Creative people have a bad reputation. We have a perception that we are unorganized messes. The problem with this idea, is that being creative takes a lot of focus and concentration if you ever want to ship your creations.
Getting your creative art out in the world is hard work. It takes a huge amount of focus to dream, create, refine, and develop. The process can be long, tiring, frustrating. But for any creative person who knows the joy of shipping a complete work of art, it is all worth it.
A few simple ways to stay focused:
Create a daily to-do list.
I have a small Moleskine that I carry in my back pocket wherever I go. I keep it handy so I can jot down ideas as they come, but more importantly, I keep my daily to-dos in the last page. Once the day is done, I rip out the page and move old items to a new list.
Stay off of social media.
This one is hard for me. I find myself spending a lot of time on Dribbble and Facebook. So I found a tool call Anti-Social (http://anti-social.cc/) that will block these sites for set periods of time.
Batch similar work together.
I break up my daily workload in to batches to stay focused. I lump all my photoshop work into a set time for the day. Same with any coding, checking email, or blogging I am doing. By putting similar tasks together, you can say focused on being creative.
Do one thing at a time.
Multi-tasking is a lie. We can’t do it. Our brains can really only focus on one thing well. So, close out your IM clients, your distractions, and just focus on one item at a time.
What are you focused on today? Are you pushing off your creativity because you are afraid that you will never be able to get it right?
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