Without quality time management, many things will suffer because they will not be done on time. Do you often have the feeling that your time is constantly slipping away and that there is nothing you can do? Or that you never arrive in time to finish until the due date? You are not an isolated example. Most people have trouble organizing their own time. The reasons are various. But one thing is for sure, we can’t extend the day. We have twenty-four hours at our disposal and we must make the most of them.
Time management is an ability that someone is born with, but there are very few of them. It is much more likely that it is a learned and acquired skill to be able to meet all goals, both personal and business.
Yet there are certain people who find it harder than others. And those are creative people, artists. The reason for this is the different way their brains work. First, they generally do not like discipline and the system. Second ideas and inspiration come across at random, without order or schedule. Creative people just follow their inspiration. But then it affects other things they won’t be able to do. If you have recognized yourself in this, then be sure to read the rest of the article, because we will give you time management tips for creative people. For more tips about time management feel free to check Spica.
1. Write down the schedule
Without a clearly defined and written schedule, there is a high probability that you will wander from one obligation to another, without even finishing one completely. Make your schedule, write it down and stick to it. That doesn’t mean you should have a 9 to 5 job or something like that you want to avoid. But still, there must be some order in which you will live. That way you will free up the most time to be creative. If you are very busy during the workweek, plan a weekend to make the most of it. It doesn’t matter what the schedule will be and whether you will be most active at night or during the day, it is important that you have one.
2. Get rid of unnecessary obligations
Think of this process as pruning trees. Cut off anything that takes your energy and time. The same goes for people. Don’t tolerate being exploited. Also remove psychic vampires from your life as you would remove a tree branch. You need to save as much energy as possible for creative work, and you will not succeed if people and obligations, that you can avoid, exhaust you.
3. Make priorities
In addition to writing down a schedule, write down a to-do list. And on it, sort all the obligations according to importance. It is important to know what our priorities are. Put what your priorities are at the top of the list and try to finish them as soon as possible. Also finish the things that are more time consuming first, don’t leave them for later because they will accumulate. Try to update your to-do list daily and that way you will always have everything under control. Take the example of writer Aaron Lynn. Although he is a writer and thinker, meaning a creative person, he has managed to strike a balance between creativity and planning. In this way he is able to constantly progress and even help others in these endeavors.
4. Try to limit distractions
There are so many distractions in our lives. Phone calls, interesting TV show, football game. Avoid constantly checking social networks, chatting and similar ways of wasting time. You have to limit distractions. Whenever you have something to do, turn off notifications and disconnect from the outside world. All smartphones have an option, which when you turn on you will be completely ready to focus on tasks.
5. Be realistic about how much time you need for a particular task
Have you heard of Parkinson’s Law? If not, we will explain to you now. Parkinson was a famous historian, who said that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”. And that should be avoided. Especially when it comes to creative people. Don’t give yourself or others too much time for something that can be done in less time. While we all often do this to reduce stress, this leads to us spending too much time doing something that can be done much faster. With creative people, this is especially pronounced because they will expand their task so much if they have too much time, that in the end it will become too extensive and it will look like there is no end.
6. Relax your brain before bed
In order to be able to rest, which is necessary for good functioning and creative work, you need to learn to relax your brain before bed. When you go to bed, try to relax and fall asleep. Never carry work to bed. First, you will lose the feeling that it is a place to rest and you will have trouble sleeping. And secondly, the brain will not relax, but will be in the creative process and it is very possible that you will not even notice that the whole night has passed and you have not slept at all.
7. Avoid multitasking
Multitasking may be a good thing for someone who works in HR or management, but it should be avoided in the creative process. Focus on one thing at a time. Do not try to do something creative and follow your inspiration at the same time, while simultaneously replying to e-mail and exploring a new art application. For optimal time consumption, avoid multitasking.
8. Perfection will cost you a lot of time
Of course each of us wants to be great. And that is certainly what we should strive for. But constantly striving for perfection will do us more harm than good. Nothing is perfect. Even the best masterpieces have flaws, but that does not impair their value. If you try to be a perfectionist for everything you do, you will lose an infinite amount of time that could certainly be used in a better way. Mistakes happen, correct only the big ones. Don’t waste time on the unimportant.
Conclusion
Although we know that it is very difficult for artists to plan something and therefore time management is part of it, still try to follow these tips, because they will help you a lot.
