You don't need more time ⏰ to produce more as a creator.

I'm a creative at heart. I like wide open spaces, to be able to focus on my ideas and be creative. And it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that if only I could get more creative space in my life, I could produce more as a creator.

So why is it that on my most free creative days do I rarely get anything shipped?

Because creativity is a fun companion, but a terrible task master.

And while creative space is an important part of the process, if you don't balance it with creative structure you'll find it hard to produce any results.

Structure is how you hone all that beautiful raw creative energy into real, tangible outcomes.

The Most Prolific Creators Master These Three Creative Structures:

Discipline. Routines, habits, rituals. Sitting down at the keyboard every.damn.day to just get the work done. Play and have fun - but then have some kind of discipline or routine that gets you to sit and get the work done.

Deadlines. Give me a good kitchen timer and I'll get a 2 hour task done that I've been procrastinating on done in 30 minutes. Combine creative space with good deadlines and you'll find things can move along quite quickly.

Constraints. Creative people love to hate constraints. But secretly they actually make us MORE creative. This essay is a constraint. It can't be longer than 300 words. That's a constraint I apply. And so I have to use my creativity to get my message across in a limited amount of words.

If you're relying solely on your creativity to ship work, you're not going to get very far. Use Discipline, Deadlines & Constraints.