Creativity Requires a Different Kind of Productivity

Can you define productivity? Go ahead, give it a try. Or if you’re anything like me, just keep reading to see where I’m going with this haha.

Most of us would probably define it something like “doing lots of work efficiently.” We may also specify that the work has to be of a certain quality. You’re not being productive if all you’re producing is crap. Another important aspect of productivity is that you have to have an idea beforehand of what kind of work you want to get done and what it’s going to look like when you finish. This is so you can measure whether or not you’ve been productive. Did you accomplish the goal, meet expectation? Productivity is as much about judging results as it is about making them.

So. Productivity = a combination of efficiency and output that is measurable. Do you apply standard productivity goals and measures to your creative practice? I’d be surprised if you don’t. Productivity is the framework we apply to almost all types of work. Do you have a goal to do your creative work on a daily basis? For a certain amount of time? Do you have a time deadline for completing your project? That’s using a standard productivity framework.

Does it work for you?

Does it really?

Do you feel like you’re tapping into your creative potential? Do you enjoy your creative process? Do you feel creatively fulfilled? If you do, then you are suited to standard rational models of productivity. If you don’t, you may want to consider an intuitive approach to productivity. A method I call anti-productivity.

Anti-productivity is how to be productive in the creative realm. And it’s pretty simple. First you toss out all those external goals and measures. No more word counts, hours spent, timelines. Now, it’s difficult to entirely get away from such things. It’s okay if you still have vague goals along these lines, especially at the beginning. Keep reminding yourself that for now you’re experimenting with not doing it that way. You will find as you grow in skill at anti-productivity, you’ll increasingly just not care about that stuff.

The second step is to link your work to how you feel. Pay attention to your feelings and how they manifest in your body not just when you’re doing your creative work, but when you think about it at other times of the day. When you have good feelings that make you feel expansive and excited inside, that’s what you want to focus in on and explore. If something feels bad, makes you tighten up and feel anxiety, that’s your body telling you it’s not the way. Do what feels good. Put what feels bad aside for now. Eventually you’ll get to a place where you’ll trust yourself and the signals your body sends you. Your creative practice will start feeling amazing. And then you’ll take off with it, and nothing will stop you.

It probably seems like I’m just telling you how to develop intrinsic motivation vis-à-vis your creative practice, but that’s only part of it. Intrinsic motivation helps productivity across the board, not just in terms of creativity. What I’m getting at here is that creativity is productivity in its fullest sense. Standard productivity that centers on goals and measurements is a method that has extracted some components of human labor and drive to work and rationalized them for mass production. Real productivity is inherently creative, and creative work is inherently productive. They are one and the same. We just have an incomplete understanding of what productivity is in our society, one that is suited to capitalism but not to human nature.

Creative productivity works very differently from standard (extracted) productivity. In fact it thrives on the very aspects that have been eliminated from our understanding of productivity. Procrastination, for example. A recent study has shown that moderate procrastination enhances creativity. So pay attention to your feelings and they tell you that today isn’t a great day to do your creative work. Indirect focus is another counterintuitive part of creative productivity. Standard productivity requires sustained and methodical focus. Creativity thrives when you don’t do that, because creative thought originates in our subconscious mind and requires an unfocused, mind-wandering type of cognition (the type that happens when you are daydreaming, for example).

I like calling this anti-productivity because that appeals to the rebel in me, and I think so much of the info out there about productivity gets it wrong. I like feeling like I’m being anti-establishment and going against the grain. But you may find that a different way of conceptualizing it works for you. Playing around with ideas and framing is part of the process. Ultimately having fun has been shown to be one of the best ways to enhance productivity, so try eliminating the unenjoyable parts of your creative practice and see where it leads! You may be surprised by the results.