Sam Birkett 0:15
Hello It's Sam here from Marketing Meanders with Sally and Sam and I'm back with some thoughts about creativity and being in the right headspace for creativity and it's a lovely sunny November day out there so it's I feel I'm feeling quite creative and quite full of the joys of late autumn, early winter today and really this has to do with as I say creativity but also the headspace we have, the sort of energy we have in terms of being creative as marketers, and I would describe myself as quite as relatively balanced, left and right hand brained person, I do enjoy evidence and the data and the analytics of marketing. But also I think I'm reasonably innovative and creative. So I enjoy a bit of both and a lot of my role nowadays does call for both of those sides to be used in marketing consultancy. But in our roles, of course, depending on our specialism we may very well be working in a situation where you know, we need to be creative on a regular basis and daily basis or it may be that it's less frequent than that but at some stage even if you are working, you know, purely in analytics, data visualisations can be really beautiful and the ways of course, in which you interpret and apply your analysis and communicate, your analysis has to be creative. So we all need to be creative, the various times and I think when you're in terms of actually looking at the word I suppose you creative, you think of arty stuff and everything.

But it's actually, as I say, with data and analytics, you are creating something you're having to build something from scratch, you have a table full of pipe cleaners and cardboard and used plastic bottles, and sellotape and sticky back plastic and in the best Blue Peter tradition, for those of you in the UK, remember Blue Peter, you have to put this collection of materials together and create something. So typically, with marketing of course, we might be sitting there writing an email, we might be creating social media copy, we might be producing a brief for a website or a video, whatever it might be, there are all areas where we need to be creative. But do you find that particularly perhaps late on a Thursday afternoon, you've had a busy week, you've been crunching the numbers, you've been going through meetings, you're trying to get things sorted out for next week and you're thinking, Well, I'm not really in a sort of creative headspace. I'm not really of a mind at the moment to try and be creative and I think that that's, that's obviously a challenge, really. I mean, I go back to this, the story I used to hear when I worked at the Oxford Business School, which was around Walt Disney's creative process and it's always stuck with me the idea of when they were coming up with a new idea or concept for a script, and for a movie and animation, they would have the different stages. So the first stage, I think, I'll try to get this right in the right order, where I think they started off with a physical space, and then a mental space in terms of no idea is silly, go crazy, go wild come up with all sorts of ideas you possibly can. Everybody in the room, the creatives and non-creatives, just get it out there, put it on the board, say what you think we should do with this movie and then it would be okay, well, then let's let's then apply the brakes in another setting and be sensible, you know, head screwed on, let's work out the actual delivery. Is this actually possible? Can we do this or not? If we then sort of have the more sort of reining in influence, and then I think the final stage was then actually okay, well, how are we actually going to make this work then? So you know, we've had the very positive wild, let's just go crazy with an idea and a concept for film and including, you know, dancing, elephants, all the rest of it, in Dumbo and then let's rein it in and say, Well, I know but there's these restrictions, these restrictions. We can't do this, we can't do that. But then finally, well, how do we actually make it work, then where do we find the middle way and actually make something happen? And I think they'd go back and they'd start with then putting that sensible plan back into the creative, wacky plan side of things and then test its tolerances and it's sort of boundaries, which I think is a really interesting way of being creative.

But also it just it really thinks about and addresses the idea that we're not in the right headspace, you know, I mean, physically in the right space to be creative. I mean, we've all heard of, you know, agencies having these Imaginarium sort of rooms and bubbles and you know, very is times the day where you can go out and you can then you know, just release yourself and try and be more creative and I think that's very true. I mean, I work in drama and things like that and, you know, it's very important to have the correct influences and the correct stimuli as it were to be creative, or to be analytical. I mean, some people are very good at just sort of turning on a penny and switching from the left to the right-hand brain or right to left. But one thing I found observation I've had actually is, in terms of the work I've had, I think, when I have a bit more time, when my projects allow it, and I've perhaps got, you know, an extra half day, a week, or even day a week where I don't actually assign that specifically to a project and I'm not obviously charged with that time. So I'm effectively investing in my existing projects, with more of my time, which I'm not, you know, necessarily putting down and saying, I've spent this time working on the project, you know, I sort of have that time available to focus on being creative overall. So whether it's recording the podcast, whether it's coming up with new ideas, whether it's sort of doing some studies and research, doing some writing, I try to find that extra space, you know, which I then can use to allow me to be creative in that time I've got, but it also then makes me more creative in all the other time that I'm working on my projects. So you know, if it's, say, the middle of the week, we haven't been able to do this for a while, but it's something I'm looking to try and do more of this next year is actually just, you know, making sure I've earmarked that time, whether it's even actually doing a process of being creative, or just actually having you know, whether it's a walk in the countryside, whether it's some time to clear my mind a bit so that I can find more creativity and that spark of creativity, it needs that amount of extra space, I think it might in my head. I mean, I certainly think that I'm able to be creative without that, but I've noticed, looking back over the last year, that when I do have that little extra bit of leeway in my mind of a week, then and you know, times during the month, it does allow me to really just, I think have that extra spark, that extra level of creativity, that extra momentum and I think perhaps some of it is energy, some of it is just, as I say, state of mind, it's sort of allowing myself to kind of just relax a little bit. As I say, it's not perhaps the relaxation that takes place at the actual time, whether it is you know, few hours in an afternoon, during the week, or whether it's, you know, a morning, at the beginning of morning, an afternoon at the end of the week, it's more to do with the = kind of it pays dividends, I think in the rest of the time I have. So obviously it's a bit of a luxury working for yourself and be able to organise your projects and the time you spend working for your clients around your own agenda to a certain extent. So they say I was able to do a lot more of this, in a previous year's this year, I haven't had to do as much. But if I'm going to think about early New Year's resolutions in terms of my work as a marketer, then I I really want to try and ensure that I can get some more of that time built into my ongoing schedule. So that you know if it means that then I have at least half a day, every week within reason, obviously, depending on what I need to deliver for my clients that have half a day a week, built in already, that's obviously a half a day, I'm effectively saying well, I'm not getting paid for that I'm just investing in myself and I'm investing to enhance, hopefully enhance my other work which I'm doing and of course, as I say when you're a freelancer, that's easy to do. But when you are working in an organisation, obviously it's not as easy to say particularly if you know, you manage a team to say to people well, I'm just going to have, you know, Wednesday afternoon as my sort of space to do things, to think about things, or to take myself into some area, whatever it might be, whether it's a walk, whether it's reading, whatever it is you find that sort of helped you and not just relax. I don't think it's necessarily about relaxing. I think it's actually a time when your brain is buzzing and running and you know, you are being creative. It's sort of it's just a space of time that doesn't have any other allocated activity in it. It actually means that you are clear and free to just allow all of the cogs to turn and all of the thoughts, the ideas, the confluence of concepts and every other influence you've been absorbing in the previous days and weeks to come together and make you go, Okay, well actually, you know, thinking creatively, then this makes sense, or I've been really wondering about how we, you know, address this campaign, this email campaign, could we do it in a different way? Oh, actually, why not? Why not do it this way. So I think it's just what I'm trying to say and I haven't said it very briefly. But I hope this has been interesting and useful, is think about how you perhaps can carve out some of that time and I think this obviously works differently for different people, some people may feel that, no, they don't want any sort of free space to do things. They just want to focus, focus, focus, and just get through the work and they can do that by and they can be creative in that way. But I do think creativity sort of needs enough oxygen effectively, to thrive and as I say, for me, just analysing, looking back at my own situation, I would say, that's the best thing to do. Just look back at your balance of life, your habits, your work habits, what you're doing and, you know, assess if you need to be creative in your role, and perhaps you feel like, you know, it's just not been sparking much recently, try and understand maybe why that's the case and then, you know, experiment, if you can, I mean, I think any sort of, you know, progressive organisation, and employers should certainly be willing to explore these sorts of things with you and it's not the idea of saying, right, can I have half a day off a week, Boss, please and I'll just go off and, you know, sit by the river. It's actually an investment in all the rest of your work. And, of course, there's, there's a wider conversation here about how much actual time you need to spend on projects, of course, as well, but I'm not really trying to address that. I'm just saying that I think if you look at what helps you to be creative, what helps you to do your job well, it's going to be different for everyone and just, once you understand that, though, it's then a bit easier to say, right, well, let's try, let's experiment with some ideas about how I can then enable myself to be more creative to do that element of my job more effectively and as I say, for me, I think it really is a case of actually just having that little bit of extra leeway. On a week to then, you know, it enables me to spark more, it frees up my mind more, it just, it gives me a greater sense of sort of just well-being and I don't feel as frantic. I feel just naturally, innately, subconsciously, like my brain just, you know, goes into this sort of space where I can just be more sort of, okay, well, yeah, why don't we try this, why don't we try that. You're sort of, you're less afraid to try things you're, you're more positive about being creative and when you do that, you have to sit down and start writing on a blank screen, a set of email, copy, or video brief, or whatever it might be. It just, personally, it flows far more easily. So I think you can still get to the same place, I think you can still be effective, I think you still can be just as creative as you ever would be. But it's less of a struggle. It's less demanding and I think actually, in terms of time, you know, when you're feeling a bit stressed a bit under caution, a bit focused on the day to day and then you try to be creative, it's difficult, obviously, to switch switch gear to that and so therefore think that switching gear process can actually mean that you take far longer to get warmed up and actually start doing the actual creative tasks that your assigned you need to do. So that can take a lot longer to do. But if you've given yourself a bit of that space during the week, whether it's an hour or half an hour a day, whether it's a half day, whatever it is, if you sort of calibrated and found that that time that gives you the headspace to be creative. I think you'll find that when you then start doing those creative tasks, then I think they'll start far more effectively feels like you're starting from a slightly warmed up engine rather than starting from cold and yeah, I just encourage you to look at it and diagnose and say well, yeah, do I think... I'm not struggling but do I think I find it difficult to be creative. Do I think I find it difficult to sort of get into that mindset and if I do, what might help me? Is it this time that I need or or is it an influence? Is it sitting down and watching a showreel of wacky cartoons or something for 20 minutes before I then need to come up with a visual brief for a designer, what is it that helps you to get going? And of course, a lot of us have to be creative on a very regular basis, it's part of our job. But what helps you sustain that? What helps you you know, really be creative on a regular basis? What keeps you in the right mindset as you're working through the week on week to week? And yeah, I mean, no doubt people have already got their ways which they do this. But as I say, I think sort of really interesting thing to do particularly the end of the year to to just reassess and look into this and really try and work out, experiment, test, as we do tests with everything else, test with our own working patterns, how we might sustain and improve our creativity in the next period. So yes, that's it. It went on for far longer than I thought I would do. I really hope that that might have sparked some ideas and being useful for some of you out there but please do let me know. You can come back and comment on this particular episode, or you can even go to @meanderspod on Twitter, you can find us on Facebook and you can also email us if you so desire, which is at meanderspod@gmail.com So I hope that's useful and yes, let me know what you think. Thanks very much, everyone. Take care bye for now.