Creativity Day Planner

To the Prospective Artist: Lessons from an Unknown Actor

CREATIVITY DAY-PLANNER

One of the biggest hurdles for an actors and artists is creating a daily structure that leaves you feeling proud of the hours you put towards shaping a meaningful day of creativity. The outline below is the culmination of several years of tweaking, improving, and learning from the greats of the high performance world.

I. Develop a Morning Routine

-       Begin the day by writing down, or verbalizing 5 things you are grateful for. Our view of the world is constructed by what we focus on.

-       Read something positive for 30 minutes.

-       Carve out anywhere between 1 – 10 minutes to sit in silence and focus on your breathing. You don’t need to be a Zen master to take a few minutes of personal inventory each day.

-       Eat something healthy. The benefits are twofold: you’ll feel energized, while also doing something good for your body, mind, and capacity to focus.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS

-       Starting your day with toxic headlines. Beginning your day with news means your stepping out into the world with scenes of car chases, robberies, natural disasters, and political gridlock dancing in your head. Give yourself a chance to take on the first few hours of the day with a sense of aspiration and a little bounce in your step.

-       Checking email, texts, or social media when you first wake up. Yeah, I said it. Research shows by starting your day answering the priorities of other people instead of your own, your productivity for the week plummets more than 30 %. If possible, try to refrain from these distractions until noon. (gasp!) If that’s a challenge, try 10:00 am and work your way up.

*Tip – Try placing your laptop and phone in a different room from where you sleep. It’s easier to avoid distractions than to resist them.  

II. Jot Down Your 3 Most Important Priorities for the Day

If possible, plan these the night before. It’ll be one less thing to worry about when you begin your day freeing up time to develop and deepen the quality of your morning rituals.

-       You should have 3 M.I.P’s at most. Learn the art of prioritization practiced by the likes of Warren Buffett and Jim Collins who once said, “If you have more than 3 priorities than you have none.”

-       Below each goal list the 5 steps you must take before the day is over. Just below that, list the people you need to reach out to in order to see your tasks all the way through. Check out the example below:

1. Begin trying to get your manuscript published.

A. Buy an updated book of literary agents.

B. Begin targeting agents who specialize in my book’s genre.

C. Research what makes a good query letter.

D. Begin drafting a query letter.

E. Once the letter is complete, get feedback from at least two people.

Who I Need to Reach out to Today: Phone my editor and ask if she has any pointers, or knows some good resources on publishing.

-       Work in blocks of 50-minutes, uninterrupted. Phone goes off or on airplane mode, browsers are out of view, email and instant messenger are kept at bay.

-       After each designated block, take 10 minutes to stretch, do breathing exercises, run to the rest room, or grab a snack.

III. “Cashing Out”

-       The quality with which you end your days will play a role in how you begin the next. Close out the day by committing to NO screens 50 minutes before bed. It just takes practice.

-       Journal. Jot down 3 things you’re grateful for and any discoveries/insights you gained throughout the day.

-       Hit the hay. Rinse and repeat.

The Dangers of a To-Do List

For years I'd wake up early, set forth on my morning routine (reading, exercising, studying a positive resource in the form of a TED Talk, or article), then dive into my to-do list.

I committed myself fully to this daily archive, this sacred scroll. And nothing was better than the satisfaction I'd get from crossing off one task after another. I got a lot done.

Looking back, I now know many, if not most, of the things "I got done," could have been delegated, tabled, or weren't necessary at all. 

In all those years I failed to take inventory of whether or not the tasks I was sure needed to get done were actually important. In other words, I'd prioritized my schedule, instead of scheduling my priorities.

Once you discover the difference you'll be well on your way towards taking the action steps that truly matter in getting you closer to where you want to be. 

I just hope it doesn't take you as long to figure out as it did for me.

The Power of a Good Morning Routine

One question I'm asked quite a bit from other actor and artist friends is how to put together a daily structure. The life of an artist is many things, but structured seldom comes to mind. 

Actors in particular are conditioned to drop everything should an audition, or acting job present itself.

What I learned the first few years after drama school was I might not have control over what happened throughout the day, but I could determine how my day started and ended.

Here a few quick tips you might find helpful:

-- Try starting the day by saying 5 things you're grateful for. They need not be earth-shattering. You can be grateful for the thread count in your comforter.

Beginning the day from a place of gratitude starts the day on productive/positive tone helping you focus less on what you don't have.

-- Try reading something positive/educational for 30 minutes.

-  Carve out a little time to sit in silence, focus on your breathing, and take a little personal inventory. You don’t need to be a Zen Master and can do it for as little as a minute or two.

Equally important are avoiding the pitfalls. Here's what I try to avoid at all costs when the alarm goes off:

-- Toxic headlines. Beginning your day with car chases, robberies, natural disasters, and political gridlock dancing in your head is hard to get past. Be socially aware and civic-minded, but do it in a way that protects your mind. Filter the information you take in. 

-  Checking email, texts, or social media. Yeah, I said it. Research shows by starting your day answering the priorities of other people instead of your own, your productivity for the week plummets more than 30 %. 

You can download the "Creativity Day Planner" with all of this information and more at www.nickmaccarone.com in just a few days. 

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