business / thinkit creative

Six ways to remain creative and passionate about getting things done

By Patrick Gant

In business, it can be hard at times to maintain an unwavering focus. Even the most accomplished pros will admit that at times distractions get the best of them. Let’s face it, you don’t have to look too hard in any office to find things that can pull you away from your work.

There’s this great piece by Tony Schwartz, author of The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working, that sums up how to best keep your eye on the ball and remain passionate about the work you do. I’ve included my own thoughts as a writer and business owner to accompany each of their six points:

Do the hardest work first.
This is one that took me a long time to fully appreciate, but it’s vital. It’s better to roll up your sleeves and do the hard work when your energy level is at its peak, plus it helps to give yourself an excuse to reward yourself later.

Practice intensely.
In my line of work this means write every day. Not all day (even writers need a break), but for a sustained period until the words start to flow. I’ve stuck to this principle for over 20 years and it is without a doubt the #1 thing that has helped me improve my craft so that I can do better work in less time.

Seek expert feedback, in intermittent doses.
I’ve had mentors throughout my entire career and each one has provided me with insights that have reshaped what I do and how I approach problems. Often it has been a much-needed shot in the arm, but at times the feedback has been tough to hear. You need both.

Take regular renewal breaks.
One of the most common mistakes to make is to assume that breaks are to be taken when you’re tired. The trouble with that approach is that it conditions you into thinking that problem solving only happens in the office when you’re not on break. Go for a short walk during the day, or even just put on headphones for a bit and listen to a podcast or a song or two. Some of my best ideas and most comprehensive solutions to problems have come to me while I was doing something other than work.

Ritualize practice.
This is related to the point about practicing intensely, but it deserves its own mention. As Schwartz notes: “Will and discipline are wildly overrated. As the researcher Roy Baumeister has found, none of us have very much of it.” When you make a habit of doing something, it eventually stops being a task and becomes a natural part of your day such that you don’t even have to think about why you’re doing it.

Pursue what you love.
Sounds trite, but really it isn’t. Doing what you love is really about finding something you give a damn about. That’s where your ability to gain mastery over a subject can truly take hold.

A new era in design

By Patrick Gant

The evidence is everywhere. We are entering a new era in design.

Today—more than at any other point in human history—more thought goes into the construction of things around us. That’s a development that has implications for everyone in the business of marketing to other people. In other words, everyone.

Today, design is about more than creating objects of beauty. It’s about creating ideas that are memorable, or an approach that strikes an emotional chord with people. It’s also about having better tools to understand and filter a world that’s cluttered with messages. Just as important, it’s about finding the right methods to execute those great ideas, approaches and tools.

You see it in consumer products that have a fit and finish once reserved for high-end scientific equipment. You see it in the way that some businesses set an example for others in the market by saying that consumer experience matters to them ahead of just selling more stuff.

You see it in self-published ebooks: an industry that once required a publishing firm just to get your foot in the door. You see it in the array of consumer apps developed for mobile users. You also see it in consumer signage that you see every day. Whereas we used to see material printed on paper and updated on a fairly slow cycle, today a lot of signage is being switched to LED and LCD monitors—products that cost a fraction of what they used to and that can be updated and tweaked regularly without incurring many of the expenses that saddled conventional marketing.

Design today is the sum of a million little things that, when added together, become something that connects with people on a deep, meaningful level. That doesn’t just mean that you need great visuals and colours that match. It means that visual elements and the written word have to bond closer than ever before so that audiences connect, understand and respond.

As a result, professionals who are skilled in design, strategy and content matter a lot. They can help you make better choices on developing your products, services and ideas so that messages are clear and purposeful. Just as important, they can show you through field-tested experience the right approaches to presenting those products, services or ideas.

They are brokers in good taste: and that’s something every business can benefit from having more of.

Entrepreneur as magician

By Patrick Gant

Photo:Lenore M. Edman

Being an entrepreneur is a bit like being a magician.

With sleight of hand, you make it look as though you make money out of nothing at all. Your income doesn’t come from a paycheque: you don’t get one.

Instead, you make things, or come up with ideas for things and then you find a market to buy those things.

But make no mistake.

Just like a master magician, your performance comes from years of practice at perfecting a thousand little things. You just make it look easy to others.

Fellini and the sweet life

By Patrick Gant

Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, one of my all-time favourite films, was on TV the other night. Every time I see it, I’m struck by how prescient Fellini was about mass media—about its power and hollow-headed appetite for what can be most charitably described as event culture.

But there’s also a message in there for everyone who is fond of being on the viewfinder-end of things—be it the monitor you’re looking into right now, or a camera. For all its virtues, that electronic window—like the hero in the Fellini film—can only bear witness to happenings. It can capture, yes. But can never really live that sweet life.

It’s an important lesson that bears repeating in business. We all want happiness and fulfilment in what we do. And part of that is to be generous with the time you make for family and friends. That’s where the sweet life lives.