The Sustainably Creative tools: tea and cake!

This is the fifth and final post in a short series looking at the tools I use to stay sustainably creative. You can read the rest of the posts in the series here

I’m ending this series of posts with the most important tool in my sustainably creative arsenal. Cake (and tea)!

A way to stay on creative track

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.

It is really important to celebrate our achievements. It is all too easy to constantly underestimate just how much we do do and to always think the next thing on our list is always the most important thing. This is a recipe for exhaustion–putting ourselves on a creative treadmill that promises us, like Alice, jam tomorrow but never jam today. That’s no fun at all and certainly isn’t the way to live a sustainably creative life.

Put the kettle on!

Much better to put down your pen or paintbrush, or close your laptop lid and put the kettle on. Take the time to make a proper cup of tea by warming the pot, using loose-leaf tea and then letting the tea steep for a full five minutes. While it’s brewing get down your cake tin and cut yourself a slice of cake. Put your tea things on a tray and take is somewhere quiet to sit.

You really do know what the best thing to be doing right now is

Pour out your tea and think about how your day is going. Did you write your one-thing to-do list this morning? If so have you stayed focused on what you wanted to be doing? If not, don’t give yourself a hard time, just resolve to get back on track.

Is what you planned to do today still feeling like the best use of your energy today? If it is, wonderful, finish your tea and do a little more (if you still have enough available energy!), if not decide if there is something better you could be doing. Be gentle with yourself. You really do know what’s best.

Feeling particularly stuck or unsure about your next step? Bake a cake

Sometimes we need a little more time to rest and reflect that sitting quietly with a cup of tea gives us. If you’re having one of those times, consider baking a cake. Not only will you end up with a cake (a homemade cake!) for your daily tea and cake reflections but you’ll find just how good a process baking can be for helping you sort out creative dilemmas and getting things in perspective.

Keep your baking simple (I’d recommend a basic lemon sponge cake) and don’t try to do anything else while you’re making and baking your cake. Enjoy the aroma of the cake in the oven and let yourself ponder.

Remember the BIG celebrations too

Sometimes a quiet cup of tea and a slice of cake isn’t enough. Sometimes you need a more public celebration. Perhaps you’re finished a stage in a project (or even a whole project). Don’t just silently congratulate yourself and move on. Celebrate. Invite some friends around for tea and cake, or meet them in your favourite cafe and treat yourselves to the biggest cake on the menu. Make it an event to remember!

Five reasons why tea and cake can help you maintain a sustainably creative life

1. Taking time out in your day for tea and cake give you a chance to reflect on how your day is going.
2. A small daily treat gives you something to look forward to in your day.
3. The routine/ritual of making tea or baking will become part of your creative life, giving you a time to ponder and to learn to trust in your creative instincts.
4. The habit of celebrating creative achievements both small and large stops the creative process becoming a treadmill.
5. Tea and cake makes the world a nicer place!

You can read more about how to maintain a sustainably creative life in my recently updated ebook, Sustainable Creativity.

The book has a suggested price of $15 but you’re welcome to pay how much or how little you would like. Just pop the amount in the price box at the checkout and click “update”