“Get The Nails Out Of Your Head”: How Can Creative People Learn Not To Rip Off Deadlines?

To the question: “When will you send a proposal with ideas/drafts/layouts?” you can often hear answers: “This is a difficult task, it requires concentration and search….”, “It takes time to realize the task and find a suitable expression…”. And it also happens: I overslept, forgot, switched to something else … The customer is nervous, the terms are all postponed and postponed. How can this be influenced?

Don’t mix execution and organization.

The example of many famous creative people shows that the division into rationalists and irrational is an attempt to get away from the question “Are you an organized person or not?” It is a very easy and simple position to say: “I am irrational, so this is how everything is spontaneous with me.” It doesn’t matter if you are rational or irrational, because you are either organized or you are not.

Judging by myself — I am an organized irrational. And for my part, I will give some advice to creative people who want to organize their lives:

Create an atmosphere conducive to your creativity. Observe yourself for a couple of weeks, notice when it works best for you — in the morning, in the afternoon, or in the evening; where you are, when the best ideas come to you, and where you are. This observation is greatly facilitated by a small notebook or application on the phone.

Book time for work. Creative work is often difficult to divide into separate tasks. Therefore, schedule your work for the times when you are most productive. And never break that plan. Do the rest of the tasks when you are “scattered”.

Get the nails out of your head. Record all tasks/problems/questions in a task tracker (for example, in Wunderlist or something similar). Everything that comes to mind should be written down and forgotten — our brain works with very little information if something gets in the way in our head — this reduces productivity and creativity.

Don’t mix execution and organization. First, organize the tasks to be completed (by project, context, area of ​​activity), and only then do it. Take what now seems more attractive/interesting.

Use the GTD system. It is the best suited for organizing disparate projects, ideas, problems, tasks. One has only to learn.

Add 2–3 key volumetric tasks to your calendar.

Irrationalists have a lot of plans in their heads because there are a lot of interesting things in the world. Each new lesson gives a feeling of variety, freshness, and drive. But all is well only at the start, and then difficulties appear, the fuse drops, and as a result, the matter is often not brought to the end.

And on the one hand, we have the inclination and motivation to work in multitasking mode, on the other hand, we have a series of missed deadlines and unfulfilled projects. But there is good news as well. An irrational who has learned to live with his own peculiarities finishes things perfectly.

It is very important that someone with the irrational is there to help organize work and daily routines using techniques that are appropriate for the individual. This is not a general to-do list for the week.

It is much more efficient to add 2–3 key volumetric tasks to the calendar. It is better to write small operational tasks in a notebook and, upon completion, tear out the page and throw it away (this will allow “unloading”). If you need to do something quickly, and you can do it right now, do so.

In fact, we are all irrational.

People tend to exaggerate their ability to think rationally. In fact, we are all irrational — and this is a proven fact. Almost 95% of decisions are made by our archaic system of thinking, which tends to choose the most simple or intuitive (and often wrong) alternatives.

The rational system “turns on” slowly. And many in their attempts to increase their effectiveness with the help of the “wrong” tools fall into a psychological trap. At best, it threatens that everything will remain as it was. At worst, disappointment, apathy, or even anger will be added to your set.

Among the methods for increasing personal efficiency, one of the few that takes into account the irrationality of the brain is the Getting Things Done system. It helps to cope with large information overloads, lack of attention, and concentration — all those that so often interfere with the emergence of fresh ideas.

If you feel that you are not using all the possibilities, not all the energy, do not expect that everything will change itself one day. The first and most important step is to realize that you can do much more.