racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

Is it possible to be creative on a deadline?

This is a question probably oft asked of us in the writing / designing / artistic lines of business. Sure, creative types unconstrained by deadlines and requirements—and bills to pay—can go ahead and take their time working on their masterpieces. But for us who rely on our talent and creativity to make a living (or earn our riches, perhaps), it’s a bit more difficult than that. There are times when you feel you’re uninspired and whatever you try to create just turns out as crap!

Kathy Sierra of Creating Passionate Users has this to say about creativity and the muse:

... creativity is not something you “wait for the muse to appear before starting.” ... you just sit down and start the hard work, and trust that it will happen, even if it doesn’t feel like it.

Or simply put,

When it comes to being creative, you have to make the first move!

Okay, this is pretty old—it’s more than one year since Kathy hit the publish button on that one. And I might have skimmed over that particular post when I first read it that time, as I was not yet in a creative line of work (well, semi-creative perhaps, but still mostly a corporate drone). But thoughts like these are timeless and will hold water until the time people cease to view creativity as a gift.

Kathy writes that it’s much more harmful if you just sit there and do nothing. So stop justifying that you’re waiting for inspiration! Sorry, buddy. That’s wrong. Just. Plain. Wrong.

It’s best of you start doing something—anything. Just make sure it’s not something routinary. What matters is that by doing something, your mind does some brainstorming (hopefully from the creative side) and before you know it you’re on to something.

I wrote awhile back on having blogger’s block, and in hindsight, I’d tend to think it wasn’t due to the muse not coming or my not doing anything at all (i.e., making the first move)—in fact, it was probably because of doing too much! Sometimes, even when you’re at the peak of inspiration, things just break down and, well, you get tired and sleepy and all that!

At any rate, I think what I’m trying to say is that if you’re having a hard time trying to squeeze out every ounce of creativity but it seems nothing good’s coming out, there’s probably something wrong. Maybe it’s time to take a little break. Relax. Do something else—anything else. Or maybe you can do things differently, hence jumpstarting your brain by looking at things from a different perspective. Things will start moving smoothly soon after you get back your flow.

So here’s to mind- and life-hacking and getting things done!

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