Creative Time Management

If you're reading this anywhere in the United States of America, then you know that tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  (For those of you not in the U.S., it's still Thanksgiving, just not for you.)  Thanksgiving is a time for family, for friends, for food.

Thanksgiving is also the time when they and the rest of the world will conspire to derail your creative output.

Yes, Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for many things, while at the same time wishing all those things would just go and leave you alone because you really would be much more thankful if you could get some work done on your novel, composition, or artwork.  What's a Creative to do?

A Creative needs to apply his creative abilities to the problem and come up with some Creative Time Management.  The myriad ways this can be done are far too numerous to list in a single blog post, so I'll just give you some suggestions here:

Feign Illness -- This can range from the mundane ("I'm not feeling so hot, I think I need to go home/lie down/take a walk") to the Championship Level Illness-Feigning (putting a hand to your mouth and dashing off in the general direction of the nearest bathroom).  Then, once you're out of eyesight, sneak off somewhere to get your creative time in away from the prying eyes of all those who don't want to catch whatever disease you've got.

Become Selective in Your Hearing -- Sit down -- preferably in the middle of everything -- and dive into your project.  Ignore everyone who comes in and speaks to you, whether they're telling you dinner is ready or the house is on fire.  If they physically stand before you and become impossible to ignore, look at them, watch their lips move, then nod until they go away, at which point you can turn back to your work.

Cultivate Radical Forgetfulness -- Wait until someone gives you a job to do ("Would you go set the table?") and then wander off, past the table, to your workspace and get some work done.  When confronted about the mental lapse, either apologize and go do what you were asked to do in the first place, or become selective in your hearing (see above).

Damn the Torpedoes and Full Speed Ahead -- Pretend that Thanksgiving (or any other holiday-observance-occasion-interruption) is just another day, and go ahead and do your work like it is.  Sit down at your desk, work your minutes and hours, write your pages and measures, and then go spend some quality time with family and friends, secure in the knowledge that you haven't neglected your art, and can now spend uninterrupted time with those closest and most dear to you. 


Whatever method you choose, make sure you do spend your time being creative, no matter the interruption or schedule.  It can feel very selfish to carve out this time when everyone else has other things on their mind, but in reality, it's a testament to your love and concern for those you care about.  We can't be true to ourselves, we can't be authentic, unless we're doing what we're called do to.  If we ignore our true selves -- if we put off our creativity because of the date on the calendar or the time on the clock -- we're lying to others about who we really are.  At best this will cause us some minor discomfort and resentment; at worst, we'll become unbearably cranky to all those around us, so much so that they'll start to dislike us intensely. 

Carve out your time -- even if only a half hour or an hour -- to do your creative work, today and every day.  You'll thank yourself for it, your friends will thank you for it -- the whole world will thank you for it.

Except the turkey -- at least today, he's not thankful for much of anything....