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6 Simple and Effective Ways to Optimize Your Creative Time

May 15th, 2012 by

Life gets busy. We can’t always devote as much time as we’d like to our creative endeavors. Short of inventing a time machine (which typically creates more problems than it solves), the best way to counteract this is by making the most of the time we get. Here are a few simple yet incredibly effective ways to make that happen.

This is NOT how we should treat our creative time.

1. Set Aside Time to Be Creative

There’s nothing wrong with having a casual, creative hobby to occupy spare time. However, if you’re serious about actually getting something done, be deliberate about it. Make it a priority and set aside time to focus on nothing else. Often, the problem is not how much time we have but how well we organize our time. A solid two hours in which you can gain some serious momentum is better than four hours broken up into scattered, fifteen-minute chunks.

2. Eliminate Voluntary Distractions (i.e., Don’t Try to Multitask)

We all hate unwanted distractions when we’re trying to concentrate. What we might not realize is how often we disrupt our own concentration by attempting to focus on more than one thing at a time. The idea that multitasking helps us get more done is incredibly popular but conclusively false. Time and again, research has shown that it actually produces the opposite effect. We are most productive and tend to be less stressed and less prone to error when we give one task our full attention.

As you take control of your creative environment, don’t be afraid to disconnect for a short while. Shut the door, turn off the ringer on your phone and close all of those Internet tabs that have nothing to do with what you’re working on. Remember, this is your time. You don’t have to let the world rob you of it if you don’t want to.

3. Take “Smart” Breaks

Taking breaks to refresh and reboot our minds is an important part of the creative process. If we’re not careful, however, a quick break can quickly become a colossal waste of time. Avoid this by taking breaks decisively and strategically. Rather than just letting your mind wander, consciously decide that you’re taking a break and set a time limit. It doesn’t need to be a long time, either. (Sometimes, just stepping away from the keyboard to get a glass of water is enough to shift my brain back into gear.)

Be careful to avoid “break activities” that might hijack your attention for longer than you intend. In other words, don’t watch TV. Don’t check your email or open Facebook if you’ll feel obligated to respond to every new message and post. Instead, distract your mind with an activity that doesn’t require heavy thinking or any significant time commitment. Listen to some music. Wash a few dishes. Take a walk around the block and enjoy the sunshine. Do anything but think about the thing you’re taking a break from. Even a few minutes of controlled distraction can go a long way toward refreshing your mind and re-invigorating your creative drive.

4. Get Enough Sleep

It can be tempting to sacrifice sleep in an attempt to get more done. (Ironically, I gave in to this temptation while trying to finish up this post.) In reality, just like trying to multitask, depriving yourself of sleep will produce exactly the opposite of the desired effect. In addition, it will take a heavy toll on your overall health and morale.

Sleep is not a luxury. It’s absolutely necessary for proper functioning of your body and mind. Sacrificing one or two waking hours in order to get enough sleep is an investment that will pay huge dividends. With your brain running at full capacity, you’ll be able to get more done in a shorter amount of time. Plus, you’ll feel great and be less stressed while you’re doing it.

5. Learn Your Daily Rhythms

I was skeptical of this one when I first heard of it, so I completely understand if you are as well. That said, putting it into practice has made me a believer. The basic idea is that we’re more effective at certain tasks during certain times of the day. If we can capitalize on those times when we’re “better” at certain activities, we’ll get more done in a shorter amount of time. For me, housework and other mundane tasks are easier in the morning. My optimum writing time spans from late morning to early evening. Evening is when I like to relax with my family and engage in more technical forms of creativity like website development. Once I figured out this rhythm, I found that I was able to get more done and was less stressed throughout the day.

6. Don’t Force It

Sometimes, no matter what we do, those creative juices just won’t flow when we want them to. If you’ve deliberately set aside time to be creative, this can be frustrating—even aggravating—but it’s not the end of the world. Try to use the time for something else on your to-do list. Hopefully, this will free up some time for you to try again later. In my experience, trying to force an unwilling mind to be creative has the same result as depriving it of sleep or asking it to multitask. (In other words, it doesn’t work.)

If you have any additional ideas for ways to optimize creative time, I’d love to hear them! Send me an email or leave a reply below.

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The Importance of Praying for Failure

Apr 30th, 2012 by

When God calls a believer to do something, it’s impossible for that person to fail.

Countless scripture verses attest to the above statement. God’s schedule might (and probably does) differ from ours. His definition of “success” might not be what we expect. However, if we live by His Word and faithfully develop the talents He’s given us, we will not—we cannot—fail.

If, on the other hand, the tasks we undertake are not of God, failure should be our highest hope. We should pray for Him to quickly show us where we’ve strayed from His will, to prune away the dead branches of our own ambition to make room for the ones that will bear a harvest. Those are the tasks that will fulfill our minds, nourish our spirits, and provide life-giving fruit for the world around us.

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A Titanic Centennial

Apr 15th, 2012 by

One hundred years to the day after the sinking of RMS Titanic, what could possibly be said about this famous and tragic event that hasn’t already been said? The story has become almost ubiquitous in the collective consciousness of humanity. It’s been told, retold, parodied, retold some more, and even turned into the setting for one of my favorite video games. Something about Titanic’s story sets her a league apart from other ships that have sunk. (For instance, until today I had never heard the story of the sinking of RMS Carpathia, the very ship that rescued the survivors of the Titanic disaster. In 1918, she was torpedoed down by a German sub while carrying Canadian and American troops to Europe. Thankfully, most of those on board abandoned ship and were rescued—narrowly—after the enemy sub was driven away by another British ship. A fascinating tale, in my opinion—one that is rarely ever told despite Carpathia’s famous connection to Titanic.)

Speaking personally, the story of Titanic has always filled me with a sense of wonder and awe. In some ways, the tale sounds almost too fantastical to be true. A luxury passenger liner—the largest ship in the world at the time, carrying some of the wealthiest people in the world—plummets to the ocean floor a mere four days into her maiden voyage. Despite her advanced engineering and safety features, she is ultimately brought down by one of the most benign substances in nature: ice. Lack of sufficient lifeboats results in the deaths of more than fifteen hundred people. As I examine the details that make the story so unique, I find myself asking about Titanic something that I’ve often wondered about Hitler and the rise of Nazi Germany: If we hadn’t yet invented the photographic technology to prove that it happened, would the story one day slip away into legend like the story of the Trojan War?

I’m going to resist the temptation to contribute yet another interpretation of Titanic’s significance to the body of literature that already exists. After a hundred years, I can’t see myself adding anything unique or interesting to the conversation. On the centennial anniversary of her sinking, all I really want to say is this: It really happened. Let’s never forget.

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Winter Tires of a Different Sort: Crazy Icicle Patterns Formed on Spinning Wheels

Apr 14th, 2012 by

Just when it starts to feel like spring has finally sprung in Alberta, Mother Nature sees fit to blast us with another bout of that white stuff. Of course, the ice and snow can be as fascinating as it is frustrating. Under the right conditions, some pretty nifty-looking formations can result. Below are some pictures taken by a friend after a long, snowy drive on the highways near High Level. I’ve lived in Alberta all my life and I’ve never seen anything quite like these before!

Crazy Ice Formations Formed on Spinning Wheels #1

Crazy Ice Formations Formed on Spinning Wheels #2

Crazy Ice Formations Formed on Spinning Wheels #3

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Understanding “That” vs. “Which” in Relative Clauses

Mar 29th, 2012 by

As a young writer, I used the words “that” and “which” interchangeably, typically selecting whichever one sounded better in a given sentence. It embarrasses me greatly that I was well into adulthood before I realized there’s actually a huge difference between the two. Here’s the difference:

  • “That” is used to introduce restrictive relative clauses. A restrictive clause narrows the scope of the noun it modifies. In other words, it helps to clarify what the noun is pointing to when more than one possibility exists. Take the following example:

    “I wrote two emails and sent one of them. The email that I didn’t send contained my true feelings.”

    Because there are two emails I could possibly be referring to, the information contained in the relative clause is necessary in order for the second sentence to make sense. If I remove the restrictive clause, it becomes unclear which email I’m talking about:

    “I wrote two emails and sent one of them. The email contained my true feelings.”

  • “Which” is used to introduce nonrestrictive relative clauses. A nonrestrictive clause provides additional information without restricting the scope of a noun. For example:

    “I wrote both a letter and an email. The email, which I didn’t send, contained my true feelings.”

    In this context, there’s only one email I could possibly be talking about, so there’s no need to identify it further. Thus, the nonrestrictive clause provides helpful information but is not necessary to preserve clarity of meaning. If I remove it, the statement still makes perfect sense:

    “I wrote both a letter and an email. The email contained my true feelings.”

  • If you’re ever unsure whether a relative clause should be restrictive or nonrestrictive, try removing it (as I did in the second and fourth examples above). If the sentence containing the clause loses clarity of meaning when the clause is taken out (don’t forget to take context into consideration), then it should probably be a restrictive clause. Otherwise, it can probably be nonrestrictive.
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