Unleashing Creativity: A Deep Dive into “Mind Management, Not Time Management” by David Kadavy

Mind management, not time management, has made me rethink how I see productivity, especially when it comes to being productive with my creativity. It has also changed my working practice when it comes to my writing.

In this article, I will explore the key takeaways that I have taken from the book and, in most cases, have looked to incorporate into my processes to improve the quality of my work and increase my productivity while working.

The false assumption of Time management

In the book, Kadavy argues against the time management assumption that time is a commodity exchanged for productivity. He argues that not all hours of the day are created equal. Therefore, productivity is not about cramming more tasks into your day but optimising your creative energy.

Author Chris Bailey makes a similar argument in his book The Productivity Project, which states that productivity is the management of one’s energy and commitment to undertaking one’s tasks. Time is just the backdrop.

For me, Time management is a myth. It’s all about managing your energy, and once you realise that, you will never feel guilty about taking breaks again.

The Essence of Creativity

In Mind Management, Not Time Management, David Kadavy defines creativity as generating novel and valuable ideas. This article is an example in which I have taken the ideas of other writers and merged them with my own experiences and things I have learnt to generate new ideas or at least new perspectives that I and hopefully you, will find helpful.

The creative process relies on two distinct mental states which contradict each other.

The first mental state is divergent thinking, when you explore the world around you, looking for initial ideas or new connections between things to change your frame of reference. Kadavy compared this mindset to a shotgun shooting a large number of pellets, some of which will hit a target.

The second mental state is convergent thinking, which is when you look to reduce and refine the ideas and connections found during divergent thinking. To produce a finished piece of work such as the article you are currently reading. Kadevy compared this mindset to having a sniper rifle in that it is precise.

The Creative Process

Kadavy outlines four distinct stages that need to be completed at least once during the creative process, but they are not necessary in the order shown below.

• Preparation
• Incubation
• Illumination
• Verification

Why don’t we look at these four processes individually?

Preparation

Preception work is carried out with a divergent mental state and consists of prioritising your work, exploring your interests, and conducting more specific research on an idea you are exploring.

Incubation

Incubation is the part of the creative process undertaken by the subconscious mind when working on other things, resting, or even walking the dog.

Illumination

Illumination is the lightbulb moment when a new idea or solution to a problem jumps into your mind. That is why you need to ensure you have a way to capture it, or you risk losing it forever. As I mentioned in a recent blog post on fleeting notes, I dread to think how many ideas I missed because I did not capture them.

Verification

Verification is the process of working on the idea generated during the Illumination stage and ensuring it is a viable idea, such as writing and editing this article.

Creative mind states

Kadavy also introduced seven other mind states, which to me are at least sub-states of divergent and convergent. I will cover each type in turn during this section. I’m not sure that I would call them mental states, but the types of work you undertake during the creative process. However, your underlying mental state would impact your ability to do the job, so I think the argument is still relevant.

Prioritise

Scheduling your work should maximise the four stages of creativity. One example of this is my content schedule and planner, which I use to help me plan and prioritise the various projects I’m working on, including this post.

Explore

You are in exploration mode when you are consuming the content of others just out of general interest. I was in exploratory mode when I originally read this book as I was reading it out of interest. At times, this mind state can feel like the rest state.

Research

Research is similar to exploration, but you are searching for something specific.

Generate

During this phase, you create the actual content, such as writing the first draft of this article.

Polish

The polish stage is when you check and edit what was created during the generation state, such as editing what I had written in my first draft of this post.

Administrative

Working on all the other stuff you need to do to ensure you have the opportunity to be creative.

Recharge state

The recharge state includes resting, sleeping, and doing things you enjoy, which gives your mind time to incubate your next great idea. This stage shouldn’t be undervalued.

Strategies for optimising creative work

The aspect of the book that had the most significant impact on me was the recommended strategy of defining which times of the day, week, and even year you are naturally in each creative state. This allows you to match the right creative task with the right mental state, which will increase your productivity and, more importantly, the quality of your creative work.

I have experimented with this process over the last month or so, and so far, it seems to be working pretty well, or at least I’m enjoying my work more.

I have modified my system around this, allowing me to work on various articles, blog posts, and maybe even future books when I’m in the right mindset by working on projects in batches. This also has the benefit of creating spaces for even more incubation. David Kadavy calls this approach minimal creative input.

Conclusion

As someone who works a full-time job and is also a part-time writer and blogger, it helped me to define when I’m at my most efficient to do the creative tasks and to experiment with my scheduling to make the most of these times and use minimal creativity input.

It isn’t about managing your time but managing your energy and using it when it is at the right level for the tasks you are planning to do. Most importantly, it’s about taking breaks to restore this vital energy and allow your future ideas to incubate.

Why don’t you join me and start identifying your creative sweet spots and exploring when it is best for you to do your most creative work?