Over the last few years I’ve been in many conversations with my friend Marissa, an aspiring stand-up comedian. I recorded our latest chat where we discuss her creative process, how she finds ideas for her jokes, how she combats procrastination, and how she keeps it all organized!
Click play to listen to our talk!
Capture in Evernote
- In the past, joke ideas would not get written down or they were jotted in iPhone Notes – until she lost her phone!
- In-the-moment joke ideas are now captured in Evernote.
- Each joke is created as its own Evernote note and saved in the notebook named Comedy.
Prioritize
- *One star before the note title indicates that the joke is active, but needs more work before it’s completely finished.
- **Two stars represent the jokes that are fully written and need to be practiced for stage.
Commit Daily
- Whether it’s scrolling through the ideas that have already been captured or rehearsing the fully written jokes, Marissa’s minimum commitment to writing is 15 minutes every day – no matter what!
“[Evernote] has totally changed the way I write.”
As an organizing and productivity strategist, assisting clients with structure and workflow to support their creative projects is something that I love to do. Whatever your project is, keep these steps in mind:
Centralize
Designate one place to store and organize your ideas, like Evernote.
Calendar It
As former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt famously quoted, “It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.” If it’s not on the calendar it’s most likely not going to happen with the consistency and focus needed to achieve the results you want.
Commit
Keep the appointment as if you were your most important client – because you are! If committing to another person motivates you, find an accountability buddy. This is someone you trust, who supports your goals and may have similar interests as you.
“There’s the creativity part which is like the magic and the inspiration. Then there’s that logical part which is getting the shit done. When the two can work together it’s a really powerful combination.”
Fun and inspiring conversation! Sounds like a podcast in here 😉