Sleeping on the Job: Creativity

Creativity doesn’t just happen. I’m at my best creatively while relaxed.

It isn’t that I can’t perform under pressure, but my A-game is when I have full access to my faculties.

I’m guessing many of you leapers might have a similar process. The details might differ, but the essence is likely the same. Unless, of course, you dig pressure. There are those who thrive under it.

I have a lot of pressure, but I need to redirect that energy.

Even before COVID, I had a home office and realize this allows freedoms not found in many office buildings. To relax, I’ll have familiar classic rock blasting as I write. Robert Plant and Jimi Hendrix are often my writing partners.

Recently, as I worked on some administrative matters, I ran Heroes on Netflix. That’s the 1977 movie with Sally Field and Henry Winkler, as well as the amazing Harrison Ford. Highly underrated movie.

• Or I’ll go for a walk here in hilly Georgia. I take a camera and enjoy the abundant fauna (deer, turtles, spiders — it seems like a zoo here)
• Or fire up the grill.
• Or nap. I might work into the quiet of the night. No phone calls or other such noise then.

Sometimes (often), I’ll pick around on an out of tune guitar or ukulele that I don’t know how to play. 

On the work side, I close my email when I need to focus. Sometimes, I set my laptop to airplane mode to shut off any notifications. I turn my phone off.

My client calls can sometimes go long as we sort out our goals. Sitting still isn’t my forte physically or intellectually so I, again, go for a walk. It keeps me alert and working on all cylinders.

I happen to love my work and the related pressures. Chilling, getting the mind not only away from the project at hand, but actively engaged in something else can refresh energy, ideas, and joy.

Then creativity can happen.

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