(Originally posted to Medium… but this is especially applicable to today).
I have a ton of stuff to do today. Since I awoke the list has gotten twice as long. Then I began thinking about how manic I was becoming (a good thing for me) and I needed for follow the proverbial Anglo-Saxon advice to “strike while the iron is hot”… which is why I dropped everything to write this post.
Seriously, based on my workload and mentally manic morning I wanted to get these thoughts logged down. You see, I’ve spent over 15 years working in this creative company that exists within a innovation economy, for the most part. In doing this, I’ve learned two things about myself:
- Procrastination is OK when the ‚Äúmood‚Äù isn’t right.
- Procrastination is the biggest buzz kill of all time when the mood is right.
I remarked about my “manic morning.” I arose from bed, started answering emails, tweeting, Slacking colleagues and texting clients about new projects (they LOVE when their phones start buzzing around 6:30 a.m.). On the way out the door, I remarked to my wife how “amazing it was how much I could get done in a short time in the morning.”
Then I paused, and corrected myself:
It is amazing how much I can get started in the morning.
Because I didn’t really get anything ‚Äúdone.‚Äù But it didn’t matter. I felt the creative juices flowing, and that was fed by a nice bump of productivity.
The Doppelgangers of Creativity and Productivity
Productivity is quite an animal. In regard to creativity, it is at best it’s an indignant cousin, at worst it’s an evil twin. Productivity – which has quite a cult following in corporate America – can sometimes be killer of creativity. In rare instances – what I call my ‚Äúmanic‚Äù states – the two can co-operate in a Shakespearean-strange-bedfellow type of way to satisfy the objective of creativity (producing something original that has value) and the methodology of productivity (make more‚Ķbetter‚Ķfaster). I think this was just such a morning for me.
Just Go With It
Which bringth us to the lesson. Just go with it. Strike while the iron/muse/coffee is hot. Don’t let the ‚Äútasks‚Äù that have piled up behind you get in the way of a rare moment of the twins playing nice together. These moments don’t happen very often, and I promise those tasks will still be there.*
*Caveat: Author’s note‚Ķthese ‚Äútasks‚Äù do not include such things that can cause irreconcilable harm. In today’s day and age, I feel it necessary to disclaim that I am NOT advocating leaving your child unattended in the bathtub while penning your latest blog article.¬†: )