The Woods And The Trees

Share this post

The balance of feeling creative and being productive

veronicawoodquerales.substack.com

The balance of feeling creative and being productive

How I work with this to get the job done

Veronica Wood Querales
Aug 15, 2022
Share this post

The balance of feeling creative and being productive

veronicawoodquerales.substack.com

My ability to get the job done comes down to two things: Feeling creative and being productive.

The thing about having a “creative” job is that no one feels creative 100% of the time. When I was working as an office temp in the 00s and daydreaming about a creative career, I imagined a constant flow of ideas and words. And now I am in this (very privileged) position, I have learned that creativity is fragile and unpredictable. In my case, it’s not linked to stress; I have had some of my best ideas when I am very busy and under pressure. And it can’t be forced; if I make time to be creative, I can guarantee it will elude me.

Like many people, I also don’t feel productive 100% of the time. This is something I have more control over, as productivity tends to come and go with my energy levels. But still, it goes up and down and I have to adapt to how I feel.

If you like this post, subscribe for free and get new posts straight to your inbox.

This is how I work around the ebbs and flows of what’s on my mind and the urge to do something about it:

1. I feel creative and I’m being productive

When I feel creative, ideas rush around my mind with little effort. I’ll have 100 campaign ideas for each client, a visualisation of how it’s going to work and a random desire to re-decorate a room in my house. When this feeling aligns with a productive mood, this is the very best version of me. It often coincides with taking on a new project or when I have learned something new that I want to try out.

I reserve this time for campaign planning as this needs creative input for messaging and structure, and the productivity spurs me on to set up the rollout, scheduling and metrics.

2. I feel creative but I’m not being productive

Having ideas without feeling compelled to do anything with them usually happens when I am travelling home after a thought-provoking meeting, or when I am tired. I’ll make a note of all the ideas that come to mind so that I can action them when I feel more productive.

However, there is one task that I love to do when all I want to do is write, and that’s brand messaging. I let the ideas flow onto a page without thinking of how it’s going to be presented (which inevitably will distract me from the words).

3. I don’t feel creative but I’m being productive

When I am being productive I want to tie up loose ends and put things in order. Previously, I have found myself re-organising files and clearing out my inbox in this mood, but I have learned that what I should really focus on is formulaic marketing tasks. The ones where good is better than perfect, I’ve got a template, and I’ve done it 1000s of times before.

For me, this is writing social media and blogs. 90% of the time, this just needs to follow the research and the content plan, and I’ll be thinking about how I can repurpose and reuse the content again and again.

4. I don’t feel creative and I’m not being productive

Ah, the danger zone. When I can’t think and I don’t feel like doing anything, I do my admin. Accounting, filing, responding to overdue emails and setting up meetings all happen when I’ve got downtime between meetings or I can’t focus on anything more complex than a simple task.

I can guarantee that in any given week, I will experience every combination of feeling creative and being productive and as much as possible, I plan my schedule around this.


Atomic Habits

The link between creativity and productivity has been on my mind as I spent the majority of last week feeling distinctly un-productive and un-creative. This led me to download the audiobook of Atomic Habits by James Clear which has reignited my need to address my worst habits for productivity - my phone, social media and too many meetings. I’ve also realised that last week’s slump was likely caused by the UK heatwave. I’ll report back on habits next week.

Thank you for reading The Woods And The Trees. This post is public so feel free to share it.

Share

Share this post

The balance of feeling creative and being productive

veronicawoodquerales.substack.com
Comments
TopNewCommunity

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2023 Veronica Wood-Querales
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing