A (0:01)

Welcome to five Minute Magic from the Mindful Creative Podcast, a short bonus episode sharing tips and insights from the pages of the book of the same title. Every week, I'll be sharing one or two ideas that can give you an actionable takeaway for your creative process, your work, your business, or just food for thought for the weekend ahead. These episodes share content from the audiobook and you can find the link to the full version in the Show Notes below. In today's episode, I'll be talking about planning, the importance of planning and the importance of asking for help and clarity. And both of these snippets are very much about making sure we understand what we do. Because on the topic of multitasking, multitasking is usually just a reaction or response to not having a plan, being in chaos, pretending that we're doing something really remarkable in a way of trying to look like a superhero that can take on too much and can do all sorts of different things, albeit doing them super, super badly. So yeah, the importance of planning and multitasking is the chapter about it, like how to find focus and discipline in the second part, which is asking for help and clarity. I'm talking about briefly about the fact that even the multi million pound footballers running on a football pitch do have a football manager telling them what to do. And it can be easy. Just like we can engage in multitasking, it can be very much easy to take a creative brief and run with it thinking you're doing the right thing, because after all, you've been the one commissioned to do the work. Except the fact is that you don't really know what you're doing, where you're heading. And actually having that clarity and knowing what you need to do is the first step in getting things done right so you can plan for them better. As you can see, there's a theme that's looping back, so I'll leave you with it and see what you can find in there.

B (2:04)

The Importance of Planning and Not Multitasking we touched on the importance of planning in the previous section and it's worth restating because it can so often get forgotten when we think we can just veer off quickly and do this one little thing or let ourselves off not doing something. And so adding it onto tomorrow's to do list, which we decide we don't need to write down because we can keep it all in our head. Tomorrow starts today is a bit of a cliche, but it's true. Writing out tomorrow's to do list and then remembering to look at it and do the things on it can be massively beneficial for our productivity and our state of mind. When we're writing lists, however, and planning things that are off in the future, our old biases can kick in and make us think things will flow a lot more easily than they realistically will. If you've ever allocated 30 minutes for a drive that should take that long but always takes longer because of traffic, or if you've ever been drunk in the early hours and thought to yourself, I feel great, I reckon I might get up at 6 and go for a run. Then you'll know what I mean. It's very useful to know yourself and be honest about your habits when it comes to planning. Are you most creative first thing? Plan to do the bulk of your work then. A natural night owl. That's great work to that if you wish. Although it might put you out of sync with the rest of your family or friends, getting the work done isn't often about being the most inspired. It's the planning and optimal conditions that help you cross the finishing line. It's easier said than done, but aim to focus on one thing at a time and avoid the temptation to jump around from one unfinished task to another. We tend to regard multitasking as a superpower, and if you can keep all your plates spinning without any falling off, then you are indeed approaching superhero status. The bad news, if you like that approach, is that we lose the ability to overlap our multitasking as we get older. We become more focused and less distracted out of necessity rather than choice. Of course, there are also times when multitasking is logical, even necessary. You wouldn't cook a Sunday roast one ingredient at a time, but generally speaking, we cannot give multiple tasks our attention simultaneously and stay in the present moment if we're working, but also have one eye across all of our social channels whilst also watching wannabe influencers wasting oxygen in their latest Netflix series. On top of trying to plan what we're going to have for dinner later and when we should next go to the gym, then it can get dizzying, right? We're clearly not going to be giving our work and our creative practice our full attention. Tasks get completed on autopilot and mistakes get made. Creative satisfaction is diluted and work often rushed. You might never be able to get your ducks in a row, but you should avoid having them two or three abreast when you're at work. As much as possible, be at work and be doing the kind of work you've planned to do. If you're working a creative piece, don't think about your accounts and vice versa. When you're resting or playing, focus on that, because those are the times your creative superpowers are recharging. Your subconscious is also busily looking for solutions to things you might be stuck on when you keep rolling them over in your conscious mind. Asking for help and clarity if a creative task isn't explained or briefed right, you won't be able to do it right. If a brief is vague or over complex, then you can find yourself guessing your way through it. We can make a big issue of asking for help or clarity. Sometimes feeling that to do so will make us look weak or stupid or even worse, unprofessional. But let's face it, how likely are you to be belittled for emailing a client to clarify what you want and what's better? Doing that and getting the work right first time or guessing wrong and losing precious time by making amendments? Why do star footballers on multi million pound contracts need a manager to keep them doing the right thing? We all need guidance and clarity. Something similar can be said for when something is beyond your current skill set. If you can learn it, fantastic, but if it's an unrealistic ask, then there is always someone available to help you. It may cost a little money, but delegating out can buy back your time and ensure the work keeps running smoothly. You might even learn a thing or two. Ask for help and own it.