Your Environment: Your Catalyst for Productivity

You'll find it much easier to avoid procrastinating on a project when you have an inviting, well-organized space for work and creativity.


A Reminder: Invest Time in the Following Areas: (They may seem obvious, but we sometimes forget anyway!)

~Clear out clutter from past interests. It's taking up precious physical and psychological space, and it's blocking the free flow of energy! Make elbow room for your current interests and projects.

~Stock up on supplies, tools, and materials that you'll need at hand.

~Set up a retrieval and reminder system that works for you. Using someone else's system could prove to be as useless as borrowing their eyeglasses!

~Make the space appealing so that you and your Muse will look forward to going there.

~Use a timer so that you can really get into a project without forgetting about when you need to stop.

~Back up your e-data regularly. (Obvious? You bet. But I don't do it nearly as often as I should!)


What You Can Expect in Return:

~Better Feng Shui

~Less Stress

~Less Time Wasted/Fewer Distractions/Better Focus

~Others trust your word because you can work efficiently and reliably. Tasks that need your attention will be less likely to fall through the cracks or run past their deadlines.

~You'll feel more centered and flexible.


A Bonus Step!

Once you've come this far, consider stepping up to the next level of low-stress living and working: proactivity. Always factor in extra time for miscalculations, interruptions, problems, technical difficulties, and the like.

I set target dates for myself that are well ahead of the actual deadlines. I don't always hit the target dates, but it saves a lot of rushing around just before (or worse, after) the deadline. This way of working has been a major stress reducer for me.


Please comment on your experiences while experimenting with your environment for increased productivity and proactivity!

Thanks,
Susan

S.P.P. (Shameless Postscript Plug! :-) )

My Latest Complimentary Session Offering!

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By phone or in person, we'll brainstorm around the topics below as they apply to YOU!

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~Leverage Your Space~

~Manage Your Time~

~Develop Your Strengths~

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Contact me at scleaver@dejazzd.com to set up your appointment.

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Give stress and procrastination the boot!

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***Member of TriCounty Community Network, a local human services resource at http://www.tcnetwork.info/.***

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***All of Susan's creative4life posts are copyright of Susan Cleaver.***

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Try an Art Marathon

National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo, is not for the faint of heart. If you dare, check it out at www.nanowrimo.org. The object of the game is to write a 50,000-word novel between November 1 and November 30.

Why would anyone do this to himself?? The folks at NaNoWriMo say, "By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create."

You may think there's a madness to their "method," but take a closer look, and you'll see the method to their "madness."

"NaNoWriMo is all about the magical power of deadlines," say the NaNoWriMo folks. "...the glow from creating big, messy art...lasts for a long, long time. The act of sustained creation does bizarre and wonderful things to you....And changes, a little bit, your sense of self."

Here's what I'd like to propose. Scale this idea down to what's manageable for you and apply it to any art form you choose. It's a great way to get rid of that nagging editor or art critic, etc., that chatters in your head. You simply outrun him.

Then dig through the rubble to find the chunks of gold hidden within!

To your success,

Susan

P.S. Do you have a deep thinker on your holiday list? Email me at scleaver@dejazzd.com to order my guided journal, The Whispering Heart. ($10 US; plus tax and shipping depending on where you live.) See the sample exercise below:

Treasures

"Life is a spiritual treasure hunt--when we are paying attention, we see that there are clues everywhere we look." --Sandra C. Brossman

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What treasures are you finding in your daily life?

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P.P.S. A big thanks to my son, Dave, for telling me about NaNoWriMo!