Artists and writers are often required to sneak their creative work in around the edges of their lives and rely on their own will, desire and self-coaching to achieve their goals. And, because our creative work is often a labor of love as opposed to the kinds of labor we do for a paycheck, because there is no boss waiting expectantly for our results to add to his/her bottom line – we can let our creative time slip by. Then another week goes by and another month and another three years and that dream of writing a novel or seeing your art in a gallery is still sitting on a shelf gathering dust and waiting for you to show up.

We’re all tired, overbooked, stressed out, preparing for the holidays, working a job that drains away our time and energy – and even though we have the best of intentions and dream of a more fulfilled and authentic life where we are valued for the beauty and provocations we bring into the world – all we really want to do when we get home at the end of the day is collapse. I know that, more often than not, this is true for me.

I was thinking about this after closing another show at Columbia Entertainment Company. In spite of having a full time job, a family, a daughter with her own activities, getting married and buying a new home – I have been involved in 5 successful productions over the past 12 months. I was wondering why it is so easy for me to step up to the plate and take consistent dedicated action on theatrical work while my writing and other creative goals languish.

Questions to ponder:

• What creative goals do you accomplish on a regular basis?
• What creative dreams have you left unfinished?
• What’s the difference between the creative dreams you accomplish and the creative dreams you leave sitting on the shelf?
• Is the environment different for the goals you achieve? What works for you?
• Is your structure for accomplishing these goals different from the structure of your unfinished dreams?
• Are the boundaries around your creative time different for one than from the other?
• What can you learn from the goals you accomplish? Can you apply those boundaries and structures to your unaccomplished goals?

When I took myself through this process, I came up with two answers:

Theatrical work is collaborative by nature and if you don’t pull your weight it will be very obvious and very embarrassing.

It has always been easier for me to meet goals and deadlines when I know other people are counting on me. The fear of disappointing another person is a great motivator as is the fear of shaming myself in front of an audience. I don’t like to admit that negative consequences are more motivating for me than the joys of creating, but there you have it. It’s time to face up to the truth that I am more likely to take action when I know there are people relying on me to do my part – like a cast, a director or a boss. So instead of getting all critical and picky about negative motivation vs. positive motivation, how about I get over it and use this piece of self-knowledge to my advantage. Solution: Create collaborative and/or accountability groups to help me with my writing goals and my business building goals.

• a writing group
• an art class or writing class
• a mastermind group
• a ladies who lunch group

The task is finding a group of people with similar goals and making ourselves accountable to one another, motivating each other by whatever means possible while celebrating our milestones and successes. Groups can meet virtually or in person. Knowing me I’m more likely to be motivated by a face to face group because meeting in person builds in the audience factor.

Theatrical work also has a very hard deadline – opening night!

The show must go on. Season ticket holders bought their tickets a year in advance.  Performance dates and opening nights are scheduled at least a year before the actors and directors are hired.The marketing team is on top of their game. And at 7:30 PM on a very specific Thursday night, the curtain will rise.

When I am directing a show I work backwards from opening night to the casting of the show. I know we have to have a final dress and tech rehearsal the day before we open and we might even throw in a preview audience just to give us that extra bit of motivation. The week before opening is dedicated to tech work – lights, sound, special effects, props, costumes, etc. so the actors have to be ready to go the week before tech week begins which means we need to have a week of run-throughs before tech begins. Before we can run the show from beginning to end, we have two acts and a certain number of scenes that we have to break-down and coach. I try to schedule one scene a night to pick apart and put back together. Before the coaching can begin, the actors have to be off book and the show has to be blocked. Before that can happen we need to have some read-throughs and conversations about character, production values, etc. Before that we need to have auditions. Before I can hold auditions, I have to have my research and thinking on fairly solid ground.

So I work with a calendar and back myself up week by week from opening night to the beginning of my work as a director. It’s called a production calendar and when I am directing, I live and die by it. (Notice I didn’t put anything in here about coordinating with designers, etc. – that’s a whole other dimension that happens simultaneously along with rehearsals.)

Holy cow! Let me pause here while I take in how monumental this process is.

Now – the question becomes – if I can do all of that – pretty much by rote and habit – why can’t I coordinate myself to write this book I want to write?

First, my book needs to have its very own production calendar.

I need to pick an opening night. What does an opening night look like for a book? I can schedule a book launch party, invite friends to the party and tell them I will have my book finished and published and I want to give them advanced copies and ask them to celebrate with me. Send out a Save-the-Date party announcement and use that date to create my production calendar. Or I could give myself an opening night for the completing the proposal, inviting friends (or my writing group) over and asking them for feedback, then editing, and sending it out to 10 publishers. Then the next opening night will be the date it is due to the publisher. It might be a good idea for me to schedule preview nights for each chapter too. I can back up from there until I have a weekly writing schedule. It’s accountable, it’s public and I have a map (my production calendar) to take me from Point A to Point B.

Second, I need to schedule my writing time every night in the same way I schedule my rehearsal time.

If my writing time is 7:00 – 9:00 PM every night, then I need to go to my writing space, block out all distractions and write.

Rehearsals for a plays have very strict protocols, you get there 10 minutes before rehearsal is scheduled to begin and take care of all your social and personal stuff so you are ready to step onto the stage at the appointed time. You sign in and you sign out. You come prepared to work on the scene that is scheduled for that evening and you know your lines and you’ve done your homework so you have something to offer to the director and cast. You take class, you have a coach, you take care of your physical self – so that body and mind and artistic spirit are ready and willing to do your bidding.

As a writer – even though it will just be me in the room or, perhaps even more so because of that, I need to treat my writing time with the same seriousness that I treat rehearsal time.

I would love to hear what works for you and the ideas you have for applying what works to your unrealized creative goals and dreams.

Tags: Creativity, Productivity