Productivity for Creatives

As you all know by now, I’m a huge advocate of continued learning in a wide range of subjects and topics. That’s why Skillshare has become a firm favourite of mine, so you can only imagine my excitement when I saw Thomas Frank’s lesson “Productivity for Creatives: Build a System That Brings Out Your Best“.

A lesson in 2 of my 3 Es, was I dreaming? So, I grabbed my iPad, poured myself a drink and set down ready to take it all in. I was so excited by the prospect (no, honestly!) that I finished this lesson in one sitting.

The first key thing that Thomas talked about, is the fact that while many of us (no matter how ling we’ve been creating for) are amateurs, we need to think in a professional mindset. That means we work to schedules and systems. Inspiration doesn’t just hit, we need to plan our environment and systems to allow the inspiration to come to us, and then have the tools to react and create something.

Your environment is a major factor in providing the energy needed to start a task, so make sure you have everything to hand to do it. It’s amazing how you can’t write because you can’t find your favourite notepad, or lucky pen. Plan your environment and schedule accordingly so you can just down and get on with it!

So, I make sure that my desk is neat and tidy all the time, and I always have my iPad nearby to access notes and headphones so I can watch videos or listen to audiobooks without disturbing my family. For when I’m filming, I keep my camera and tripod all within arms reach so I can set it up ready.

Whatever you’re creating, and how you do it will dictate the tools you need to hand. For instance, I’m not an artist, so I don’t need paints and brushes etc. Although we’re acting like professionals, it doesn’t necessarily mean we have a professional budget. But we should work with the best tools we can afford, and prioritise new tools that can reduce the ‘friction’ in your system.

Friction is a term that comes up in productivity a lot, and at first I thought it was this fancy term that all YouTubers and bloggers used. But when you think about it, friction is the force applied by two objects moving in opposite directions, and always works against the object trying to move.

So, if you’re trying to get some website updates sorted, but your partner is using the only laptop you have to stream Netflix, then this is significant friction that is preventing you from carrying out your task. The obvious step here is to get a new device that will reduce the friction in your creativity.

But…It’s very easy to justify to yourself that you need the latest laptop to do this work, when actually, you could get a cheap tablet for your partner to watch Netflix on and freeing up the laptop. So think about it carefully, because we don’t want to sit in a net negative financial position before we even start.

I’m very lucky that I have all the tools I need (for now) so I’m making the most of what I have, even though they’re not perfect.

Once we have our environment, systems and tools in place, we just need to get on with the work. One way to help you move forward with this process is to enforce constraints or parameters on yourself. We’ve all been there, your essay needs to be in on Friday, and we get the bulk done on Thursday. Let’s face it, deadlines work.

So I use my calendar and To Do List to set deadlines for me that I try to hit, as well as number of my habits are reinforcing the work I do.

For most of us, this is a side hustle or new business of some sort, so we’re probably still working at least one job, and have family commitments etc too. I know I do. So maintaining our energy levels is a crucial part of acting like a pro.

Can you move some tasks around so you use your creative juices early on in the day, and complete some more mundane (read less demanding) work later in the evening? No matter what, we need to make sure that we are keeping an up to date an accurate log of jobs and tasks so we can keep on track of what we needs doing.

As I touched on earlier, I try to employ habits to carry out a number of tasks for me, so I don’t need to focus so dramatically on every single task. The same can be said for creating templates for your work, like you would do in Notion. This means that you have a framework to adhere to. I’m sure many of you have frameworks or policies and procedures for work, so why not employ some for your creativity too?

Delegation is one task I’m looking forward to getting to, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be as an employee. Can we use technology or other professional services to support us? For instance, you may hate ironing, and it takes up 3 hours of your Sunday. So could you get someone in to do your ironing? It may cost £30 (??), but how much is your time worth?

All in all, it was a great video, and I definitely learnt a lot from the lesson and immediately started using some of his ideas. The one part that really stood out for me was his concept of imitation. Why not copy those you look up, then we know the content is good, and allows us to concentrate on learning the techniques and skills rather than being creative from the very start. Just one word of warning, make sure you give proper credit where it is due.

I would definitely recommend taking this lesson, if you want to give Skillshare a go, then please follow this link to get a 14 day free trial.