Creative Productivity Is a Habit

(Psst — that’s good news!)

Let’s get clear on one thing right off the bat, shall we?

Whatever it is you do — write, blog, paint, sketch, choreograph, consult, coach, design, develop, make, literally whatever — you can do more of it without sacrificing quality or vision or passion or any of those awesome things that make it all worthwhile.

It’s possible. It’s feasible. It’s entirely within your control.

You can stop procrastinating.

You can stop getting sidetracked by distractions and busy work and errands and interruptions.

You can focus.

You can work harder and smarter, simultaneously — and you can do this without risking burnout.

You can do this because you’re in the lovely state called “flow,” where the work doesn’t feel like work and there’s an almost blissful sense of rightness to your actions and thoughts.

All the pieces just … fit.

What does it take to reach this creative nirvana?

Brace yourself for the irony …

It takes the drudgery of consistent, sustained effort over time.

Who said God doesn’t have a sense of humor?! I mean, that shit’s hilarious!

Check out what Todd Brison wrote recently on this subject (emphasis in the last line is mine):

So slowly but surely, I wrote. It felt like everyone else was racing by. What I didn’t realize was this: for every week I continued, dozens of other people quit.

For 41 posts, nothing much happened.

The 42nd post changed my life.

Consistency beats talent, good intentions, and — if I’m completely honest — it often beats quality.

This is why writing for 30 minutes every.single.day produces better results than writing for four hours one day a week.

This is why ballet dancers take barre classes every.single.day.

This is why singers warm up with vocal exercises every.single.day.

This is why, whatever you do, you must do it consistently. Over time. Sustained effort.

And as Todd pointed out in his piece, the key word in that phrase isn’t “effort” — it’s sustained.

As it turns out, productivity — by which I mean “the personal power to produce a piece of creative work” — is a freaking habit, y’all.

And like any habit under the sun, good or bad, it can be developed.

When it does, habit carries you. Like the driver of a subcompact coasting in the turbulent wake of a huge 18-wheeler on the interstate, you can save your own energy for the stuff you really need to do, instead of directing it all towards just showing up on the page or at your desk, or wherever you do the creating.

It can also be broken, if you’re not careful. Fall out of the habit of creating — writing, choreographing, painting, producing, whatever — and you no longer get to drift along in the wake of habit’s powerful forcefield.

That’s why it’s so hard to get back into the habit of working on your art, after a long break.

You broke the habit.

The good news: You can reform it. Those psychosocial and biological associations are still there in your body! You just have to — say it with me, now! — put in some sustained effort to strengthen those neural pathways and connections.

Make the habit-forming easier with additional associations. A particular type of music, for instance, or a specific scent; I use one of those plug-in air freshener things, others prefer candles, and either will work. Just make it the same scent every time.

It’s the repetition that’s key.

When X happens, you create — where “X” = anything from “light the candle” to “play the music” to “bang the gong.”

Pretty soon — sooner than you might think, really — that X action will automatically make you want to create.

But to get there, you have to bring one thing to the table:

Consistent, sustained effort over time.

Photo credit: kirikiri — Performing Night via photopin (license)