Are you procrastinating enough?
Some call it procrastination; I call it brewing time! Some of the perks of working on a new cookbook are that I can browse through my favourite books for work! Creativity can't happen in a vacuum. We constantly draw inspiration from our surroundings, from clouds' shapes, paintings in a museum, articles in a newspaper, forest walks, street signs, other artists or books. The possibilities are endless if we take the time to observe and "steal" ideas. To steal like an artist means not really copying, but taking one thing and transform it that much that it becomes your own, and it resembles nothing to the original. "There are not unique messages, but unique messengers." Some artists like going on retreats to the woods, disconnect from everything and allow the brew of things they've watched in the months leading to their cabin time to inspire their next masterpiece.
We must absorb information, provide our brain with downtime to process it, and then begin to put the pieces together. During the absorption phase, make sure to search for YOUR interests instead of consuming what is in front of you. Don't let the media control your pursuit, and don't consume more than what you create. Then, the middle part can be as important as any of the other two, and it is the one where most people fail because of the overrated 24/7 productivity mindset. Like Austin Kleon points out, "The times when you're most creative, are not necessarily the times when you're more productive."
Some of us get into that middle zone while running; others meditate, walk, practice their hobbies or stare at the horizon. In that grey area between ideas and execution, doing things unrelated to work is essential. It is also important to avoid the modern trap of turning hobbies into hustles. This article, written by Molly Conway, explains it beautifully when she says, "it's no surprise we feel pressure to monetize our spare time. The cult of busyness is one of the most toxic aspects of our culture, but it's also a defence mechanism. We don't have to monetize or optimize or organize our joy. Hobbies don't have to be imbued with a purpose beyond our own enjoyment of them. They, alone, can be enough.
This can sound contradictory to the modern hustling culture. This article written by Erin Griffith on why young people are pretending to love work written states that "For congregants of the Cathedral of Perpetual Hustle, spending time on anything that's nonwork-related has become a reason to feel guilty. The logical endpoint of excessively avid work, of course, is burnout. If we're doomed to toil away until we die, we may as well pretend to like it."
From my point of view, procrastination and boredom are vital for creativity! Don't ever feel wrong about doing "nothing" and allowing time to be bored. Because deep down, you are doing a lot; you can't see or measure it! This doesn't mean delaying the implementation of your ideas forever, just allowing the brew time in between to happen! Allow the creativity seed to grow!