How to be creative using your imagination when all the time doing administration

Convener: Zoe Klinger, www.moralsupport.org.uk

Participants: Chris Gage, Gavin O’Carroll, & our friend from China.

Summary of discussion, questions raised, conclusions and/or recommendations: 

It was important that we spoke in terms of solutions rather than had a winge - This was a gentle conversation that lead to the following ‘top tips’:

• Self-awareness – knowing how you like to work, when are good times in the day, when to say – ‘this is not the right time to be doing admin’ – and adjusting your work patterns according to these things.
• Check out “experience design” aka “service design” for a more holistic approach to audience relationship, making marketing, brand development, merchandising, copyrighting, audience development … all a creative task, and not typically administrative.
• Check out “Getting Things Done” – David Allen. For freeing the mind of stress by trying to remember everything all the time.
• Check out “Myers Briggs” personality types, for knowing how you work; how you learn – to alter approach to tasks according to your needs.
• Meditation techniques for staying in the present – instead of energy wasted by being preoccupied by a second task while dealing with the one at hand. This can help with switching between the creative and administrative mindset.

Overall – it came back to being self-aware: knowing how you like to work, trusting this as correct, and working within this knowledge.  Eg. If you tend to feel half asleep after lunch avoid doing heavy mental work after lunch, or better still – take a siesta.