Ep 14 Creative Thinking
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[00:00:00] Hello, welcome to the productivity genius podcast,
where we go from overwhelmed to overachiever. I'm your host, Kelly Fifield. And in this episode, we're going to unleash your creativity to double your productivity. Now, involving creativity in time management and productivity might seem like a strange concept.
Very often, we use logical solutions
in this arena. Planners, to do lists, apps , and tools.
But, if that's all you're using, or if that's the majority of what you're using to deal with your productivity struggles, then you're missing at least half of the value your brain has to offer.
Now, growing up as a kid, I was super proud of how logical I was. I thought, I thought I didn't have emotions. I kind of pooh poohed creativity. I was very proud to be very mathematical.
And I really just ignored my creative side.
And while that didn't really work out for me very well, I thought it was working out. And honestly, of course I was using my [00:01:00] creative side all the time. Anytime you're solving a problem, you're using creative thinking additionally. But I didn't like to acknowledge it.
I don't know why I really didn't want to think of myself as creative. And so I really identified with all of that logic, but I'm so happy that I now have learned all about the benefits of thinking creatively.
Honestly, the most valuable thoughts I have come from the most creative thinking. If you're a solopreneur like myself, the things that you're going to create in your business, the most valuable things are likely going to come from creative thinking. Knowing this, we want to build in some time into our calendar specifically for being creative and accessing that creative side of our brain.
The logical side is fantastic for setting up the schedule, blocking out the time, following through, creating systems, documenting things. But it's our creative side that comes up with all of the amazing [00:02:00] solutions and ideas that create the most value. So let's look at how to get that time into your schedule and then how to use it once it's in your schedule.
So first, I would suggest you put intentional blocks of time in your schedule for creative thinking. You might be saying, Hey, I'm kind of early on this whole time management, productivity, scheduling thing. So I don't have time in my, there's just no way I can even fit that time in there. I don't have time to get the laundry done.
Never mind creative thinking time,
but if you don't put that time into your schedule You're losing out on so much time. You can use your creative thinking time to get back hours and hours and hours every week
and It doesn't have to be like four hour open blocks of time where we're sitting in a park It can literally be five minutes while your kid's soccer practice is wrapping up. You can grab a piece of paper while you're sitting on a folding chair and jot down some ideas.
I think the more times you [00:03:00] try this, the more likely you are going to be to actually put these times into your schedule and to really try to open up your calendar as much as you can for activities like this. But don't feel pressure to do that now. Now, just five minutes of time. Freaking fantastic. Do that.
Once you are entering into one of these creative time blocks, it's great if you can set up your environment for creativity. even if it's as little as sitting in a more comfortable or different chair. I strongly suggest you don't try to do this at a computer.
Most of us don't do our most creative thinking in front of a screen. So maybe you can go to a different spot in your house. Maybe you can go outside. Even if you have to turn your chair and face a different direction, just see if you can get a different perspective. Also, you might want to grab some different tools.
Like, I would definitely suggest pen and paper, not a computer, maybe markers, colored pencils, big pieces of paper. It's kind of fun to like draw all over it And not be boxed into a small area, maybe a whiteboard or [00:04:00] post it notes, or maybe even like an audio recording or a video recording.
So what are you going to do with this creative time? I suggest you start with just brainstorming. What's going on in your life that is a little annoying or some problem that you would love to solve? Or maybe there's some value you want to create. Maybe you're a solopreneur like me and you want to create a lead magnet or a bonus to a program or some interesting social media.
So in your brainstorming session, you're going to want to ask yourself some great questions. Now your brain's going to come up with all kinds of answers. And some of them might be a little wacky, but we definitely don't want to judge them. Just be grateful for all the thoughts. You might even want to find some humor in the ridiculous thoughts that your brain comes up with.
But honestly, some of the ideas that initially seem insane might lead you down a path to a great idea. So just keep all the thoughts. We're going for volume,
not necessarily quality. The more ideas we generate, The more open we are to more ideas, the more we can access our wisdom in there. [00:05:00] So here's some sample questions you might want to ask. Like, what is the simple solution here? What would be fun? How could I do this better, but in half the time? That's one of my favorite questions.
If time or money weren't an obstacle, what would the solution be? If an efficiency expert were to do this, how would they do it? What's a totally different way to get the same result? How can I make this much more valuable? In a perfect world, how would I do this?
The more times you practice being creative, thinking creatively, getting into that creative state, the better you'll get at it, and the more amazing, interesting, powerful ideas your brain will generate.
Use your creative time to solve small problems or use it to dream about your biggest goals.
There is so much inside your brain just waiting for you to tap into it.
And you're going to want to join me next week because next week we're talking about all the freaking interruptions we [00:06:00] have in our day. We could just get so much more done, right? If we weren't interrupted a million times. But there is a way to deal with that, and I'm going to help you with that next week.
see you then.
