Ever feel there isn’t enough time to do everything you want? Do you end the day or fi nish the week with a list of things to do? If you answered yes, you’re suffering from the all-too-common creative professional’s syndrome: “too much to do and too little time to do it.” You probably can’t get rid of the work, but you can make more time—it’s just hidden away right now.

This syndrome really hit home for me when I began teaching my “Managing Creative Services” class for Dynamic Graphics Training. Everyone is pressed and stressed, and needs basic tools and techniques for managing time. The techniques I discuss here and in the class may seem simple, but they’re not easy. Finding the hidden time in your life requires strong will and discipline.

Work vs. job
Accept that you have both work to do and a job to accomplish. They are two very different things. Your work is the creative work you are paid to do—ads, brochures, websites, illustrations, logos. Your job is to manage the work—project management, estimates, budgets, even self-promotion and career management—and get it done.

Put the job first
Most people put their work fi rst and get their job done when they get around to it. This is backwards and destructive to time management. You’ll never get around to it. The creative—your work—will take all the time you give it. Knowing this, you must reverse your priorities and put your job fi rst.

To start, identify all the job tasks you must accomplish by the end of the day, week, and month. These are all the things you must do in both your personal and professional life. They will range from the everyday, such as opening mail and reading trade magazines, to the periodic, such as updating your resumé and yearly marketing plan. I call these tasks your “givens,” as it’s a must that they get done … or you will end up losing something very important.

Once you have identified all the job items, take your personal planner or calendar and schedule all of these tasks as daily, weekly, and monthly dates.

Schedule everything. You may be thinking, “Why bother scheduling such mundane tasks as picking up dry cleaning or daily exercise?” Two good reasons: One, if it is not on your calendar, chances are pretty good it won’t get done; and two, keeping lists of “things to do” in your head is not a very good use of your brainpower. In fact, you can better focus and concentrate on your work (the creative) when you are not distracted by your job (managing the work).

Work on your work
Next, take a look at time for the work that comes in the door. I call this the “incoming.” Include all the creative, even rush jobs and last-minute client requests—the clients, deadlines, budgets, and projects that march in the door and sweep away anything else you had planned for that moment (sound familiar?). Work tasks (incoming) will displace job tasks (givens) any time. The good news is that the givens are not gone and forgotten, just rescheduled!

An important key to fi nding more time is to touch everything only once. Eliminate piles to shuffle and lists to pore over. When you face a given or an incoming task, deal with it immediately or schedule dealing with it at a later time. Do not dump things into piles or make lists—they do not have any date or time context and are too often left at the end of the day still undone.

Love your calendar
In short, to find the time for finishing your work and your job tasks, you will have to work more closely with your calendar. Scheduling yourself may feel restricting but it will actually free you. In Ed Gold’s wonderful book The Business of Graphic Design: A Sensible Approach, he says, “Being successful in a graphic design business does not require one to make a choice between control and creativity. ... Creativity’s dirty little secret is that control is not the enemy; control is a necessary ingredient that makes creativity possible.”

By taking control you will always have something on your calendar to keep you moving toward business and career success and, more to the point, getting all your work done. Make your time work for you, not against you.

About the author
Maria Piscopo (www.mpiscopo.com) started her business as a creative services consultant and art/ photo rep in 1978. She teaches classes for creative professionals, speaks at industry conferences, is an instructor with Dynamic Graphics Training, and writes for several industry publications. Her fi fth book, The Graphic Designer’s and Illustrator’s Guide to Marketing and Promotion, is available at Allworth Press (www.allworth.com).