Holding patterns

Whenever someone starts a job, they’re able to see with some clarity what is functioning and not functioning in their new company, then apply some new ideas and old ones they had brought with them from their last job. Maybe it’s having a fresh perspective on the job, or fresh motivation, or both, but the early goings seem to be the most creative times. After that, creativity gets subsumed in the weekly activities that you carved out for yourself.

It doesn’t take long to become a slave to your initial success. The great things you introduced, be it lead generation, PR, a newsletter, etc., take a lot of time to maintain. You’re pulled in different directions by coworkers who realize you can help them with this or that, and now you’re supporting their (great, no doubt) programs, too. You have less time to spend on developing new programs for yourself and your team. Maybe that’s why a chief marketing officer’s lifespan is about 2 years on average–when productivity seems to wain, people move on.

In thinking about ways to overcome these holding patterns, I’ve looked at my daily patterns and asked myself: how can I find more time to being creative again? What I realize is that it’s not just about the amount of work, but also the daily habits and patterns that have formed. When you first start a job, you maybe get 5 emails a day. Time on the job = more emails + meetings + IM + calls from partners and vendors… and so forth.

For me, the single biggest time sink is email. Without a doubt I spend too much time crafting emails, some long some short, to people.

My personal experiment right now has been to change my habits, get a new perspective on the day, beginning with email. I’ve started small: one day per week (Fridays, for those who email me!) I’m not checking email for most of the day.

Even just one day per week, it’s really hard going. My brain anxiously thinks there are important emails awaiting that need an immediate response.

Still, so far so good. In exchange for not looking at emails, I’m able to spend a solid chunk of time, 2 or 3 hours depending on meetings or other conversations, planning or working on a project. In a day that’s so fractured with interruption, this small change in routine has been refreshing.

Addition: This is a good blog post for ideas for how to to squeeze out more right-brained activity.