Constructively Productive

We all have times of day when we’re ready to rock the world – and times when we can’t summon up the energy to do much more than watch television. Last week, I had a firm reminder of how important it is to do my creative work during my best hours. I was helping out with a kids’ holiday club at my church each morning – and having a fantastic...

All work requires motivation. Whenever you do something, you’ve got a reason – whether or not you’ve thought that through. And while you can probably do a decent job of cleaning the kitchen sink even when you’re thoroughly fed up, when it comes to creative work, being motivated (for the right reasons) can really boost your results. Learning...

Pressure works wonders. Anyone who has ever been rapidly approaching a deadline knows that things like procrastination and writer’s block go out the window when it’s crunch time and your job’s on the line. Fortunately, you don’t have to be under a deadline imposed by your employer to reap the many benefits it offers. Instead, you can create your own...

Deadlines. Some people can’t work without them. Others find them paralysing stressful.  Either way, they have a definite effect on our ability to be creative – for good or for bad. If you’re in the pro-deadline camp, you probably find that you need a sense of time-pressure in order to knuckle down and create. Perhaps you doodle a bit, but you never...