Ep 93 Boosting Creativity and Productivity with the 60-40 Rule

Ready to turn the tables on your productivity? Let's break down my secret weapon - the 60-40 rule. I'm Mikita, and in this episode, I am sharing my secret sauce.  I'll guide you through a new approach to creativity and productivity. We'll focus 40% of our energy on brainstorming, and a whopping 60% on taking those innovative ideas into action. By the end, you'll be armed with a powerful productivity hack, a fresh perspective, and a handy free template to help you implement these strategies.

But we're not stopping at productivity. We're also diving into creativity - how to tap into your unique source of inspiration and weave it into your process. We'll chat about the importance of taking breaks, allowing your ideas to incubate and evolve, and how to keep your eyes on the prize.  So pull up a chair, get cozy, and join me for as we revolutionize the way we work, together.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

because you can have all the knowledge in the world, but without action, what does it mean? You're just kind of being busy to be busy, so make sure that you're taking action 60% of the time. When you are looking at that to-do list, I want you to look at how many of those steps actually lead to your big goal. Hey there, I'm Makita, a small town girl with dreams. We started a podcast with an old headset and a laptop at my kitchen table and made my dreams come true. On my podcast, time for Tea with Makita, we chat about living life unapologetically, on your terms, from career advice, entrepreneurship, relationships and everything in between. This is your one-stop-shop for real conversations and inspiration. If you're looking for connections, then you've found it here. Join me every Tuesday as we dive into those sometimes hard to have conversations. So grab a cup of tea or coffee and get comfy, because this is Time for Tea with Makita, and the tea is definitely hot.

Speaker 1: 1:09

Ever feel like you need a super power boost of motivation with exclusive tips and tools with your goals in mind? Well, say hello to your new inspiration hotspot, the Tuesday Tea newsletter. You're a weekly infusion of big thinking energy that will propel you to chase your wildest dreams and never shy away from using the power of your voice. Sign up for the Tuesday Tea newsletter today at beautifullyandbalancecom and elevate your goals to the next level. Welcome back. It is definitely time for some tea, and I am Makita. Thank you for sharing your time, your space and your amazing energy with me today. Now, before we jump into today's topic, it's time for a little sprinkle of motivation from today's affirmation deck. It says I am able to accomplish anything I set my mind to. This is a reminder that you can do whatever it is that you want. With a little planning and a lot of grace, you've got this Now.

Speaker 1: 2:07

Today, we are diving deep into a game-changing productivity strategy and we're talking about how to unleash your creativity power with this one rule. Now, this is my secret sauce to getting things done. It's my 60-40 rule, and this rule will transform the way you approach creativity, productivity and content creation. So go ahead, grab your pen and notepad. I want you to get comfy. Pull up a seat, because by the end of this episode, my friend, you will be armed with inspiration and productivity hacks to supercharge your creative journey. Plus, I've got a special treat for you at the end. So stay tuned so you can learn how you can get your free template to help you implement these strategies.

Speaker 1: 3:01

All right, so a little backstory. I started this strategy of 60-40 because I found myself constantly creating and working, but I had no end in mind. I was one of those people that was always on this journey of learning, always soaking up more knowledge, more information, research and brainstorming, but I was never actually implementing anything. Now, part of this for me is procrastination Feeling like I have to have everything lined up Now. If you hold a membership or you may be a retired procrastinated like me. But if you know what it feels like to constantly procrastinate, then I know. You know the struggle, my friend, and we've all been here, right, you've all had this moment where you're staring at a blank page or screen and you're desperately seeking that spark of motivation, creativity, or you have all these ideas floating around in your head and you know what you want the end result to be Like. You already can see it, you can visualize it, but when it's time to actually put pen to paper, you find yourself feeling this overwhelming feeling of anxiety and then you start to feel like you don't even know where to start, or even how to start. Well, don't worry to all my fellow creators out there, I got you. This 60-40 role will change everything. Now, remember, balance is key with anything, and that's why I feel like this 60-40 rule really works, because what it says is for 40% of your time, you're going to spend it in the brainstorming and idea generation. Now, this is where you let your creativity flow. You're going to be jotting down your ideas, exploring new ways of doing things.

Speaker 1: 5:14

I keep this huge wall pad on the back of my door and this is where I generate my ideas, and I just put everything this on my head. All my ideas for blog topics, social media content, you know, any captions, any big idea that I can think of. I put it on that wall pad on the back of my door. Now, I am a big idea type of person. I like to see things visually, so being able to see that no pad really helps me to say, okay, these are my ideas, this is the content creation I'm thinking about, this is my pathway. Now, once I get over that portion, I'm like okay, now it's time to flesh out some of these ideas, and this is where I start using like the Google Docs Maybe some of you may use like air table Trello, but I like to use those last, as you know, like my final production of what I've created.

Speaker 1: 6:19

Now this is also where I use my dry erase. So I have this dry erase board, I keep it at my desk and I keep sticky notes on it too. I am a huge sticky note person because I can actually move the sticky notes around, so I love that idea of just being able to take the sticky notes, move them around if needed. Same thing with the dry erase. Maybe I need to tweak some things, whatever changes that you know may need to happen. I can do that there. So I love having that flexibility with those things and seeing my ideas live out loud. So you may want to implement some of these things, you know, just as some ideas.

Speaker 1: 7:01

All right, now just remember also that, just like a fine one with unique flavors, each of us has our own creative vintage, and what I mean by that is you have to discover what inspires you the most. Think about where do you draw your biggest inspirations from. Maybe it's nature, being outside, walking, or maybe it's art, visiting art galleries, or maybe you draw, and this is a creative outlet for you. It could be personal experiences, being around other people, other creatives, but understand what fuels your creativity. Now, for me, it's a mixture. I love getting outside, I love walking in the morning and I just love sometimes being around people, people watching. It's just like so fun.

Speaker 1: 7:58

But my real inspiration comes from sitting by the lake, by anybody, of water really. This is where my mind gets clear. It's where I feel the most grounded, because when I'm by water, nothing else seems to exist. I am fully and wholly in the moment. All right, so this is the time where I'm not thinking about what I need to do, and it should be doing. All I'm doing is appreciating where I'm at in the moment. So I want you to think about what that place is for you, and I want you to ask yourself this question what's your go-to source of creative inspiration and how can you start incorporating that more into your creative process?

Speaker 1: 8:46

All right, now let's move into finding focus, because focus is so important. If you're the type of person that finds yourself easily distracted, my friend, the 60 40 rule is definitely for you, because it's easy to get distracted and we all find ourselves at some point being distracted by something or someone, and that's why it's important to make sure that we have things in place. So think about balancing your breaks with productivity, because sometimes, when we are working on a project, we spend long hours sitting at the computer desk. Right, we're staring at the screen, we're coming up with all this stuff and we get tired. A mind gets tired, a body gets tired. And that's where we really need to start thinking about making sure that we are balancing breaks with our productivity. So, just like a fine line needs time to mature, so does your creativity. So taking breaks can actually boost your productivity and allow your ideas to ferment and evolve. So this is when you recognize how much of a role balance plays.

Speaker 1: 10:03

Sometimes our schedules, like I said it, requires us to sit down for those long hours, but when we're mindful, we can build in breaks. Because when I take a break, when I finally step away from all the work, I can really be honest with myself and I can ask myself am I on track to reach my goal? Because if I spent 40 minutes of the hour that I set aside to work on content creation and I only actually spent 20 minutes and I still got like another hour to go, I'm kind of off track here. I didn't get so distracted that I'm not even on track anymore. So this is a great time to start reevaluating where you're at, asking yourself okay, what can I do differently here to eliminate some of the distractions that I have? So this is your moment to just reevaluate.

Speaker 1: 11:04

Take the break time, ask yourself where are you at, you know, with accomplishing the goal that you set for for yourself, and remember what you're trying to achieve is whatever that big goal is for you. Maybe you are writing a book and your goal is to write 500 pages a day, but instead of writing the 500 pages a day, you had your phone and you found yourself strolling to Facebook and then you ended up on TikTok and then, the next thing, you know, you were answering emails and now you only wrote 50 words and you allocated three hours of time to the writing process and now you only have 30 minutes left, but you didn't accomplish anything. That's what I'm talking about. So you have to make sure that you find the focus that you are setting yourself up to actually be able to do that you actually put in the work. And the way we can find focus is to make sure that we are taking the breaks that are necessary so that we can reevaluate our situation, but also give our minds time to step away so we can refuel our creativity energy. All right, now let's move into the importance of crafting a work structure, because this is so important for that piece.

Speaker 1: 12:28

When we talk about balancing the productivity and not getting distracted, now, before I had my office space, I used to sit in the bed and I would try to work, or I would sit at the kitchen table. Can I just say that that was so not productive. How many of you have found yourself saying oh, I'm gonna do my work in bed and I'm just gonna turn the TV on just to hear the sound? And the next thing, you know you are binge watching, loving hip hop or some other show, but you are definitely not doing what you're supposed to do. So I know what that feels like. I found myself watching more TV than working. Or my kids would come into the kitchen. My husband and I would start these conversations, or kids would ask me a question. Next thing, you know I haven't got anything done.

Speaker 1: 13:20

So setting up a space designated to working and then creating a structure around that routine will help you stay on track. Plus, it will fuel your creative energy, because once you come into your workspace, you already know that you're there to put in the work but also to be creative. So I love pops of bright color. They spark my creativity. When I come in, I like my candle so I can start, you know, getting into that mode of relaxation, letting my mind flow. And then I have my little to-do list pad. Sometimes I've already written on there what I want to accomplish the next day, but sometimes I have to tweak it and kind of look at it and say, okay, this won't get done today, but let's see what on this list is a priority that needs to be done. So that is a great way and I want you to start thinking about ways that you can start structuring your work routine.

Speaker 1: 14:15

So let's talk about the productivity piece. So we talked about 40% of the rule being for you to generate ideas and just being that brainstorming portion, but now let's talk about the 60%. That is all about action, putting in the action. So this ensures that you're not just, you know, doing the fun work, which is what I call it. Generating ideas and brainstorming is the fun work, but it's the taking action, it's the doing it. This is where you're supercharging your productivity, because you can have all the knowledge in the world, but without action, what does it mean? You're just kind of being busy to be busy. So make sure that you're taking action 60% of the time.

Speaker 1: 15:05

When you are looking at that to-do list, I want you to look at how many of those steps actually lead to your big goal that you're working toward, and then how many of those steps are just busy work that can wait. As I said earlier, prioritizing your tasks based on importance will help you start taking actionable steps, and I want you to reflect on this. How can you take more decisive action on your creative ideas, starting today, right now? What can you do Now? I hope that my 60-40 rule really gave you some things to think about.

Speaker 1: 15:47

I hope it was able to help you find some creative inspiration, some ways that you can start putting some plans into action when it comes to focusing, when it comes to boosting your productivity and by now I know you're probably like I have so many ideas and you are super pumped and you are ready to start taking charge of your creative journey.

Speaker 1: 16:10

But wait, okay, because I promised you in the beginning that I had something for you, all right, so I've created this amazing template that complements the 60-40 rule. It will help you implement these strategies effectively. So if you go to beautifullyunbalancedcom slash, create amazing content, you can download your exclusive free template and you can start putting that 60-40 rule into action and start creating amazing content. Okay, well, my friends, that is all the tea that I have to spill today, but don't forget to sign up for the Tuesday tea newsletter and, while you're at it, take a second, leave me a review. I would love to hear your feedback and remember you can join me each and every Tuesday for more delicious hot tea. Until next time, my friend namaste.