Productivity for Creative People: How to Get Creative Work Done in an “Always On” World by Mark McGuinness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am an independent author of fiction and non-fiction, and I found this book extremely helpful in learning how to find balance. The author, Mark McGuinness, is a successful creative professional (he’s a published poet) who also coaches artists to help them reach their creative dreams and achieve their business goals

Chapter 3 (“Reduce Overload”) was the most practical and actionable section for me. In this chapter, Mark encourages you to organize all your various tasks into four types:

1. On-going work (repeating stuff and stuff you do every day. Admin-type stuff usually ends up in this category),
2. Special events (one-time things that need a lot of preparation ahead of time),
3. Backlogs (stuff you’re behind on), and
4. Asset creation (the creative work — stuff that stays done).

I would venture to guess that many creatives are overloaded with 1 and 2 stuff, frustrated that the amount of 3 stuff keeps increasing, and even more frustrated that hardly any 4 stuff is getting done. That’s definitely where I was when I read the book, and Mark’s advice on this helped me a lot!

Bonus: the rest of the book is excellent, too! Thanks, Mark! Well done!