Being There for Your Dreams: Organizing the Creative Life

I have learned if I want to succeed in pouring energy and time into my creative dreams and goals on a consistent and sustained basis, I must first organize. It sounds contrary to that unruly middle-of-the-night flash of inspiration that gets pegged as creative genius. Certainly I have often worked at a messy desk in a messy study, burning with inspiration for thirty-six hours straight before passing out for two days. In retrospect, even those creative binges were supported and mused into being by previous disciplined, organized, sustainable endeavors.

So what do I mean by organizing?

• Space needs to be organized. Files must be in some semblance of functional order for keeping records, so I can find what I need when I need it. My office, or writing space, must be neat, efficiently organized, comfortable, and filled with the furnishings, items, and tools needed to accomplish the projects and goals planned. This can be as simple as a writing table with legal pads, pens, and pencils or as complex as a home office with computer, printer, video camera, recorder, etc. The important thing is that every item must fulfill a useful function that aids in attaining creative goals, even if that function is merely to encourage or to motivate. This helps to prevent distraction, and wasted time and effort.

• Time needs to be organized. It is beneficial to create a workable, yet flexible, schedule that sets time aside, regularly and specifically, for creative goals. Having done that, I absolutely have to honor that schedule. This means acting on goals in a disciplined manner. It is not necessary to be rigid, say always writing from 6 a.m. to 12 noon (although this is helpful to some), seven days a week. However if I have committed to write four hours a day, then I must make time daily to write for at least four hours total--barring truly important and temporary alterations. 

• Activities need to be organized. I must eliminate what distracts me from goals during creative time: procrastination and energy wasting activities (Facebooking beyond what is helpful for connecting, informing, and recreating), unimportant interruptions (nonessential phone calls and visitors), other people's drama, etc. We all want to be there for family and friends, but when "being there" for others begins to sabotage our being there for our own dreams and goals it's time to organize, or reorganize, other's access to our creative time. In addition, it's important to prioritize those activities that are crucial in accomplishing our goals. This means determining which activities will take us where we want to go, and how much time to devote to each. I won't go into that here except to say that success is created by balancing all necessary activities well--including filing and organizing.

• Supportive health and well-being behaviors need to be organized. We all need recreation, good nutrition, physical and mental exercise (quality books and magazines are great for this)...on a regular basis. Attending to these areas of wellness are a crucial part of producing sustainable energy to support our creative endeavors. Another key area is nurturing mutually supportive relationships and limiting exposure to toxic relationships--those that consistently drain us of our energy and vitality.

These are the foundational elements of organizing the creative life. They don't sound very fun, or creative, but without them few people can sustain a successful creative career. 

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy the following:

When Writing Gets Difficult
Prioritizing Tasks & Activities: Sometimes the Boring Stuff is the Container of the Well of Creativity
One Key to Increasing Creativity: Improv
Books Have Signatures - Should Writers?
For a Better Quality Break Time: Creativity Enhancing Goodies

eSolutions for Social Media Addictions
How to Get Back to a Daily Writing Habit After a Break