Organization and Productivity for Creative Types

Advice on productivity and organization is typically written by left brainers, for left brainers. Which is great for our logical, detail oriented mathematician friends, but excludes people like us. A creative person doesn’t think in a logical, linear pattern. Instead, we’re ruled by emotion, feeling our way through the world based on intuition. Creative types are often visual learners, preferring colour images to verbal directions. We also like to daydream and contemplate abstract theories. We’ve mastered the art of simultaneous novel-writing-coffee-brewing-Simpsons-watching and sometimes we can do all that while brushing our teeth. This is what people love about us. This is what we love about ourselves.

Unfortunately, this means our workspaces often resemble a natural disaster. Scribbled notes written on paper napkins and a pile of month-old coffee mugs are telltale signs of a creative mind at work. It’s not that we’re innately messy, it’s that standard systems of organization do not work for us. A creative person might have several foot-high stacks of paper on her desk, but if you ask her for one specific document she’ll be able to find it in a second. This is a result of our well developed visual memory. This is also why left-brained organizational plans don’t work for us. If you look up organizaion or productivity tips, you’ll find that every article mentions the same things:

1. Put every document into a file. Organize files alphabetically or numerically so you can easily find things.

2. Keep clutter to a minimum. Put everything away in boxes with lids, creating a non-distracting workspace.

3. Set a timer for 20 or 30 minutes and work at your desk, leaving only when the timer goes off. Set a rigid work schedule.

4. Have a quiet area where you can work without interruptions.

5. Focus on one thing at a time.

These are great tips for the business minded, but doesn’t all of that sound like a nightmare? Those tips would make my day unbearably boring. I simply could not accomplish anything worthwhile in that environment, nor could most creative people. These kinds of tips can be found in magazines, on personal development blogs and in every HR office. Sadly, these kinds of productivity and organization practices squash creative potential and foster stress in a right-brain person. If you are creative, if you think with your right brain, THESE TIPS WILL NOT WORK FOR YOU. Here is an alternative list of tips, made specifically for creative types, that I’ve developed myself after researching several sites:

1. Everything needs to be visible. We are the living embodiment of “out of sight, out of mind” so when items go into drawers they cease to exist. Organize paperwork by month and throw it into a tray on top of your desk. Group books together by color. Place pens and other writing utensils in coffee mugs or purchase see-through containers without lids. Make sure your desk is large enough to accommodate several books, a sketch pad and pencils, a computer and your lunch. Organization means being able to see everything laid out before you.

2. Have a beautiful work space. Creative people have very particular aesthetic styles. Your space needs to feel like you in order to be comfortable. Consider paint or wallpaper. Decorate with knick-knacks and mementos. Fasten a clothesline-esque string across the wall. You can hang inspirational images from the line with clothespins. Cut out and print off any photo or artwork you come across that inspires you to keep working or is related to your project. Change them out with each new project, but glue the old pictures into a book as a visual journal of your work.

3. Give up. If something is making you less than ecstatic, if you’re not completely obsessed, drop it. Creative people can’t commit to something they don’t love. You’ll be wasting your time on a project that doesn’t excite you from the beginning. No amount of willpower or money can make you change your mind. If your heart’s not in it, your work will suffer. Move on to a better idea.

4. Be stimulated. Surround yourself with interesting things. Create amazing playlists or get a DVD set of your favourite show to play in the background. Have something close by that you can toss around (I have a Frida doll and a plush Hello Kitty.) Use a fitness ball instead of a chair. Frame pictures of your favourite artists or tape interesting quotes to the wall. Light scented candles. Creative types need background noise and visual stimulation. If you’re feeling unmotivated, you’re probably just bored. Put you’re multi-tasking skills to good use. When I paint, I like to have Sex and the City DVD’s playing on mute while I listen to podcasts and drink coffee.

5. Variety is the spice of work. Change up your work environment at least once a week. This could mean taking your laptop to a coffee shop, reading in the park or taking a day trip to another town. A change of scenery is essential for creativity. This is true for creative pursuits and for creative people in traditional jobs. Your work will suffer if you spend 8 hours a day staring at bare cubicle walls. Ask your boss if you can work from a different office or outside at a picnic table once a week. Ask about working from home, even just half of a day. If you work in retail, ask about taking shifts at a sister-store or a different chain owned by the same company. Anything you can do to vary your routine will foster productivity and give you new ideas.

Those, my right-side friends, are your tips. Our productivity is determined by freedom and individuality. We organize based on aesthetics and visual memory. This is completely opposite to left brainers who work best in the orderly, routine environments suggested by most productivity guides. Keep this in mind the next time you’re ripping your hair out in frustration or wondering why you can’t get anything done. Stimulate your senses with colour and music and watch your creative visions come to life. Still don’t believe me? Here’s a real-life example:

Google gives their employees 20% creative time. That’s one day per work week. During this time, employees are allowed to work on any project they want. They can develop items for personal use. They can create something fun. They can do anything they want, provided it’s not what they work on during the rest of the week. This creative time is essential for Google’s success. It is during this creative time that employees came up with the ideas for AdSense, G-mail and Google News. Furthermore, these ideas did not come from high-level employees, but from average workers. Google doesn’t track hours on a 9-5 basis, doesn’t believe in hierarchy and allows employees to work on pet projects, yet Google is a very successful business with very happy workers.

Think about it.

How to Embrace Autumn

Autumn is my favorite time of year. I consider myself an autumn connoisseur.I’d gladly take a misty fall morning over a day at the beach, sweater weather is preferable to sweating-your-ass-off weather and I really love orange leaves. Many people disagree. They cling to summer with a steely grip, wearing sandals in the snow and reminiscing about barbecue chicken. Sound familiar? For those of you who just can’t let go, here is a guide to embracing autumn in all its chilly glory:

1. Take in the beauty. Go for walks, take photographs and capture the changing seasons. Even if you’d rather see green leaves, try to find the beauty in the decay. If you can do that, you’ll be a much happier person year-round.

2. Misty mornings and rainy afternoons are the perfect time to watch a movie, finish a creative project, re-tile the bathroom or read in bed. However, people who truly embrace autumn will be celebrating the inclement weather with a hike in the woods.

3. Don’t get depressed. The trees aren’t dying. They’ll be back in a few months. Embrace the change and embrace the coming winter. Autumn is meant for self-reflection and character development. It’s a good time for reading self-help books and making plans. Find out what makes you happy and do it everyday. Don’t let something as arbitrary as the weather dictate your mental wellbeing.

4. Come on. Summer? Really? Aren’t you glad you can walk a block without sweat dripping down your ass crack?

5. Celebrate the holidays. Whether you’re Christian, Pagan or anything in between, make time for holidays, festivals and religious observances. Thanksgiving and Halloween should be celebrated, regardless of who you are or what your family is like. If you don’t speak to your family, have Thanksgiving with friends or even by yourself. Cook a good meal or eat at a fancy restaurant. Everybody has something to be grateful for. Same goes for Halloween, celebrate it anyway you see fit. Honour ancestors, trick-or-treat or bake every recipe in Martha Stewart’s Halloween magazine. If you have an aversion to these holidays, create your own. Who do you admire? If you’re interested in writing, look up the birthdate of your favourite authors. Same goes for actors, musicians and hisorical figures. Celebrate the people who are meaningful to you. People I admire who have autumn birthdays include:

Salma Hayek (Sept. 2nd)

Freddie Mercury (Spet. 5th)

Buddy Holly (Sept. 7th)

Elizabeth I (also Sept. 7th)

Michelle Williams (Spet. 9th)

Roald Dahl (Sept. 13th)

Milton Hershey (Chocolatier, also Sept. 13th)

Elvira (Sept. 17th)

Both Stephen King AND Leonard Cohen (Sept. 21st)

Shel Silverstein AND William Faulkner (Sept. 25th)

Truman Capote (Sept. 30th)

These are just a few people who have September birthdays. Just because the date isn’t recognized by the government, doesn’t mean it’s not a holiday. Celebrate your favourite people. I’ll list October birthdays soon.

6. Watch autumn themed movies. This might include seasonal favourites, like “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” or  just films with lovely scenery. “When Harry Met Sally” has beautiful autumn scenery; so do “Dan in Real Life,” “Dead Poets Society” and “Sleepy Hollow.” Watch Thanksgiving movies like “Home for the Holidays” and Halloween films like “Hocus Pocus.” My vote for The All-Time Best Autumn Movie goes to “The Blair Witch Project.”

7. Alcohol will get you through. Mulled cider and wine are traditional autumn drinks. Drink your way through awkward Thanksgiving dinners. Better yet, celebrate feast days. Oct. 3rd is the Feast of Dionysus, god of wine. Oct. 11th is Meditrinalia, the feast of Meditrina, the goddess of wine. If the weather gets cold, spike your coffee or hot chocolate with liqueurs.

8. Eat. You’ll be jumping in a lot of leaf piles this season. That’s a lot of cardio. You’ll need to eat plenty of food to fuel your autumn adventures. Pumpkin pie, pecan pie, apple pie. Halloween candy, pumpkin spice lattes, ginger snaps. My favourite candy of all time:

You could also eat pumpkin-carrot soup or something healthy like that.

Let me know how your autumn is going! Apologies to people in warmer climates, some of the ideas in this post may not be applicable. Have a fun autumn regardless!

I’ll Love You Dear, I’ll Love You…

'I'll love you, dear, I'll love you

Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,

‘I’ll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
Like geese about the sky.

‘The years shall run like rabbits,
For in my arms I hold
The Flower of the Ages,
And the first love of the world.’

Beautiful, yes? This excerpt is by W.H. Auden from his poem "As I Walked Out One Evening" which you can read in its full gorgeousness here. Definitely check it out. It's very, very lovely, especially on a late-August night.

Emily Dickinson

One of only two portraits showing Emily Dickinson in adulthood (image from Wikipedia)

The Dickinson House

Emily's grave... I like that is says "called back" instead of "died"

Emily Dickinson is one of my favourite women of all time. She also happens to be an amazing poet.

Miss Dickinson was born in 1830 and lived her entire life at her family’s Massachusetts home. After completing her extensive schooling, Emily refused to marry and spent her days reading. She lived her life in near isolation, seeing only family members and rarely leaving the house.

It is rumoured that she was in love with her best friend, Susan Gilbert. It must have been heartbreaking for Emily to watch as her brother, Austin, married the woman she loved. Even more heartbreaking, the couple moved in next door and were the only people Emily spoke to on a regular basis, though she wrote letters to many friends and family members. She wrote over 300 letters to Susan, more than any other person. This is particularly striking considering they were neighbours who lived only a few minutes apart.

When Emily passed away in 1886, her family discovered 40 handmade books hidden in her room. These volumes contained 1800 poems, arranged in a specific but unidentifiable order (some suggest autobiographical) with wild dashes at the ends of lines and other strange punctuation. These poems were untitled, resulting in the editorial numbering of each poem and the first line often being given as a title.

Emily’s life, like many in the Victorian era, was filled with tragedy and death. She lost many friends and confidants and fell into fits of depression. She wrote to a friend, “some of my friends are gone, and some of my friends are sleeping – sleeping the churchyard sleep.” Emily’s writing features reoccurring themes of loneliness and death, however, there are several uplifting poems that focus mainly on nature and animals, particularly birds:

Hope is a Thing with Feathers (254)

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chilliest land
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Wisdom from Tom

“In the forest, there was a crooked tree and a straight tree. Every day, the straight tree would say to the crooked tree, ‘Look at me…I’m tall, and I’m straight, and I’m handsome. Look at you…you’re all crooked and bent over. No one wants to look at you.’ And they grew up in that forest together. And then one day the loggers came, and they saw the crooked tree and the straight tree, and they said, “Just cut the straight trees and leave the rest.” So the loggers turned all the straight trees into lumber and toothpicks and paper. And the crooked tree is still there, growing stronger and stranger every day.”
— Tom Waits

August: The Corn Moon

From Flickr...

You know that line from the Disney version of Pocahontas that goes, “Did you ever hear the wolf cry to the Blue Corn Moon?” It just so happens Pocahontas was singing about the August moon, which gets its name from Native beliefs and legends. The name of this month’s moon also comes from farming practices in Europe and North America. In August, crops are ready to be harvested and saved for nourishment through the winter months.

In witchcraft, the August full moon is a time to harvest everything you’ve been working on this year. Enjoy the rewards that come from seeing your plans through to fruition. Also, look ahead to winter and think about what you can save now for future use. This could be something physical, emotional or magical. Put aside negative feelings that can be remedied over Yule, while you’re in the holiday spirit. Dry herbs from your garden for winter spell casting. Let go of the past; begin to feel the energy of the new year that begins November 1st.

Though the August full moon occurred on the 13th, its power can be harnessed a few days before and a few days after (for those of us planning Esbat rituals or spell work.)

Witch-Wife

"Evening Mood" by Bouguereau, 1882

Fiancé and I are not having a wedding but if I was that kind of a girl, I’d make sure this poem was read at the reception:

Witch-Wife

(by Edna St. Vincent Millay)

She is neither pink nor pale,
And she never will be all mine;
She learned her hands in a fairy-tale,
And her mouth on a valentine.

She has more hair than she needs;
In the sun ‘tis a woe to me!
And her voice is a string of coloured beads,
Or steps leading into the sea.

She loves me all that she can,
And her ways to my ways resign;
But she was not made for any man,
And she never will be all mine.

Beautiful, yes? I think it’s lovingly witchy and shows so much respect for women. I like the part about her voice being like coloured beads or steps leading into the sea. Some people find this poem eerie, but I think every man or woman should feel this way about their wife.

The Mythology of Twins

Pretty girls! Re-blogged from http://betweenpeaceandhappiness.blogspot.com/

People have had a fascination with twins since ancient times. Twins were seen as a blessing and sometimes a curse, depending on the culture. Twin mythologies and folklore can be found in nearly every society. Perhaps this is the reason twins still capture people’s attention today.

I’m a twin so I’ve experienced this curiosity firsthand. I have a fraternal twin brother. When I meet someone, the conversation usually evolves into questions about family and siblings. When the person finds out I’m a twin the questions immediately begin:

“So you have, like, an identical sister?” (Usually asked by a pervy guy who’s staring at my boobs)

“So you’re 24 and you have a twin brother? How old is he?”

“You have a twin brother? Are you identical?” (Well no… because of my lack of… you know… a penis.)

“Are you psychic? Can you feel each other’s pain?”

“So your birthday is March 10th and you have a twin brother? When is his birthday?”

Seriously. People are soooooo weird. I usually just tell them I tried to kill my brother in utero but failed miserably… that shuts ‘em up.

Twin Science

Fraternal twins occur when two eggs are fertilized and carried to full term. Identical twins occur when one egg is fertilized but then splits in two, creating separate but identical fetuses. Conjoined twins occur when an egg begins to split but doesn’t fully separate, meaning that only identical twins can be conjoined.

Twin Goddesses and Gods

Apollo and Artemis are twin deities in the Greek pantheon. Apollo is a sun god who represents prophesy, music and intellect. He is a patron of writers and musicians. Artemis is a moon goddess and a virgin huntress. She represents wild animals, women and childbirth. In Greek mythology, Artemis is born first. She becomes her mother’s midwife and helps her to birth Apollo.

In Voodoo (Vodou), twins are considered sacred. Twins are said to have two halves of the same soul. When one twin dies, the other carries a small doll with them for the rest of their life. The doll is believed to house the deceased sibling’s spirit. In Haitian Voodoo, twins are believed to have powers that can be used for evil. A ceremony to the loa Dossou must be performed to stop the twins from being destructive. In Benin Voodoo, twins are a sign of fertility and male virility. Here is a short article on the Marassa, male and female twin deities in Voodoo.

The Yoruba people of Nigeria used to kill twins at birth and sometimes their mother as well. Twins were considered evil and their birth was seen as a bad omen. This is no longer practiced. The laws protecting twins developed out of a legend about a farmer who killed too many monkeys. As punishment, the monkeys enchanted his wife’s womb so that she only gave birth to sickly babies who soon died. At death, these babies would turn into new monkeys and re-populate the dwindling monkey community. The farmer went to see an Oracle and she told him that his wife was pregnant with twins who were very special and powerful. If he did not kill them, he would become prosperous and wealthy. If he killed them Orissa-ibeji, a deity who protects twins, would curse him for life. He did not kill the twins and soon became prosperous and wealthy. Fun fact: because of this legend, Yuroba twins are forbidden to eat monkey meat. Here‘s an article on ibeji in Yoruba culture.

Twins are also present in Mayan, Sumerian, Egyptian, Navajo and Roman mythologies. Here is an excellent article.

So basically, what this all boils down to is that I’m ridiculously special and should be worshiped on a regular basis. Send me e-mails and cupcakes or I’ll curse your livestock!

Lughnasadh, Lammas and the Beginning of Autumn

August 1st was Lughnasadh (loo-nass-a), the first of 3 pagan harvest festivals. Lughnasadh (sometimes called Lammas) marks the beginning of the harvest and the coming autumn season. This is the time of the year when grain is harvested, leaves begin to yellow at their edges and the nights are a little cooler.

Traditional Lughnasadh activities include baking bread, drying herbs and preparing your home for autumn.

At this time, witches begin to look inwards, becoming introspective as the year ends (Samhain on October 31st marks the witch’s New Year.) Reflect upon all that you wanted to accomplish this year. In the previous months you planted ideas in your mind like a farmer plants seeds. You watched these ideas grow and come to fruition and now is the time to harvest them. By now you should be reaping the rewards of your toil and reflecting upon your success or failure. If you haven’t harvested the fruits of your labor, now is the time.

For more information this article is fantastic.

I should mention, I am not Wiccan so there is no God/Goddess symbology in my holiday celebrations. If you are Wiccan, you’ll be celebrating the mother stage of the Goddess and also, if I’m correct, the sacrifice of the God to ensure that life continues through winter. But as I said, I’m not Wiccan so I’m no expert on the cycle of the God/Goddess… to be honest, it really doesn’t make sense to me… but that’s why I’m not Wiccan.

Anyways, enjoy the end of summer and look forward to autumn!