Working in a creative mode obviously costs time and effort. It also costs time to schedule work sessions, practice sessions and eventually display (or perform) creative work for customers, artists and others.

When I procrastinate and do not participate in my work sessions, I increase the cost of my time. I put myself in a position of creating more stress about missing a session, which distracts me from working on my creative work and meeting my goals. When I do return to a creativity session, I must work through any personal irritation I’m still carrying around about missing the last session(s) plus any anxiety or other feelings about working during the current creative session. When I procrastinate or run late, my schedule is easily thrown off. I also don’t complete as much as I had planned to do.

In what additional areas does the cost of creativity reveal itself?
Scheduling time for work sessions takes away from social and family time, leisure time and time for other regular activities. Some artists must fight against overscheduling work sessions, especially if a deadline is looming. One way to do this is to pre-plan work sessions before an event, so that enough inventory is produced and packed, enough promotional activities are scheduled and completed and enough time to relax and take a breather is made available for the artist, just before the event.

An ideal situation would allow the artist to put work out her mind for at least one or two days before the next event deadline. I’ve been able to take at least one day off, just before an event. It surprises me when I can do this. It also helps me. It’s nice to just switch gears for a moment and not worry about the next day, because my to-do lists are completed, everything is packed, except for the basics that go out to the car in the morning and my outfit. When I work up to and even to the day of the event, it doesn’t help much. I go to sleep in a state of anxiety or at least frustration and wake up in the same way. I move quickly through breakfast and do my best to finish everything that I didn’t finish on my to-do list the night before. I may even forget something, even though I’ve gone through my lists several times since the night before. Most of all, I don’t allow myself to slow down and calmly think through my list for the last time before I leave. I am still “on.” I’m still in a vigilant mode, which may or may not change until I’ve started driving toward my destination. For me, being in ‘flight or fright’ isn’t the best place while I’m driving to an event. I tend to focus on the mistakes, potential problem and other stuff that might happen at the event, rather than focusing on how well prepared I am and what wonderful results can come from the event.

Other artists may not put in enough time to prepare for an event. They experience stress because their inventory isn’t ready. They haven’t promoted the event enough, beyond just their local contacts or have forgotten that they scheduled too many events in too close together giving them no time to breathe between events. Having gone through both scenarios I much prefer and recommend that you plan your schedule to give yourself at least one day off before you travel to your next event.

Emotional, spiritual and physical costs can also occur in more subtle ways. Feeling stressed about preparation for the event, as mentioned before. Feeling uncomfortable chatting with other vendors, when preparing your display area at the event. Dealing with difficult customers and issues with promoters. After doing your best to resolve a situation, sometimes it’s important to accept difficult situations just as they are, and make the best of them in order to keep the peace and maintain a positive focus as you continue to interact with your customers.

Here are some questions to ask yourself about the costs of your creativity:
1) Are you overscheduling professional events?
2) Are you underscheduling professional events?
3) Does your to-do list(s) serve you well? If not, what revisions do you need to make to it?
4) Are your packing containers ready for the next event? (Pre-packing in between events can be prevent forgetting important objects or information at the last minute)
5) Are you satisfied with your set up and break down routines? (Do they need to be revised?)
6) Are you meeting your creative and financial goals? (Do they need revision quarterly or biennially?)
7) What are the promotion associations’ vendor expectations? (Are they reasonable for your business?)

This list covers some of the basic areas where changes might need to be made. There may be other areas that you discover as you plan for your professional events. Remember to use your pre-planning time to help your event planning and not to pick on yourself for making past mistakes.

Tags: Articles - Creativity Coaching //