Maximizing Creative Energy
Part 1: Be intentional about your approach to work
I’ll admit it; I’m a fly by the seat of my pants kind of person. I think part of why I was driven to creative work in the first place is that in addition to making things, I love ambiguity, a lack of rules, and the absence of absolute rightness. I find excitement in being able to follow the thread of inspiration without knowing or really caring too much about where it will take me. But when it comes to actually getting sh*t done before my natural enthusiasm wears off and leaves me in a puddle of “I’d rather do anything, but that,” I have to hold my feet to the floor. Before we get into all that, let’s talk about creative energy as concept.
What is creative energy?
There’s no one agreed upon or scientific definition, but this one from the Glitter Guide resonates with me:
Creative energy… [is] very personal, but it’s at the essence of all creative work. It’s a tireless impulse to absorb and discover new things. It’s a drive to create and break boundaries, bring joy and connect to others.
In a professional context, I think of it as a readiness and enthusiasm to get in the mud with your colleagues and do the hard work of making something.
Where does it come from?
Like the previous definition says, “it’s very personal,” but I think for most makers it’s built in, it’s innate, we were born with a strong desire to make stuff. But, even so a whole host of things can bring that energy up or pull it down. Maybe your dog is sick, you didn’t sleep well, your toddler threw your whole breakfast on the floor, or you haven’t had any alone time between 6 straight hours of zoom calls. Maybe you just had a great workout, the sun is shining, you had a bonding moment with a teammate, or you had an epiphany about a problem you’ve been struggling with for a week.
Take a moment to check in. Out of 10, how would you score your creative energy in this moment? What’s making you feel that way? How about your team? How’s their energy? Does it match yours? As an aside, I’ve found it very helpful to check in with myself and my colleagues on creative energy at the start of each week before we dive into deep work together.It’s a great way to connect and care for each other as a team.
While Greek mythology attributed the fleeting creative magic power to be bestowed by the beautiful Muses, I imagine something closer to a temperamental satyr with the voice of Danny DeVito. Creative energy can feel totally unpredictable. The problem is, when creativity is your job, waiting and hoping for Danny DeVito to get his sh*t together doesn’t quite cut it. You need to harness the energy regularly, especially when the pressure is high.
4 step approach to harness your energy
Step 1: Make a plan.
Super simple, super obvious, and super tempting to skip. However, the great thing about making a project plan for your creative work is that it front-loads the answer to the question “how am I (or we) going to get from nothing to the thing?” Having that predictability and understanding of what’s next takes a big load off your mind, so you’re not constantly trying to figure out what you should be doing in that moment, what comes immediately after, or when you need to have things done. Get it all done up front, to let your mind breathe. Try project level plans, as well as make a plan for your week each Monday to keep you on track.
Step 2: Commit time to the important stuff.
Over the past year, I’ve become a big fan of Todd Henry’s podcast the Accidental Creative. He’s got a number of episodes about time blocking strategies and in each one he makes an important distinction between urgent work, the stuff that needs to get done soon, and important work, the stuff that’s going to make a big impact. Stating that if you don’t block time to the things that are important, the time will almost ALWAYS be eaten by the urgent work. We all have agency over our schedule, to put time into our important work. A lot of times it’s a matter of taking that agency and setting boundaries to protect it. From his article Get Productive with Time Chunks,
Many of us lack the kind of latitude over our schedule that we’d like to have, but all of us have some discretion about how we spend our time. The best way to prevent distractions and make steady progress on your most important work is to dedicate predictable time to it.
🔈 3 time blocking strategies that unleash great work
🔈 Get productive with time chunks
As a personal example, I live in the central time zone and work for a company based in pacific time. As we’ve grown, more of my team members also work remotely from the central or eastern time zone. However, my mornings are the best time for my deep thinking and to work on important things that are not time sensitive. So, while I could have some of my routine meetings earlier in the morning, I protect that time by listing it as outside of my working hours on my calendar.
Step 3: Balance your project mix.
I thoroughly enjoy creating so much, that I’ve chosen to be creative both at work and in my free time. On the surface there’s probably not a lot of similarity between my sewing projects (learning to play a new song, cooking, or whatever crafting activity I come up with for my 5 year old) AND my professional work as a product design leader. However, if I look at them through the lens of weightlifting (another hobby of mine) a pattern emerges.
Low resistance work. You might think of this as your cardio. This is the type of work you can plow through. There’s not much in the way of barriers (resistance). You have skill, competence, and have done it many times. There’s not a lot of decision-making to be done. You start and you go. While it might sound nice to have a lot of this work on your plate, it’s typically very satisfying for a while, but just like going for a run, gets very boring and starts to wear you out from the sameness of the whole thing.
- Sewing — Making oven mitts from the pattern I’ve used on 3 different occasions
- Design — Doing a design audit on an existing digital product and developing a set of recommendations for a client
High resistance work. Think of this as a HEAVY weightlifting. Perhaps it’s high resistance because you have never ever done this before and there’s so much to learn it’s like drinking from the firehose. Maybe it’s because you have to get a lot of people on board with the direction or it’s very political. You may have to amp yourself up for this kind of work with bracing and deep breathing. While this work is exhausting, it is often the most thrilling. Just like setting a personal record on a heavy lift, successfully moving forward on a high resistance project can give you a personal growth and satisfaction that you just won’t get from low resistance work. This is the type of stuff we are here for! But, it’s no joke.
- Sewing — Creating my own quilt pattern, figuring out the math and methods, seeing it through to a finished product
- Design — Creating company level success metrics to evaluate user experience on a deeper level to help us prioritize work
Stretch work. Just like stretching improves your muscles ability to move, this type of creative stretch work is meant to help reach just beyond your current capabilities to develop your skills. It’s not quite as tough as high resistance because you have experience and a foundation to build from, but it’s slower than low resistance because you are learning while doing. For example, if you’re learning how to animate, you might have to stop, watch a couple of YouTube tutorials, and tinker around for an hour or two before you land where you wanted to. While it might be attractive to take on stretch work continuously and focus your energy here to pursue personal skills growth, your overall resulting experience may feel underwhelming. You don’t get the large personal growth from being in the trenches with high resistance nor do you get nearly the number of “at bats” or repetition you will get with low resistance work.
- Sewing — I’m currently dabbling in doing my own machine top stitching to finish some small scale projects
- Design — Reading creative leadership books and trying what I learn in practice
From experience, I can tell you that taking on more than one high resistance project at once is a bad idea. They take a vast majority of your brain power and are slow moving. Trying to jump between 2 particularly heavy lifts is a recipe for overwhelm and a feeling of creative helplessness. As that phrase goes, innovation happens in the white space, and by packing full, you’ve left yourself none. It’s best to balance that work out with something you can jump into quickly (low resistance) when you need a break and to charges your battery with the joy of progress. Another great combination is low resistance work and stretch work. You get a little bit of challenge from stretching your skills, but it’s not all consuming. The low resistance work can give you the necessary pauses to reflect on what you’re learning. Just remember, you need a little bit of each type of work to stay alight in their energy and experience because they each provide you something different, but appropriate timing and amount is up to you.
Step 4: Reflect on what lights your fire.
I love high resistance work. It has a gravitational pull on me that I can’t quite explain, but I find myself there over and over again. Even from a young age, I remember the look of panic in my mom’s eyes when I would pick a new project from the craft store. It was inevitably something vastly beyond my skill level and two or three times the size my mom was thinking. Lucky for me, she would indulge me and very patiently work with me through the parts of the project in which I was losing steam and confidence.
That however, is not everyone’s cup of tea. To keep your creative energy glowing bright, it’s important to know what lights you up and lean into it. Maybe it’s a certain resistance, maybe it’s living in the details, or talking to people about what you’ve made, etc. Name it and follow the light.
Alright. There you have it! Four steps to harnessing your creative energy. Where to begin? Start simple with what you can control, going in any order you like. Perhaps today, you could block some time on your calendar within the week to make a plan for the work right in front of you. Or maybe take a few minutes to identify what type of work you’re doing. Ask yourself, “does it feel energizing or draining?” Look at that, you’re already on your way to taking care of your creative energy. Happy making!
Part 2: Lean on coaches & cheerleaders coming soon!
