Creative writing and art
Why Creativity Plummets When You Struggle to Increase Productivity
‘Under pressure’ is akin to having thumbscrews forced on your digits
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Imagine this: You’re a comedian at a friend’s party, and she says “say something funny.” The room falls silent as all eyes are on you and people hold their breath in anticipation, waiting for you to fill the room with rip-roaring guffaws.
How do you feel? Ill-prepared and pressured like a stew in a pot, most likely. The stress of the spotlight in your face — especially when you had no idea it would turn your way — is immense.
Nobody enjoys being taken by surprise unless the results are super-rewarding. A surprise gift, that’s pleasant. A surprise place on life’s stage before you’ve picked out a suitable outfit and brushed your hair in the morning: Not so much fun.
‘Under pressure’ is akin to having thumbscrews forced on your digits. It’s painful in a rabbit in the headlamp kind of way. Your eyes are wide. You gulp. You desperately need to run away from whatever wants to hold you down or run over you.
Everyday stressful issues cause you to shift into fight-or-flight: That’s the state you experience when you need to run for your life, punch a shark on the nose so it doesn’t eat your leg, or play dead so the strolling tiger thinks your expiry date is up and moves to livelier pastures.
As far as creativity is concerned, productivity is a swear word. It’s all about reasoning, and it’s so, well, businesslike. Creative endeavors, on the other hand, involve free-thought, disengagement from too much logic, and self-expression.
When you think of productivity, after all, what do you see? A production line, perhaps, in a factory? A stale atmosphere, devoid of liberation and artistic whimsy?
Exactly.
Productiveness need not be like this, though. But the notion smacks of demands, a mean boss, machinery that grinds, and impossible deadlines.
When you put yourself under pressure to create, whether it’s a story, painting, or something else arty, you are in fight-or-flight. You experience the same stress you meet when your employer slams a flimsy report on your table and tells you to finish it before you can go home and enjoy your partner’s birthday party (the one you want to organize prior to them walking through the door that evening).
Your subconscious takes you to the time your math teacher made you stand on a chair in front of the class and recite the twelve times table and you furiously counted the answers on your fingers and toes in your head while your knees shook.
You couldn’t recall the right responses, although you knew them when you were alone. Because you were under pressure to perform, you flopped. Your face flushed, and you thought you’d never live that moment down (and you didn’t because it still bobs beneath your veneer).
Creativity loves sunshine and lightness. If it were on Tinder, its profile would go like this:
Frivolous sunbeam enjoys dancing, fun foods, rolling down hillsides, and climbing trees. Looking for a similarly minded playmate to share passionate embraces and gregarious frolics. Must wear hair loose, no shoes, and not give a hoot whether someone’s watching.
Productivity’s profile would look like this:
Orderly, conscientious hard worker seeks straight-laced, proficient, and professional partner willing to churn out perfection all day and night. Must wear a suit and unbearably tight tie.
Note the differences?
You can be creative and productive at the same time. But you can’t struggle to be so. You might paint hundreds of pictures in one evening or pen a best-seller before dawn. However, your urge to be productive didn’t get you there. In fact, you had to let your desire to deliver the goods fade. Then you replaced it with a playful ‘I just want to have fun’ attitude.
Aiming too hard to boost productivity doesn’t work for creative tasks. Make joy your goal rather than an abundance of toil, though, and positive results will flow.
Copyright © 2020 Bridget Webber. All rights reserved
