Creativity and Time To Think
Today (or recently in general) I haven't been feeling particularly creative. As I look at the factors that contribute to this, I'm afraid it's mostly due to burnout. I've been trying to balance both acts of creating and consuming. Given time constraints I don't think I can get to creating > consuming yet. The best I've been able to do is find a balance between reading and using that as inspiration for creating. As long as I keep that healthy balance it's been a pretty self-feeding loop that I enjoyed.
As I discussed in a thought from ten days ago, something as simple as getting sick threw me off balance. This happened twice since the beginning of the year and every time it took me a little while to pick up the rhythm again. I think this year I want to learn more about myself and build that resilience in Resiliency and Forgiveness. What's been holding me back is this wall I see in front of me of things to do/things to read that keeps accumulating every time I am forced to take a break.
Then I'm stumped. I have so many things to complete (including work-related stuff) that I am left with full days with no time to think. I noticed that many of the things that popped into my mind, relate to one another. From being able to forgive myself for not keeping a perfect streak on new habits, to understanding that if I can't read an article today, and it's not particularly important, I can just skip it. I'm still settling in on what's worth my time. Things I can and should delegate vs things that require my full attention.
Leaving room for myself to think should be a daily exercise, and it's something that Cal Newport in "Deep Work" mentions continuously. With all the distractions around me, it takes mental strength to stay focused. With profits built around grabbing your attention in any way possible, it creates a bigger divide between people who possess the mental habit of not letting themselves get sucked in and the rest. This is a topic I wanted to dig more into that I call (unoriginally and I'm sure others came up with it before me), "The Great Divide".
Thoughts
If you don't give yourself time to sit back and think deeply, you harm your creativity. Being "busy" all the time is not a good sign but rather an indicator of a lack of delegation and distracting work. At the end of the day, you should look back at what kept you "busy" and find out what can be reduced/removed. If you're like me and are overwhelmed not just by what you need to do now but by what lies ahead of you, is there anything you can skip or delegate? Did I do enough to empower others to take over some tasks? How do I free up my time to think deeply? Creativity is not something based on an innate quality but something you need to cultivate and exercise. You have to make time for it though.