Deadlines and routines for creativity

Translated from 忙しい人ほどクリエイティブになりやすいわけ

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Many creatively-oriented people dislike deadlines and routines. They tend to think deadlines and routines make them less creative and avoid them. However, I am now in the belief that deadlines and routines are necessary, and even sometimes mandatory to produce something creative.

When you don't have any deadlines for creative work, you tend to want to do it when you are in the mood, and wait until then. Ironically, the power to create something new comes from the tightness of time. The sense of urgency pulls out your real power. A Japanese phrase「火事場の馬鹿力 kajiba-no-baka-jikara」 expresses the sudden unexpected power that comes out in you under urgency such as when your home is on fire.

As a matter of fact, in the manga illustrators' world, it is quite common that editors keep pushing and waiting for them to submit their creations by publication deadlines. They know the power of deadlines.

What you have to do next is to make creation a routine. Many of us believe that there is a moment of springing inspiration, but this rarely happens. Ironically here too, routine work is the shortcut to the springing inspiration experience.

Regular scheduling actually helps to get things, such as creative work, done. Things that you think are important and not urgent, never get done because you get occupied with less important things but that are urgent.

To avoid that, the best way is to put the activity in your schedule routinely. It could be daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly, but you have to make sure that you devote yourself to it at the scheduled time. Since creative work requires a lot of effort to start working on it, regular schedules help prepare you to get into a creative state of mind, thus you have more energy to start with.

It is interesting to realize that deadlines and routines are the most effective tools to be creative. The busier you are, the more creative you can become.