than is necessary.
If you want to perform your best creative work, you should work on getting your shit together in the other aspects of your life too.
That means exercising…
Eating well…
Getting enough sleep…
Talking to another human being every now and then…
Journaling to get your crazy thoughts down on paper so you can realize how crazy they are and let them go…
Talking to a therapist for that same reason…
Also meditating for that same reason…
And consuming a lot of content about your craft.
If you’re a writer, then read.
If you’re a designer, then look at a lot of design, I guess? (I’m not entirely sure how this concept applies to skills outside of writing, so I’ll let you run with it.)
That doesn’t mean you should avoid pursuing your craft until you have all your shit together. (My shit is certainly not together.) And if we all waited until our lives were “perfect” or until we felt “ready” to start something…
Nothing would ever get done.
Instead, the main point is that you probably won’t be able to do your best creative work if you are living in an actual dog house behind the local Wendy’s.
“Perfection” isn’t the goal.
But facing your demons a little bit each day and taking care of yourself is.
During The Work
This is where things get fun. Because this is where you can see the most immediate results in both your creativity and productivity.
Here we go…
1. Identify Your Rhythms
Are you a morning person? A night owl? One of those weird motherfuckers who is most productive between the hours of 2PM and 5PM?
Whichever you are, make sure you’re working on your craft during those hours.
I’m reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott right now (strong recommendation if you’re a writer… and even if you’re not, honestly), and one of the things she mentions is the idea of writing at the same time every day.
If you sit down to write at 8AM every day, after a certain point, your brain is going to naturally start producing ideas at that time.
So, identify when you are most creative/productive and make sure you work on your craft at that time… every day.
“I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.”
- W. Somerset Maugham
2. Keep Moving Forward (Even When You’re Not Sure Where You’re Going)
Writers often talk about how scary it is to stare down a blank page —
The cursor winking at you, mocking you, and daring you to come up with something that is either interesting, insightful, or, ideally, both.
Eventually, you win this battle. And after you win it enough times, you begin to realize something:
Winning the battle against the blank page has nothing to do with writing something GOOD…
But it has everything to do with writing SOMETHING.
If you can manage to get your fingers moving, eventually something half-decent will fall out, and then you can run with it.
But you must be willing to keep moving forward — even when you’re not sure where you’re going — and write something that is absolutely garbage.
Because it’s only after that that you’ll be able to recycle it into something useful.
I used to work with a New York Times bestselling author who said that writer’s block was a myth. I believe this is what he meant.
Unless you have somehow lost your physical ability to type or dictate words into a voice-to-text app…
You can ALWAYS write.
You just have to be willing to create something shitty, so that you can turn it into something good later.
3. Give Yourself Boundaries
Earlier this year, right before COVID ruined everything, I watched Justin Blackman give a talk about creative constraints at TCCIRL2020.
If I’m butchering this, I hope he doesn’t hate me for it, but my takeaway from that talk was this:
Historically, constraints have been perceived as the enemy of creativity. But actually, they can be a valuable tool for creative work.
If you’re standing in front of a blank canvas, and someone tells you to “create something beautiful…”
It might feel a bit intimidating. Where should you even start?
But if someone hands you a paintbrush, a palette of paint, and a picture of a tree and says “paint this…”
You’ll have a clear place to start and, while the work still might feel a little intimidating…
You won’t spend hours agonizing over what you should create.
This is the beauty of giving yourself boundaries. It actually makes creative work easier — not harder.
So when you sit down to create something, give yourself some rules. What are you creating? How will you create it? What is the purpose of it? What is it NOT? What does “done” look like for this project? Etc.
A blank canvas is romantic, but it can be overwhelming if you don’t approach it with a plan. (At least this is true if you are like me.)
And that brings me to my next point:
4. Use Templates And Frameworks
I am not a creative genius.
I am not the best copywriter to ever exist.
There are people who have gone before me who are much smarter and more skilled than I am.
Lucky for me, those people were generous enough to share their knowledge with the world (me included).
So instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, I take advantage of templates and frameworks that have been proven to work, instead of relying solely on my own “genius.”
At a certain point, I may feel confident enough in my knowledge and experience to completely let go of these structures… and you may eventually feel the same way too.
But for now, “standing on the shoulders of giants” can be a very helpful thing to do.
It keeps you from veering too far off course, and most importantly, it keeps you from handing a plate full of puke to your client and trying to pass it off as chicken curry.
5. Get Out Of Your Head
Some of the best moments in life are those moments where your brain is absolutely silent.
Where you are completely out of your head and in the moment.
When you’re doing something creative, the goal is to get into this state — the “flow state,” where work becomes effortless, time seems to float by, and before you know it…
3 hours have passed and you’ve made significant progress on whatever you’re working on.
Here’s a quote I love from Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird:
“Take the attitude that what you are thinking and feeling is valuable stuff, and then be naive enough to get it all down on paper.”
When it comes to creativity and actually getting work done, being naive is the key.
Similar to when you’re reading a novel and you suspend your disbelief, getting creative work done is about suspending your inner critic from commentating.
Because the reality is that you can come up with plenty of reasons not to pursue your creative passion:
“This has already been said before…”
“I’ll never be as good as XYZ…”
“This feels so pointless. It doesn’t make any difference whether I do this or not.”
And maybe those things are TECHNICALLY true, but I will tell you this:
Few things feel better than those hours that pass with your fingers flying across the keyboard.
And even in the face of the fact that what you’re writing about is not a new concept, or that you’ll never be as good as XYZ, or that we’ll all be dead in 100 years and this may not matter too much in the grand scheme of things…
Pursuing your craft is still worth it.
Making progress, getting a little better each day, and creating the most beautiful thing you can is still worth it.
But you can’t fully realize this on a logical level. You have to actually experience it by sitting down and doing the work…
Which requires ignoring your inner critic for a bit.
Here’s one way to do that:
6. Use A Timer
So much of creativity is about learning to break things into smaller, more manageable pieces.
This is one of those things.
Telling your inner critic to “shut up for 2 hours, so I can write” generally doesn’t work.
First, because your inner critic never backs down from a fight. The best way to fight him is by not fighting him at all.
When he shows up to the party with an open can of Monster, chinstrap beard, and UFC shirt and starts talking shit…
Just smile at him. Don’t respond.
He’ll yell for a bit. He’ll probably call you a pussy. And he might even start brandishing a pair of brass knuckles.
But if you ignore him for long enough — he’ll drive his F-150 back home to his trailer and leave you alone.
I promise.
And second, just like a blank canvas is daunting, 2 blank hours of creativity are daunting too.
Instead, break it into smaller chunks.
Commit to working intensely — with ZERO distractions — for 25 minutes.
Then take a 5-minute break.
Then try it again.
After 2 hours, take a 15 minute break. Then start again.
I didn’t make up this concept.
It’s called the Pomodoro Technique, and I learned it in Ian Stanley’s Money Morning Challenge… which is worth every fucking penny of the $7 investment.
(Bonus Tip: Take a long lunch break. Most creatives I’ve talked to say they have 3–4 hours of productive work before they need a longer break. For me, this is usually a 2-hour lunch break. Don’t be afraid to do the same.)
7. Create “Creativity Triggers”
Another concept from Ian’s course:
Similar to the idea of conditioning your brain to be creative at the same time every day…
It’s also helpful to use “triggers” to condition your brain to be creative.
This can take multiple forms, but for me, it involves listening to the same music…
And even wearing the same type of clothes / accessories when I really need to knock shit out (a hoodie and computer glasses).
Sometimes, the words come more easily, and I don’t need to do either of these things. But since going through Ian’s course, I’ve done them so often that my brain knows that if I’m wearing a hoodie and my computer glasses and listening to UTAH…
Then it’s time to write.
It’s a great strategy to have in your back pocket.
Finishing The Work
For me, the last 10% of a project is the hardest part.
It’s become much easier to get a rough draft down on paper. But officially calling something “done?”
I break out in hives at the thought.
Here are a few things to make finishing a creative project a little easier.
1. Walk Away
If you can, take some time away from the project.
Ideally, this would be at least a day or two (but probably not more than 5 days).
Give your subconscious brain some time to chew on it. And then come back and wrap it up.
Looking at the project with fresh eyes will help you finish it with much less headache.
2. “95% Done” Is Probably Good Enough
If you’re a creative person with a Type-A personality, you are likely good at your craft…
But you might be bad at putting the “done” stamp on things.
The reality is that “95% done” is probably good enough. (Unless we’re talking about open heart surgery or structural maintenance on a pedestrian bridge.)
That doesn’t mean you should cheat your clients or that you should slack on your work. It just means that, if you normally review a project 10 times before you send it to a client…
You could probably cut that number down to 2 and it would be just fine.
And That’s It…
Creativity is not a mythical unicorn that only wanders into your yard during a full blood moon on Saturn’s return or whatever.
It’s a wild horse, but with enough sugar cubes, guidance, and persistence…
You can train it to start showing up on a regular basis. And maybe it’ll even help you get some work done every once in a while.
If you’ve made it this far, you’ll probably enjoy my emails too.