Time Management for the Creative Mind

This is the first of series on Time Management for the Creative Mind. These post will be apart of the Let's Talk Business post that will be posted every Monday. I hope that you enjoy these post and will share them with your friends. You can share the post on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest with the buttons at the bottom of the post. 

For the first couple of weeks of school I was taking the girls to school and then once they are dropped off at school I would head to my local coffee shop. They have wi-fi and a great latte. (We live in the middle of nowhere now and don't have internet access at home so I had to work at either the local coffee shop or our library, Both of which are great but I preferred the coffee shop so I can have a little more conversation.)

I ended up there most of the day and luckily I was not the only one that did this. You have to live in town to get high-speed internet and so most people in the area come to the coffee shop or library to use the free wi-fi. I really loved the interaction and since we were new to the area it made me feel apart of the community.

I had a great spot there that I could sketch and work online and it really helped to have this time out of the house because I feel like I am more creative when I have to "go to" work, instead of just working at home.
After two weeks of working in the coffee shop an office space opened up inside a building next door to the coffee shop so with low rent and all utilities and internet included I decided that this is where I would be. I do still love to work in the coffee shop and will take my iPad mini there for a time and work some.

This is the biggest tips that I think I can give you to help you get to work are:

1. GET OUT OF THE HOUSE and go somewhere each day to work. Don't stay at home because if you do you will find way too many things that "need" to be done before you can start to work. Just go ahead and get dressed for "work" when you get the kids ready for school and go to "work" yourself. When you work for your self the solitary time can be a good thing but it can also hamper your creativity that you get by being around other people and the information on what if trending by being out in the world on a daily basis. You can gather so much information just by leaving your workspace behind and getting out and involving yourself with the people around you.
2. MUSIC AND HEADPHONES This is a great way to get work done without the distraction of what is going on around you when you are working out of the home. If you have Amazon Prime Music you can make your own playlist so that you can really listen to what gets you working instead of Pandora which seems to play a distracting song that I want to skip right when I am in the zone. I have created a couple of playlist that work great for what ever I am working on. If I need upbeat music for when I want to get a lot accomplished I can pick that playlist, but sometimes I need a quite playlist for when I really need to focus on the details and this really helps. I know that with Amazon Prime Music I am not going to have something that doesn't fit my mood at the time. This has really helped me to focus better as well. I know that music is not for everyone but it is what works for me and I really recommend that you at least give it a try. Even if you are at home in the studio or wherever you find the place to create this is a great thing to do so that you can block out the background noise. I also like to work with the music just playing when I'm in my studio space because the music will help you to keep in a good mood.I really like to choose music that will help me stay in a certain mood. If I am working with bright colors I like to work with upbeat music and if I have a more subdued palette I will work with a slower beat playlist. I really think that it helps to have something on in the background even if it is on very low because you will be able to focus more. Music always brings out the work because it helps to control my mood.
3. LIMIT YOUR SUPPLIES When you are out and about use the minimal amount of supplies. I have a couple of sketch books and a small bag of pens and a couple of Pencils . This is a time for you to brainstorm and is not a time for you to create your next masterpiece. This will help you to focus on creative ideas and let you not worry about being perfect. I use the time being out to create lettering and sketches for pattern designs. I have found that working this just this small amount of supplies really helps me to get a lot of ideas out of my head and onto paper so that I can decide if they are worth working on them further. Sometimes a smaller amount of supplies will help to stretch your imagination and you will create something that you would have never done if you have to choose from a large amount of supplies. when you have too many supplies to choose from it takes away from the time you have to create by having too many choices.
4. KEEP YOUR TECHNOLOGY SMALL I have downsized to an iPad mini and after a little research I have found the apps that I can use on the iPad mini and be able to do almost everything that I can do on a full size computer.

• Here is a list of my go to apps:
• Inkpad
• Sketch
• Pages
• Keynote
• Numbers
• MailChimp
• Hootsuite

These really work to keep me organized and I can manage all of my social media platforms as well as create my email newsletter no matter where I am .

I work in 4-5 hour blocks and make a list of the tasks that I need to accomplish each day and I have been able to get most of it done each day with out much problem or distraction.

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I will see you again next Monday with another edition of Let's Talk Business.