All posts tagged creativity

Want to be more productive? Get up early.

By on August 22, 2011 in Ideas with 5 Comments

People sometime ask how I get so much done.

In addition to my full time job at The Soderquist Center, I do a lot of freelance video projects, I helped start and run a website called WorshipVue, I co-founded Transparent Ministries, I write this blog, try to be a good husband, and I’m working on another little startup you’ll be hearing about soon.

Am I a workaholic? Um, maybe.

Do I have superhuman powers? Not that I know of.

Have I figured out how to clone myself? Creepy.

My secret is this: I start early in the morning. Really early. Like 5:00AM early.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. “But I’m not a morning person!” Well, I’m not a morning person either. Really, I’m not.

About a year ago, my wife Mandy started getting up really early to work on her doctoral courses and to prep for class. She was carrying a full load of both at the time (Just FYI, she does have superhuman powers). I started getting up when she got up and using those early morning hours to work.

My usual routine is to get up, take the dogs out, eat something, and be sitting at my desk in our study no later than 5:30AM. I work until about 7:30 and then get ready for the day.

What I discovered, crazy as it sounds, is that I’m more productive at 5:30AM than any other time during the day. My head is clear, everything is quiet, and the distractions of the day haven’t infiltrated my thoughts.

Now contrast 5:30AM to 10:30AM. I’m at work in my office. A constant stream of people walk by my window. I hear two or three conversations going on outside my door. Someone sends me an email and then comes by to make sure I got it. On average (I’ve timed it) someone pops into my office at least every 15 minutes. Some days it’s more like every 5 minutes.

I don’t say all that because it’s bad. I want to be available to people. They need me to be available. So I just reserve my “in the zone” work for the wee hours of the morning.

I accomplish more meaningful work in those two hours than I will the entire remainder of the day.

It’s not easy to drag myself out of bed that early. But I guess if it were easy, everyone would be doing it. Maybe you should try it.

How to be “creative”

By on January 11, 2011 in Ideas with 8 Comments

I’ve always wanted to be creative.

Most who know me would consider me a creative person. My friends would probably be surprised to know that, at least until recently, I didn’t consider myself a real “creative.”

Here’s why:

I used to think “creative” people needed to be high-strung, unorganized, spontaneous, never sleep and play the guitar.

This notion was first developed in high school. My “creative” friends smoked a lot of pot, played in bands, and seemed to have very creative ideas.

The perception continued to grow in college. It was considered a badge of honor to stay up all night working on creative projects for class. I had friends who seemed to pull abstract, brilliant ideas out of thin air. And, most of my “creative” friends played in a band.

Here’s me: I’m extremely understated. I like organization. I’m the opposite of spontaneous. I enjoy a regular sleep schedule. And I don’t play the guitar.

Dang.

What I’m learning, much to the credit of The 99%, is that the best creatives are actually very regimented. Their creativity comes as a result of tedious habits and relentless resolve.

For example, some say the key to productive creativity is getting up early, something that contradicts the brilliant night-owl-artist stereotype.

Take author John Grisham for example (from Scott Belsky’s Making Ideas Happen):

When he first started writing, Grisham explained in an interview with the San Fransicisco Chronical, he had “these little rituals that were silly and brutal but very important”:”The alarm clock would go off at five, and I’d jump in the shower. My office was five minutes away. And I had to be at my desk, at my office, with the first cup of coffee, a legal pad, and write the first word at 5:30, five days a week.” Grisham’s goal: to write a page every day. Sometimes that would take ten minutes, sometimes an hour; often he would write for two hours before he had to turn to his job as a lawyer, which he never especially enjoyed.”

So, for whatever it’s worth, remember that “creative” is not a label for a privileged few. It is available to anyone willing to do the work.

(Photo by Nasir Nasrallah)