Productivity for Creatives A. N. Sage

We live in an era where creativity is glamorized and out on a pedestal. Scrolling through social media, I find myself constantly bombarded with ads and false messaging all encouraging people to take on a creative career to free themselves of the shackles of a nine to five. When I see yet another ad pop up on my screen, I feel like Alice in Wonderland staring down a table full of goodies with a mad hatter at the mast.

With creative entrepreneurship on the rise, it is easy to get caught up in the hype but it’s important to remember that working in a creative field is not just about freeing your mind and having brunches with your socialite friends. It is hard work! Harder than some might have you believe as it strips you of your creative juices faster than you can blink on some days.

Being a writer and creative entrepreneur, I have had to learn how to balance my creativity with productivity in order to prevent consistent burnout. It was difficult at first, mostly because I too got caught up in the whirlpool of false promises at a very young age. When I first graduated with a photography degree many years ago, I walked out into the world with sparkly eyes and a fierce determination to share my art with the world. It wasn’t long before I realized that without a proper planning system in place, I was going nowhere; and fast!

It took years of honing my skills and teaching myself to balance my right and left brain in order to turn my creativity into a full-fledged career. What I found in my persistent quest for productivity as a creative is that planning is at the core of running any creative business much like it is if you were working in any other field. It is through proper mindset training and integrated procedures that you can give yourself the freedom to be creative in a way that propels your business forward.

While there are many things I do on a regular basis to guarantee a constant flow of creativity,

There are a few keys elements to running a successful creative business that I’d love to share with you today.

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The below has worked wonders for me when I needed structure the most and if you can implement even a few of them into your life, you will find yourself achieving your goals much faster and with more ease.

1. Use a planner! Jotting down notes like a mad scientist on random scraps of paper might look stellar in movies but in reality, having a place to go where you organize your days is key to staying consistently creative. Find a planning system that works for you and stick to it. Refer to your planner daily and use it as a life raft when you feel overwhelmed. I use a ring-bound system as it allows me to structure my planner to my exact needs and make sure to plan my goals and daily tasks by assigning time slots to each one. With such, I am never over-scheduling myself. There is nothing more gratifying than ticking off a task done at the end of the day!
2. Find your community. This one can be daunting when you’re just starting out, and you might feel like it’s the first day of school and you’re trying to find a seat in the chaos of the first period, but it’s important to surround yourself with people of a similar mindset. You can find your community in many places. Join Facebook groups that relate to your creative field, chat with people on Instagram or look out for posts on local meetups with like-minded individuals. Having a group of people that understand you can be the most inspiring thing in the world and you will be surprised how much more productive you can be when there are others cheering you on.
3. Take regular breaks from creative work. Remember that planner? Make sure to schedule in intervals of creative work instead of a full day with back to back energy-sucking activity. Go for walks or if you want to keep working, alternate office work and catching up on emails with being creative. Trust me on this, nothing will make you crave being creative again like running spreadsheets for an hour.
4. Turn the phone to silence, get rid of any distractions and hide away from interrupting family members. Unplug. Give yourself space to create without outside influence and connect with what it is that you want to do. It might be daunting, and a little too quiet, but soon your mind will take over and lead the way. All you have to do is let it!
5. With that said, it might be difficult to get rid of every distraction; after all, we live in an era when being connected is at the forefront of everyone’s mind. It’s important to train your mind to think and stay creative and focused in different situations. When I was still working in a full-time job, I taught myself to disregard noise. I wrote on my lunch breaks at my desk, resisting the urge to talk to those around me. I took my laptop to coffee shops and didn’t put my headphones on. I even stashed a notebook in my car and scribbled in it in parking lots. Anything to make sure my mind was always focused on the task at hand.

Running a creative business can be the most gratifying thing in the world but you have to remember that unless you’re doing this as a hobby, it is still a business. And businesses take work and continuous learning to succeed. So give yourself space for balance, be creative but also be organized. Your productivity is key to achieving your goals and continuing to push for your own success.

Have a magical rest of the day and stay creative!

If you’d like to connect, you can find me at the below haunts:

Author website: https://ansage.ca/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/a.n.sage/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ansagewrites

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ANsageWrites

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18901100.Alexis_N_Sage

Need a planner? https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/FableAndYarn

Come join me on my weekly podcast! Plan, Create, Achieve is tailored for the creative entrepreneur and offers weekly tips and motivation for anyone looking to succeed in the creative field. https://plancreateachieve.buzzsprout.com/

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