whats more important?

There are only so many hours in a day. How are you going to use them?

Identifying problems
​&
understanding what's coming up

maximizing productivity

An inbox for ideas

If you have creative ideas but never actually pursue them, Can you ease the burden by capturing the ideas for later? This is the way I approach blogging and songwriting. When I have an idea, I'll add it to the list (i keep a notebook nearby so i can quickly captue the idea.) Productivity expert David Allen says "the head is for having ideas, not for holding them, so if the muse strikes you, but you don't have time to do it right now, save the idea for later by capturing it.

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• Pen-and-paper
• Evernote
• Voice Memos

blind-spots

through a different lens (camera lens example (wide angle vs reg))
​through the lens of 6 thinking hats
through the lens of an outside perspective (ask someone)

Batch processing

With your list of ideas, you can sit down when it's your creative time, draw from the list, and begin to flesh them out. I do this with Blogging, social media, and songwriting. It works equally as well in all these areas. My sunday for example, is blog day. I make a point that no "real work" is done on sundays. They're for me to rest and re-charge. So I kick back with a cup of coffee, open my inbox, pick something and start writing. I'll get two or three articles done in short order because the ideas have been percolating for a while already, and before I know it, I'm already ahead of the game. No more stress thinking "oh shit, I still have to write my blog for the week, but i didn't have enough time."

All those mundane repeating tasks...

Long slow Burn?

Some projects are too big to do all at once, some are slow burners that are going to take time to build momentum. So how do you handle projects like these. Don't panic. I have to constantly remind myself that It's okay, even if it feels like things are moving slowly and as long as I haven't lost hope or given up, I'm putting in the effert that further the project so as long as I continue to put the effort, it'll happen. There's no point rushing and getting stressed about it.

A Short burst of focused productivity

This is the part where you pick one thing, Pick a time to do it and GO. No cellphones, no Distractions, no Excuses. Tell everyone who would otherwise distract you from this task that you're in DO NOT DISTURB mode. When you go into your focused creativity, be ready with a few simple tasks that you want to accomplish. 

Free PDF resources