Benjamin Franklin said, “For every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned.”

One of the greatest flaws many creative people have is the inability to organize themselves. For some reason we have come to believe that creativity is being unorganized and fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants. However, this thinking limits innovation. Unorganized people are not being creative, they are being undisciplined. Truly innovative people harness the power of organization in order to take their creativity to a whole new level of productivity. Inspiration can come at any moment, but it can also be harnessed. The biggest lie creative people believe is: Inspiration comes upon them. I have a hard truth though…inspiration is not floating out there somewhere waiting to be discovered. Rather, inspiration is created from within. No one has ever found inspiration, they create it. The most successful innovators understand that creativity is not a matter of happenstance, it is a matter of discipline and hard-work.

So how can you become more creatively organized? Here are some tips…

1. Collect Your Ideas

Never let an idea slip away into oblivion. File every idea and thought you have so that you harness the potential it carries with it. Too many ideas get lost in the sea of forgetfulness. The most creative people ALL have a system to file their ideas. Leonardo DaVinci had thousands upon thousands of notebooks with his thoughts and ideas…no wonder he was so creative.

2. Schedule Your Creativity

Stop waiting for the “inspiration moment” to hit you. The more you believe that inspiration is floating out there and not floating within you, the more you will be subject to your “feelings.” The truth is, you can schedule creativity if you build a habit of it. In fact, the more you know you are scheduled to be in a creative moment, the more you can marinate your thoughts leading up to it and be ready for it.

3. Break Down Your Projects

Creativity gets stifled when things get to overwhelming. We must break down projects into smaller tasks in order to keep our focus. Creative people tend to wander if not guided. Breaking down projects into small steps helps to keep us focused on specific areas so we don’t lose momentum. Narrow your focus to accomplish more.