Build Your Schedule Around Your Creativity
"Everything has seasons, and we have to be able to recognize when something’s time has passed and be able to move into the next season. Everything that is alive requires pruning as well, which is a great metaphor for endings." ~ Henry Cloud
Every cycle is one of creation and destruction. Something is born and something dies or withers with every turn of the day, the moon, and the seasons.
Our creativity naturally ebbs and flows.
We are not machines. We cannot "produce" continually and consistently. And arguably, even machines have their own maintenance and life cycles.
Let's face it. The archetypal 9-5 schedule doesn't really work for anyone. And it definitely doesn't suit anyone engaged in any sort of creative work.
That doesn't mean careening off the other end of the extreme and having no schedule whatsoever.
Instead, how would it be for you to create a schedule that works around your rhythms and natural flow of energy?
Why would you not? Why would you force yourself into a schedule that not only doesn't work for you, but that actively works against you?
BUILD YOUR SCHEDULE AROUND YOUR CREATIVITY
Rather than treating your creativity as something that's only out to play once all the serious tasks are done, let your creativity shine and fit the other tasks around that.
Pay attention to the times of the day and the days of the week and month when you feel at your most creative.
When are the times you need to rest? When is your creativity served by fallow time to allow your body to regenerate to germinate the seeds of the next ideas? Like plants, we also need dormant time in order to bloom and grow.
Embrace that and work with it instead of against it - as much as you are able to.
Notice how your creativity ebbs and flows with the seasons. Maybe you feel full of energy and ideas in the Summer or perhaps this is the perfect time for you to have creative downtime and to use your energy elsewhere. Summer is so often a time of being outdoors and with friends, enjoying the good weather, that it can be a really unproductive time for us. On the other hand, the slower pace of Winter with its invitation to turn inwards might be the fertile ground you need for the ideas to spring forth.
You're seeking the path of least resistance. Find that place of openness and simplicity where you blossom.
When we stop fighting the natural ebbs and flows in our creativity, when we stop trying to stifle ourselves with all the things that have to be done first, we open ourselves up to growth.
It will never be perfect. There will always be obstacles, commitments and roadblocks. The goal is not to execute the ideal schedule but to have a framework by which you can better understand your own experience.
“Whenever a river reaches the ocean, it waits to go back.”
~ Will Advise
To start embracing your creative rhythms, download my free Getting Started with Cyclical Living guide complete with cycle tracker and guide to making the most of each “season”.