Tools for Creativity: Focus Sessions

courtesy of Mark Hunter on Flickr

Creative resistance and uncertainty

This past week I've been having a lot of trouble gaining clarity on my current creative projects. I write blog posts, I'm writing an eBook, and I'm writing fanfiction (for the first time in my life). Needless to say, all these projects require me to think creatively.

And then, this past week, I became stuck. Stuck in my ideas and in my uncertainty. I have been constantly writing now for three months and I love it. I can also now recognize resistance when it rears its great, ugly head. And I recognized my uncertainty about my projects as my resistance to them.

So, how did I overcome my resistance and uncertainty? I had a focus session.

What are focus sessions?

My focus sessions grew out on my need to stop multitasking and to start singletasking. Research has shown that singletasking, rather than multitasking, is much more productive and less stressful.

It's so easy for me to get overwhelmed with all the projects I have going on at once. So, I've decided to start holding focus sessions, where I focus on one, and only one, creative project during a scheduled time.

In a focus session, you:

Pick one, and only one, project to work on
Declare that you will devote this time to only that project
Find a place where you can concentrate (wherever that may be)
Establish a certain amount of time and set a timer
Disconnect from the Internet if you have to
Work with other people if that helps you
Listen to music if that helps you to concentrate

Tailor your focus session to be about you and your project. You don't have to make the focus session hours long if that doesn't fit your schedule. It can be as long as ten or twenty minutes if that's productive for you. But devote that specific amount of time solely to your creative project.

What are the benefits?

For me, I got clarity and peace of mind. I did my focus session for 30 minutes but I felt relief after those 30 minutes. I knew what direction I wanted to go for my creative project, which gave me more confidence in myself and helped me beat my resistance.

Sometimes, we need to remind ourselves that we are indeed creative individuals (because doubt can creep in). And focus sessions are perfect for finding that we do indeed know what we are doing :).

Question: What creative projects are you working on right now? Can you think of one that could use a focus session?

As always, thank you for reading!