RECHARGING YOUR CREATIVE BATTERIES
This is the perfect time of year to stop and reflect: Where have you
been? Where are you going? How do you get there in one piece? One thing
for certain, you will not make it on an "empty tank," so we
asked an eclectic and diverse group of creative professionals to share
their tips and techniques for resting and recharging. My personal
thanks go to the owners of Sagewater Spa
, Rhoni Epstein and Cristina Pestana, for seeking out and providing me
with a number of creative professionals to be interviewed for this
piece.
You can run "out of gas" trying to balance
conflicting needs, especially personal and professional. You need to
dedicate yourself to your work and you want to spend time for yourself
or with your family. You need to relax and get some rest. Sound
familiar? Michael Fleishman is a freelance illustrator, graphic artist,
teacher and author in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and discusses the most
important technique - physical exercise. He also has a great
suggestion, plan some "buffer time" from when you walk in the door at
work to when you start talking to clients. He explains, "Exercise is
important. You have to fit it in. I teach, and I found a gym that is
literally right on my way to work, so I have no excuse not to exercise.
I arrange my schedule so that I can lift weights or swim before I start
my day. Most of all, I usually schedule office hours first so I don't
have to be 'on' as soon as I walk through the door to work."
It does not seem to matter what you choose for your recharging as long as you identify these two things: some activities that you can turn to and a retreat you can look forward to.
Annie Consoletti, graphic designer, says, "Play is a key element to
creativity. I don't think one can be freely creative without having a
sense of play. I put all of my energy into whichever project I am
working on and am equally as passionate about my design work as I am in
cooking, gardening and landscaping my yard, which at the moment
includes cementing and staining a wall in my backyard."
Taking
the time to rest is critical. Those of us that travel a lot in our work
find this a real challenge. Tracy D. Taylor, fashion director at Marie Claire
magazine says, "I forget that when most people travel, they are on
vacation. When I travel, I am working...with early call times,
inclement weather and brutal schedules with tight budgets. My schedule
is pretty crazy as I travel all over the world for photo shoots. Work
often gets confused with play as so much of my typically
'off-the-business-clock' hours are spent in the context of my
professional life. I may be having drinks at the Ritz in Paris or
sitting atop a camel in India, which all sound glamorous (and I am not
complaining!), but at the end of the day, it is work despite the fact
that I have a wonderful time doing it. If I don't take out time for me
- which can mean anything from sitting in front of the television to
meeting friends for brunch to an all-out vacation - I will get totally
burnt out. I get busy like everyone else absolutely, but I do believe
that time-out is an investment in yourself, your career, and your
creative well-spring that pays off tenfold in the long run!"
Craig Wright, television writer for Six Feet Under and Lost,
validates physical exercise and adds another technique - walk away! He
says, "Not to be painfully obvious, but everything seems better when
I've had some sort of strenuous exercise. Other than that, I tend to
work in short spurts, with short rests in between, unless there's a
looming deadline. Whenever a creative problem seems unworkable, I give up and walk away.
A few moments later, the freedom of having given up usually allows for
a new answer to show itself. The key is actually giving up. You can't
pretend to give up."
A "laundry list" of items to turn to is
good to have in hand before you need it. The worst time to try to think
of something to do to recharge is when you are burned out. Michael
Fleishman shares his list, "Swearing can be fun and work miracles (I'm
only half kidding here). Doing something you absolutely love to do.
Being in the company of someone you cherish, someone who listens, and
who you want to listen to. Laughing. Laughing hard. Making music.
Listening to music. Making art. Looking at art. Reading. Watching
movies. Certain foods (in moderation, of course) can be medicinal, as
are certain friends (sometimes also in moderation). Sleep is good,
very, very good for you."
In addition to physical exercise
to unlock a creative block, television producer and writer, Andrew
Reich, recommends, "One of the best techniques I have found is to not
read the trades. Variety and The Hollywood Reporter tend
to instill stressful emotions: competitiveness, jealousy, anger. I've
found I'm happier when I don't look at them. It's hard to resist,
though."
Don't underestimate the value of planning and being organized. In his book, The Business of Graphic Design - A Sensible Approach,
Edward Gold says, "Creativity's dirty little secret is that control is
not the enemy: control is a necessary ingredient that makes creativity
possible." Vanessa Eckstein, founder of the design studio Blok,
validates this point, "I discovered that the only way to avoid stress
is planning ahead the time frames of when projects should begin and end
and allocating time to explore in the middle. Prioritizing what
is important versus what is inevitable. That is the practical part but
avoiding stress is also knowing that one way or the other (and
sometimes I do wonder how!) we always get to finish the project on time
and proudly."
Finding a special place to go is one of the
most commonly named techniques among the creatives we talked to. Annie
Consoletti explains, "I moved to Los Angeles from Boston in 1977 and
shortly thereafter discovered the desert. For me it is a very creative,
magical place filled with great energy. I've always been a spa-goer and
it happens that Sagewater Spa has the best water in the world. For me,
it is my 'No Stress Zone.' You feel like you're on your own private
island with beautiful magical mountains in the distance and the sweet
smell of the desert wafting by as you absorb it all in. It definitely
has Zen-elegance and I feel totally renewed after a stay and ready to
face the blank canvas!"
Validating the desert theme, Sarah
Sciotto Gavigan, president of Santa Monica, California-based Ten
Music.tv says, "Like the vortex in Sedona is visited by millions a year
for its healing and energetic qualities, there is something
inexplicable in the relaxing qualities of the water in Desert Hot
Springs. Sagewater started out as a weekend escape for me, a personal
place. Now, after a half dozen visits, I realize I am just clear when I am there. I can think - clear my head, relax, soak and recharge my creative fire."
When
you are choosing your retreat, remember three things: Simplify.
Simplify. Simplify. Andrew Reich adds, "When you go to a place where
there are a million choices of activities and things to do that alone
can be stressful. When I go to Sagewater, it's because I want to get
away from making decisions. The decisions to be made there are pretty
simple: Should I go in the pool or the hot tub? Should I sit out and
read or take a nap? Shiatsu or hot stone? Those decisions I can deal
with."
Clothing designer Ruthie Davis of RADesign Inc.
agrees, "As a creative professional, my head is so filled with so many
things all of the time and I also have to be constantly aware of my
surroundings, consumers and what is happening that going somewhere that
has no distractions is the best kind of retreat. I would never go to a
big resort with all kinds of activities and such. I don't want more
stuff, I want less stuff."
Sometimes you have to try
someplace completely new to you. Eda Warren, graphic designer at
Desktop Publishing Services, Inc., says, "When I did a dathun, a 30-day
Buddhist retreat, we did sitting practice for nine hours every day.
Every moment was living in the present. Mindfulness is a way of life. I
realized that what was most profound about the experience was that my
awareness dropped into my body in a way that had never happened before.
It was transformative. All my life has focused to a large degree on my
mental activity, but the part of me that really gives meaning to life
and understands why I am here on this earth, and the parts that provide
the inspiration for creativity and growth, are in the body, in the
heart. Connecting to self at that level is worth more than anything."
Another
technique is to deliberately go outside your personal comfort zone.
Vanessa Eckstein says, "I do look for a place which will surprise me.
Places in which things happen magically because I encounter differences
to what I am accustomed to. I go where I can meet people that I would
have never met had I stayed at home. I look for situations that end up
being a mixture of the everyday and the extraordinary."
In
conclusion, graphic designer and illustrator as well as instructor at
the School of Visual Arts in New York, John Sposato gives a balanced
perspective, "What I love best about the work we do in visual
communications is that there is actually so little separation between
work and play - so much of arranging and crafting the elements of a
design is by definition, play - and so much of what most people in
other walks of life use to separate from the work day (entertainments,
diversions etc.) is created by some other creative professional who
intrigues, feeds, maybe even inspires us for the next day's challenges.
Since I've spent all of my professional life working out of New York
City, that most vertical of environments, I need periodically to
retreat to places with extreme horizontal vistas (the beaches and
deserts of the world, of course). It never fails to clear the head and
fill my notebook with new creative directions."
About this article
Reprinted with permission by Communication Arts, 2006 Coyne &
Blanchard, Inc. All rights reserved. This article first appeared in Communication Arts September/October 2005 issue written by Maria Piscopo