Productive Habits to Amplify Your Creativity

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As a freelancer, and someone who works from home (most of us do now), it's easy to get distracted by literally anything and everything. Establishing some habits to boost creativity helps me stay productive. These are some of my favorite tips and tools for enhancing the creative process and motivation— I hope these help you feel more creatively fulfilled, have the space to explore your deepest desires, and banish the anxiety and overwhelm that can come with working at home.

Tips and tools for Boosting Creativity

Tip 01

Plan your schedule according to the cycles of nature

Moon Phases: Even if you don't subscribe to astrology or think that much about the moon phases, they exist. Following the phases of the moon allows your schedule to have structure and guidance in a way that feels natural. Since I started structuring my schedule this way I have felt more clear on my day-to-day routine and needs. Here is an example of how it works:

• 🌚 (New Moon) Plan, schedule your month—whether it's content creation, meetings, vacations, plan it all out and make updates for the new moon.

• 🌙 Set your plans into motion, edit down your thoughts, take action.

• 🌓 Create, create, create and tune out the noise around you.

• 🌔 Review, edit, and refine your work.

• 🌕 (Full Moon) Get rid of what is no longer serving you or working for your process.

• 🌖 Rest, recuperate, look at bank accounts, and send invoices.

• 🌗 Plan meetings with clients and collaborators, give back, and practice gratitude.

• 🌘 Restore, recharge, reflect, and check in with your goals to make sure you're still on track.

Holisticism has an excellent blog post all about this if you would like to dive deeper.

Seasons: If moon cycles aren't your thing I also recommend planning your schedule according to the season.

• ❄️ Winter: Take the cold season to turn inward, spend less time reaching out to others and socializing and more time turning inwards, studying, getting organized and researching. This is a great time to focus on which areas of your life you would like to intentionally grow in for the rest of the year.

• 🌸 Spring: Start sharing more, maybe launch a new offering, focus on marketing or social media.

• ☀️ Summer: Celebrate all of the hard work you have done so far. Take some time to be creative, play, and embody the intentions you set in the winter.

• 🍁 Fall: Finish up old projects, celebrate accomplishments and clear out your inboxes, even the ones stored in your brain.

Your menstrual cycle: I highly recommend the book WomanCode by Alissa Vitti. She explains in depth how people with a uterus can optimize their energy based on where in the cycle they are. If you are on the pill or are no longer bleeding, you can still use this method.

• Menstrual (Days 1-7ish): Re-evaluate your goals and refocus on your intentions and which areas of your life need more attention. Check in with your intuition and spend some time journaling.

• Follicular (Days 7-18ish): Brainstorm, work on creative projects, focus on the most mentally challenging tasks of the month, try something new and socialize.

• Ovulation (Days 18-22ish): Connect with your community, have important conversations, communicate, and spend time with friends.

• Luteal (Days 22-28ish): Take care of domestic chores, organize, tackle administrative and detail-oriented work, focus on banking, nesting and turning inwards.

Or simply take note of your natural rhythms of energy and plan accordingly. You can also hybrid this practice and use all of the above in a way that feels satisfying and motivational for you.

Tip 02

Use Notion! The only digital tool you need.

If you are looking for a tool that helps you stay organized, is intuitive and easy to use, and is aesthetically pleasing, look no further than Notion.so.

Seriously, I am so grateful I found this tool. I write all of my blog posts here, schedule everything, take notes, make lists, create moodboards etc. I am also a sucker for optimization and minimalism, so I spent hours on Youtube seeing how other people were using it to make their lives more efficient. Plus it's free and there are so many templates you can use to get started if you have no idea where to begin. I got rid of all of my other apps after I started using it!

Tip 03

Batch Work

Thanks to the many creators who paved the way before me, I have learned a lot about batch working. The concept is simple and goes hand in hand with Tip #01. Schedule out blocks of time on each day of the week, specific days of the month, or particular weeks of the year, to do focused, deep work. My schedule generally looks like this:

• Monday: Organize, plan, work on marketing for my business (usually writing blogs and newsletters).

• Tuesday: Client projects and calls.

• Wednesday: Product Development and writing.

• Thursday: Client projects, calls, and learning something new (i.e. an Adobe Illustrator course).

• Friday: Creative expression day. I try to always get the task-based work out of the way early in the week so that I can spend Fridays deep diving into creative work or taking the day to get inspired.

• Saturday: Household chores and some administrative tasks if I have time.

• Sunday: Resting, doing activities that light me up like eating good food, spending time outside, and reading.

*I planned out each day of the week to correspond the activities with the ruling planet of the day for optimal energy.

About once per month I schedule a day to work on blog posts, a day to work on SEO and Pinterest for my website, and a day to do some digital cleanup like organizing files, clearing off my desktop and drives, and a day to focus on post-mortem review for my finished projects. This allows for focused days with minimal distraction and lots of creative productivity.

Tip 04

Give yourself creative parameters

Your inner rebel may be yelling, "f**k the rules" and I am right there with you, but I do think that some guides or outlines can actually give us more creative inspiration. I love a good theme party, a photo challenge, a color specific moodboard, or an emotion based playlist and it’s no different when it comes to getting inspiration for a new creative project. For example, if I am feeling stuck in my photography work and can't seem to come up with an idea, I create a challenge for myself like, "spend one hour in one location and take at least 200 images". You would be amazed at how much more creative you will feel when you give yourself some boundaries. When our limits are endless we get decision fatigue and end up not doing anything at all. If you can limit your options, you will have a clearer direction for your expression.

Tip 05

Start your mornings off in flow

I think this might be the tip that every successful person suggests for their productivity and there is a reason. When you start your days off in a consistent flow, you will feel successful from the get go and you are setting yourself up to have a fulfilling day. I will give you a breakdown of my morning routine that works for me. but I will say your routine should be unique to you. Not every tool works for every person and you shouldn't force anything that feels inauthentic or like a chore. Always prioritize your pleasure so that you can find your ideal expression of time. These are the things that have been working for me lately (I tend to change things up every 6 months or so to stay inspired).

1. Start with some deep belly breaths and wake up without an alarm. I usually just wake up when my partner does since he leaves the house for work

2. Drink a big glass of water (this helps my digestion, I am sluggish for sure)

3. Coffee. Always and forever. I like to make mine into a potion sometimes with a little Ashwaganda for stress help and reishi and chaga for immune support (you definitely don’t have to do this unless you like to).

4. Read. I started reading in the morning, which I never thought to do before, and it has changed the game for me. I can read more and retain more than when I was reading right before bed. I aim for about 20 pages per day if I have time.

5. Journal. I used to do Morning Pages and now it's a hybrid of that mixed with some shadow work, intention setting, and creative expression. Depends on the day and what feels the most nourishing

6. Nourish. I forget to eat breakfast sometimes and end up waiting until lunch, but I am trying to be better about eating something nutritious in the morning to give me energy as I begin my day.

7. Dive into the work. I always check my calendar and checklist that I create in Notion to make sure I don't miss anything and then I start working. I try to do any big tasks, creative tasks, or things that generally need more attention in the morning because I always lose energy by the late afternoon.

*I also like to add a little extra joy to the mornings with some music, maybe lighting a candle and some incense, and dancing around a little bit to get in a creative mood.

Conclusion

These tools have helped me grow my creative output exponentially. I find that with a bit of structure and a plan that feels exciting and inspiring, I am far more likely to follow through and complete the work. Use the tools that you resonate with the most and create systems that work best for you.

I would love to hear what's working for you, and what you would like to try next!

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