PRDV005: Time and Stress Management

We have looked at the importance of prioritizing important but not urgent work. But how do you do this and maintain the laser-like focus required for concentrated creative work in the midst of all the demands and distractions of your working life?

Pick Your Most Creative Time of Day

In my last chapter, I discussed my decision to get up early to write before the onslaught of phone calls and other distractions. Apart from the lack of external interruptions, I write first thing in the morning because (once I am up) that is the time of day when I am most focused and alert. I experience greater mental clarity during the first couple of hours of the working day than at any other time. As a writer, that quality of attention is my most valuable asset, so I have learned to guard it carefully. If I start plowing into emails, reading blog feeds, or doing mundane tasks such as accounts, I am squandering my most precious resource.

Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope puts me to shame with his habit of getting up at 5:30 to write his novels before breakfast. But early morning is not the most creative time for everyone. We all have our own daily rhythms of alertness and rest. ProBlogger Darren Rowse says that 10 am to 12 pm are his "golden hours" for "thinking creatively and getting things done." Fellow blogger and Mark McGuinness, author of The Four Hour Work Week Tim Ferriss writes blog posts in two phases at different times of day:

Separate brainstorming (idea generation) from synthesis (putting it all into a flowing post). I generally note down 10-15 potential points for a post between 10-10:30 am with a double espresso, select 4-5 I like, and put them in a tentative order from 10:30-10:45 am, then I will let them marinate until 12:00-4:00 am, when I will drink tea, craft a few examples to match the points, then start composing. It is important to identify your ideal circadian schedule and pre-writing warm-up for consistent and reliable results.

The Four-Hour Work Week Blog

Writer Maya Angelou makes a similar distinction between the time for writing the first draft and for revising it:

Ring-Fence Your Attention – Get Yourself in the Right State of Mind

Maya Angelou's writing habits might seem eccentric, but they make complete sense. Writing in a hotel room effectively separates her writing time from the rest of her life, eliminating distractions and ensuring that she can enter a highly creative state of mind whenever she wants to.

My first professional training was in hypnotherapy, which taught me how sensitive the nervous system is to triggers in our environment. The more intense the original emotion and the more unique the trigger, the stronger the emotional reaction. For example, if you think of a song you used to play with your first boyfriend/girlfriend, you will probably start to feel some of the emotions you felt with him/her without even hearing the recording. Supposing the song was Bowie's "Moonage Daydream." You might get something of the same nostalgic/romantic feeling by listening to other glam rock songs, but not as strongly as whenever you hear the opening chords of "Moonage Daydream."

Looking at Angelou's account, she experiences strong emotions whenever she is writing. And by confining her writing to a special place and time, she has trained her nervous system to associate her creative state with unique combination of different triggers – the early morning drive, the hotel room, blank walls, the Bible, Roget's Thesaurus, dry sherry, lying on the bed and yellow paper. No wonder she is in the zone soon after entering the room!

Looking at this perspective, many of the supposed eccentricities of creative people seem perfectly logical and reasonable. Here is Stephen Spender describing the working habits of himself and his fellow poets:

Can you see how each poet uses a particular stimulus to trigger his creativity?

Maybe you have a special place for focused creative work – a private office, a particular chair, or a seat in your favorite café. Or you may have a favorite notebook, pen, software application, or make of computer – using other tools does not feel quite right. Once you get into the habit of using these triggers, they form a kind of ritual, or process of self-hypnosis if you like, to help you reach that state of focused absorption Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls creative flow.

I do not go as far as Maya Angelou, but I have a morning ritual to help me get into the right frame of mind for writing. A cup of tea first, then filter coffee. Tea goes in the blue china Maneki Neko mug. Coffee in a different cup, covered in Japanese calligraphy, from Kyoto (a city with beautiful associations for me). If I am drafting poetry, the Mac is banished from the desk. I write on sheets of A4 with a black 0.5mm Muji pen. For other writing, I use the Mac and switch on Isolator to black out the whole screen except the window I am writing in.

Even if you have to work in the middle of an office, there are things you can do to minimize distractions and interruptions. Switch off your mobile phone and ringer. Close your email application. If the office noise is distracting, try listening to music on your headphones. Set up a signal (e.g. a Do Not Disturb sign on your desk) to let your colleagues know they will interrupt you at their peril. Keep a notepad open and write down any tasks to do with other projects that occur to you while you are working. You can then consult the pad and get on with them after you have finished. (Writing them down will get them off your mind and leave you free to focus – more on this in Chapter 6.)

Finally, if you are starting to procrastinate, here is an excellent tip from Mark Forster. Say to yourself: I am not really going to start working on this piece, I will just open up the file and look at it…

Questions