10 Rules I Learned to Live By Last Year to Optimise My Creative Freelancing
Last year saw a bit of a change for me in that I spent more time at home composing & recording/sound designing than ever before. It was also a year where some things I’d counted on pre-Covid were no longer there & I was rebuilding in some ways.
In keeping with Poet in the City’s ‘Rules to Live By’ night (where I presented some of my performance and research work at in April 2023) here below are some of the rules I learned to live by last year.
Half these things are some practical ways I streamlined work to leave as much time as possible for composing, the other half are things I kept in mind when the going got tough - there was the odd bit of advice from friends & colleagues (you know who you are), & some bits I conjured/reminded myself of.
Let’s start with the practical things:
Batch Day - This is where say, if I have a week where I’m not largely not scheduled to be anywhere, per se, I batch errands, meetings, half-days’ work into a day/couple of days back-to-back to leave the other days free to grow into, or go into - composing/writing can feel a bit like a deep dive.
Junk Day - This is where I get everything I don’t want to do out of the way in one day; it’s the mental equivalent of pulling off a plaster: one short sharp burst of pain & it’s all over :D This day deserves a treat at the end of it. I also like telling my friends I can’t meet up that day cos ‘that day’s junk day’.
Curling Day - I got this idea watching curling! Seeing those brushes sweeping a clear path for the curling puck made me realise I could do that for myself so I glide through the weeks ahead. Here I take a few minutes to think about the general time ahead of me, particularly if it’s going to be busy, & do everything ahead of time so I can just glide through everything. e.g. the MOT’s due in three weeks, but I need that week for composing so I book it in now, after that I fly somewhere, so I book & sort those logistics out now.
Closing Windows Day - This is where I take every possible little thing I know will distract me while composing - calling friends, paying bills, rescheduling things, washing the windows, emails - & get it done in one day. This is pure damage limitation - I can sometimes use any excuse to not face myself at the piano & see my current container of limitations, & I don’t want that to happen cos I need to write.
Month Themes - I can be juggling so many things as a freelancer that it’s hard to know how focus on everything. At the moment I’m giving each month a theme & focusing on that, so ‘Syncing Month’, ‘Composing Month’, ‘Contacts Month’, etc.
… And now some inner things I told myself to keep going:
This was from a colleague when I thought I was at a creative ground zero:
“Challenge your belief that all is gone; you never lose your ability to create the next new thing, or to have more ideas. You always have that.”
… and a quote from a friend:
“The only thing to do in this climate is to be as creative as you can.”
This was something I came up with in 2013, but found myself resurrecting:
“When you think you’ve reached the end of a list of possible options, make a new list of better options and work your way up it.” (I call this ‘working ‘up’ a list).
“Epic freedom requires epic trust.”
“When something leaves your life you get your choices back.”
I’d be interested to swap notes & hear what some of yours were. I’m not sure what will emerge this year, though I’ll expect I’ll find out! All I know at the moment is that I had a thrilling end to the year & I’ve taken it as a sign to weave more of that into 2024.