The Sustainably Creative tools: tea and cake!
I’m ending this series of posts with the most important tool in my sustainably creative arsenal. Cake (and tea)! Tea and cake keep me on creative track by both acting as a lovely reward for work done and as a reason to pause during my day to reflect on what I’m doing, helping me make sure I’m making best use of what energy I have available to me.
The Sustainably Creative tools: the energy diary
The principle of using an energy diary is simple but it takes time to work out how to tailor it to our individual circumstances. The basic idea is that you write down both the things you do that use up your energy and the things you do that add to your energy reserves.
The Sustainably Creativite tools: the little and often mantra
A couple of years ago a friend told me that his secret for getting so much done (I could never do more than watch in awe at how much he does!) is that he regularly repeats to himself the mantra, “little and often”. I took the phrase to heart and adapted it for my own energy constraints. Perhaps you could too.
The Sustainably Creative tools: the kitchen timer
I love my kitchen timer. It helps me daily to chart a gentle but consistent path through my Important Work. I inherited the timer from my mother. In the last years of her life, when she was ill and had very little energy herself, she would use the timer to encourage her to do a few of the things she wanted to get done in her day.
The Sustainably Creative tools: the one-thing to-do list
I’m a big fan of the one-thing to-do list. It’s a very simple idea. At the beginning of the day I sit down with a cup of tea and ponder about what the one most important thing I can do today that will move my Important Work along a stage.
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I'm Michael Nobbs, an artist, blogger and tea drinker (not necessarily in that order).
I'd like to show you that it is possible to stay creative even when energy is in short supply, and how working on small creative acts on a regular basis can build over time into a substantial body of work (and even a creative career).
I've written a book called Sustainable Creativity. You're welcome to pay whatever you would like for it.
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