Rekindling Creativity in High-Pressure Environments.
The Resilient Creative: Bouncing Back from Overwork’s Toll.
What Worked For Me.
I left writing this week’s newsletter until late, probably too late to meet my self-imposed deadline. I woke up very early this morning, at 03:00, feeling guilty that I wouldn’t make it. It’s now 04:00, and I must leave for the day job in 2 hours. Not a lot of time to write a polished and interesting post.
https://kodifyit.com/Main/2023/07/23/overwork-the-stealthy-assassin-of-creativity/
Still, I’m looking at it as an experiment. What can I produce in the time remaining? I don’t want to rush it. The result is a short post that has inspired me to relax and enjoy the process.
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A Time-constrained Process
I started with my usual routine, an idea shaped by my time constraints. I opened GPT-4 and played out my idea, together with a few guidelines on style. Still, I’m looking at it as an experiment. What can I produce in the time remaining? I don’t want to rush it, but the result must be helpful and valuable to the readers. The result is a short post that has inspired me to relax and enjoy the process. This is the first prompt:
Suggest a list of 10 article titles based on the theme “Overwork: Overcoming the Creativity Impact”. The style must be engaging, semi-informal and optimised for SEO. Also, give a list of 3 possible subtitles for each title in the same style.
Selecting a suggested title and subtitle that appealed to me, I asked GPT to give me a list of variations, resulting in almost the title and subtitle I used—just a few changes to reflect my voice.
The Outline
I almost always use Generative AI to suggest a broad outline for an article. But I never use the results generated. This does sound like a pointless exercise, but what it does achieve is string me down the path of creative thinking:
Thank you. Now can you give me an outline for an article based on title 7 with the second suggested subtitle? Each section heading must be in the same style as the title. Target an article with a 1500-word count. Divide this suggested word count between each section.
This gives me the basis that I need to start. I’ve used none of the suggested sections, nor have I stayed within the suggested outline itself. But what it does do is give me the framework to build upon.
Is This Cheating?
I can’t judge for anybody but myself; I’m sure that some will be one hundred per cent against this process, while others will, hopefully, overlook the starting point and concentrate on the content. The entire point is to get over the dreaded starting point of a blank page, which is always intimidating. It is for this purpose, and this purpose alone, that I used GPT-4 to get the ball rolling.
As I write this, part of my mind is already wandering to generate a featured image. I started using Midjourney several newsletters ago. I’ve never been comfortable using existing images easily found on the internet. After all, somebody owns them or at least puts effort into creating the images. It just doesn’t feel very ethical to use these images without being able to acknowledge the original creator.
Worrying Never Helps
As I reach this point, I have been busy for 30 minutes and am happy with the results. The moral of this is not to let worry get to you. The key to writing anything creative is to be relaxed; it should never be viewed as a task with a deadline. Blast through as fast as you can type and correct the numerous spelling and grammar mistakes when you are done.
Tapping into the creative flow can be delicate and easily disrupted if we stop and correct every sentence as we go. Forget it, keep going, and push through to the end. The editing process will take care of itself at the appropriate time.
The Editing
The editing process will take time, but I have sped up considerably since I started with this newsletter earlier this year. Another tool in my toolbox is Grammarly. Once the piece is completed, I’ll enable Grammarly to check and suggest corrections. What I like about Grammarly is that it is quick and easy to find mistakes. Often, however, I’ll dismiss the suggested correction or change.
As for all these tools, the overall feel for the article’s theme can be lost if we unthinkingly follow the suggested corrections. Ensure you view the modifications in the context of the paragraph written around it. For example, I used the word ‘key’ within this post. Grammarly will likely suggest changing it to ‘vital’ or something similar. But this is not what I wanted to convey to you, the reader. The suggestion will be dismissed as it is missing the context within which the word was used.
You are the creator, not these tools. They are tremendously supportive and helpful, but, as with many things in life, they have their limitations. Go with your gut feeling, always.
Final thoughts
That is it, done. Forty-five minutes after I started. I’m ready to edit, generate the image I want, check the layout, and publish. Finding the following sentence or word shouldn’t take hours of effort.
Several months ago, my first article took an average of twelve hours to produce. With my process, I’ve cut this down to half that, with most time taken up with research. If I’m feeling a bit lazy, the actual writing process takes no more than two hours these days.
Today’s post didn’t require any research at all. Not bad for less than an hour’s work.
See more articles, posts, and discussions about business, project management, the role of human nature, Generative AI and Creative Writing on Medium here. If you have not already, subscribe to Medium. Or follow me here on Substack. The KodifyIT Substack newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber; I would appreciate the support; you won’t regret it. 👍
Disclosure. I use Generative AI tools to help me when writing. From outline suggestions to topics or subtleties I had yet to think of.
I apologise to my readers for some of the spellings you may feel are incorrect. I was born and brought up in the United Kingdom, and this is the spelling I am comfortable with (Grammarly is happy with it anyway).