Too Creative & Disorganized

Creative people are exciting to be around. They are enthusiastic, engaging, entertaining and tirelessly coming up with new ideas. I love being around Creative Heart-centered Entrepreneurs. But there is a dark side to creativity. It’s having TOO much: Too many thoughts, too many ideas, too disorganized, and it can become too hard to decide on one approach and finish it until completed. It can make you feel overwhelmed and stressed out.

It took me many years to recognize that I was a creative person. Describing myself that way sounded to me like I was bragging. But, heck, I was just observing my life! I was always a working artist, but I was an inventor (always coming up with new “things” or products to solve problems), and a Behavioral Therapist all at the same time. I used to tell people that my middle name was: TM – Too Much.  

But the thing that clinched it for me was looking at my office. My desk looked like a bomb went off, and sticky notes were all over in every room. The room looked more like a landfill than a room! I remember the comedian, Bill Cosby, wondering when his mother had been at a farm, because she described his room as a “pig sty”. Mine, at least wasn’t dirty – just FILLED with paper!

I remember being at a marketing class where the Guru asked people to write down 5 things that they were interested in, and could do well. It was the hardest thing for me to whittle the list down to 11! Believe me, this is not to brag, because it was a great problem for me. Sometimes the thing that is best in your life is also the worst!

Organization for the Creative

I’ve read that the way to drive a dog crazy is to take two identical bowls and put identical food in each one. The dog looks at one, and runs to the other, and then back and forth, crying the entire time, and not eating. I guess many times I’ve felt like that dog!

Organization and having a system is one of the most important things for everyone – but it is imperative for a “too much creative”. I’m so happy that there is now a way to organize thoughts and plans electronically, with reminders.

It’s easier getting out of something than back into it!

(this is one of my favorite quotes- try to think of anything it doesn’t work for!)

• Filing and putting things away the right way the first time is imperative.
              Even though it takes more time in the beginning, you will save             yourself a tremendous amount of work later.
• Putting your ideas in folders with names that describe the contents.
              This has helped me tremendously. When you are in a rush, and don’t             do it immediately, notes get lost, and sometimes important ideas get lost.
• Make a “back burner file”.
              These are ideas that are interesting, but not pressing. At the end of the             month, I get a reminder from my computer to check through the file. If the idea is still important, I can move it up, or keep it where it is – or discard it. Sometimes those back burner ideas get combined with ideas that I’m now working on.

Having a desk where I can find my keyboard from my computer makes life a lot less stressful!

What do you do to organize your thoughts, or de-stress yourself from your creativity? (welcomed comments are at the bottom of the page)