Tips For The Unrelenting Creative: How To Prioritize The Important Things

Hi everyone,

Happy Tuesday! For some reason, all three tips this week are about setting priorities that center on the things that are important to me outside of work. (Maybe that’s my subconscious telling me something, ha.) I am finding it interesting how much I continue to separate things that happen in my work life from the things that happen with family, friends, and my overall health. They are all very much blended together these days, however, the separation between the two is oddly beneficial to me when I write. I hope the words in the newsletter this week will help you prioritize the things that are most important to you.

Enjoy!

Tips

  • How To Ensure Friendships Get Better With Age: ​Friendships are incredibly important to me but I often feel like I don’t have enough time in the day to get together. With so much going on at work and non-stop activities with my kids, my friends are often an unintended sacrifice when there are limited hours in the day. ​ ​

    Tip: Invest in your friendships now while things are crazy in work and life, it will pay off in ten to fifteen years when you have more time. Everyone in your friend group likely wants to hang out but they are also maxed out, so be the planner. I have always found that if I plan the hang, my friends will generally say yes.
    that you will get that you will have more time for friends when you get older. Invest some time in those relationships now. ​ ​

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  • How To Focus On Leisure Time: One of the big reasons I get stretched is that it is that I feel guilty focusing on the life part of the work/life balance equation when I have so many obligations at work and with my family. When everything is important, focusing on my own needs often gets pushed to the back burner.

    Tip: Sometimes how you spend your leisure time can feel like work in the short term but provide long-term happiness (think exercise). Like prioritizing your friendships, it is important to make space for things that bring you joy on a personal level. I love the way Sarah Perry describes the many ways one can enjoy guilt-free leisure time (AKA body pleasure)
    . ​ ​

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  • How To Speed Up Your Decision-Making Process: I often get stuck making a decision because the outcome sets me on an irreversible path once it has been made. When that happens, I suffer from analysis paralysis, which can put a lot of my work and the work of others on hold. ​ ​

    Tip: Separate your decisions between reversible (decisions you can make quickly) and irreversible (decisions that should take a bit of time). Identify reversible decisions (AKA
    ) as quickly as possible and get them out of the way so that you can spend more time on the important decisions that will set you on a specific path. ​ ​

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Nate Zeisler is the Dean for Community Initiatives at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. He envisions a world where students majoring in the arts have a clear path to a sustainable career, where creative minds are empowered and inspired to rule the workforce, and where access to the arts is not just for the privileged few, but for all.

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