“I am too busy to think!” Have you ever had that thought? Even the people who manage their time well run into this situation. I certainly have. But if you don’t think you have time to think, chances are you’re unable to do your best creative work. It’s kind of like having a brain freeze, but without the ice cream.
Creativity thrives on energy, curiosity, and emotional engagement. It requires a willingness to explore, experiment, and take risks. But if you feel overwhelmed, these creative juices get buried under all the thoughts of everything else that has to be done. You struggle with concentration, decision-making, and the ability to think outside the box. You end up with a mental fog that makes it challenging to generate new ideas or innovate.
Then there’s motivation. Creativity is the result of intrinsic motivation, that inner drive to solve a problem, create something new, or take a new approach to an old challenge. Where this used to feel exciting and fulfilling, it now becomes burdensome. You might feel a sense of obligation rather than opportunity. You can find yourself going through the motions, producing work that feels uninspired or formulaic.
Feeling overwhelmed also heightens the fear of failure. “What happens if I make a mistake? What if the team doesn’t like my solution? What if my boss rejects my work and says, ‘Do it again?’” You might become overly critical of your work, even though you’re perfectly capable. This makes it more difficult to take the risks that come with new ideas. You want to stay in your comfort zone because you have so much on your mind.
These feelings of overwhelm can infect those around you as well. In a demanding work environment, this busyness can become a source of conversation among those on the team. Creativity thrives on diverse ideas and interactions. But when team members feel overwhelmed, communication suffers. Your collaborative spirit might be replaced by conflict, miscommunication, and a lack of enthusiasm. As a result, you, and everyone around you, can find it difficult to brainstorm or push boundaries, stifling your collective creativity.
So, what to do? Here are a few practical ideas:
First, take stock of less-than-productive routines and eliminate them. You know the ones – that task you do out of habit that doesn’t really need to be done anymore – that task at home that should be delegated to a kid. How about that chore you can hire out for $20 a week that will save you 30 minutes every time you don’t have to do it. It all adds up. Now I know that this always seems easier said than done. But we are all products of the habits and routines we have developed over time. That’s where the phrase “force of habit” comes from. Even if you take just 15 minutes of focused time to take stock of all the little routines you practice and eliminate a couple over 30 days, you might be recapturing 50 hours of your life over a year. That’s a week’s worth of work and expended energy.
Second, use artificial intelligence to assist in creative endeavors. Here’s an example. I have written weekly blog posts for years. Each one takes about three hours to compose. But recently, I have begun to ask ChatGPT to “create a 750 word blog post on (whatever the topic) based on books and articles written by Bob Wendover.” Artificial intelligence produces this draft in about three seconds. Then I edit and modify it in less than an hour, saving me two hours of work per week! How can you do the same thing to create reports, proposals, project to-do lists and other creative content?
Three, block time for creative tasks and work on them in a separate space. Neurologist, Oliver Sacks, discovered that the brain focuses better when the project you are working on has its own separate space. This might be a separate table or a separate counter or shelf. It might mean packing everything up and laying it out in a study room at the local library where you’re not distracted. If you say to your boss, “I’m going to the library for a couple of hours Thursday afternoon to working on the planning project,” who can argue with that?
Fourth, be vulnerable enough to say, “I am overwhelmed right now.” You might be afraid that doing so will make you look like you’re unable to keep up. But here’s a secret: Everyone else faces this at times as well. Truth is 70% of people say they feel overwhelmed at work at least a portion of the time. Just be careful not to turn this into a “pity party” if others start saying the same thing. Instead, work collaboratively to see how the team can eliminate duplicative work, cover each other during busy times and work to eliminate steps that don’t really need to be done. Here’s an example. I’ve seen high performing teams that assign different parts of a project to individuals rather than having the entire team work on everything. Seems obvious, doesn’t it. Yet I am surprised that the number of people I work with who have not figured this out yet.
Fifth, take regular breaks during the day. There is solid research indicating that taking a ten-minute break some time during every hour enhances productivity and creativity. Stepping away from a project can provide fresh perspectives and ideas. Take a walk, have a fun conversation with someone, read a non-business book, plan a trip you want to take. Just don’t get on social media and try to catch up. It will never work and just add to your stress.
So, what do you think of these ideas? Will they help? Are they doable? Let me know what you think in the comments below.