Remember that the objective of the methods described in this book is to establish a supporting infrastructure—a rhythm—that will provide stability and increased creative capacity. It will work only if you are diligent and consistent about incorporating the practices into your life. In order to do so effectively, you need to occasionally take a few steps back and think about your current needs.
The purpose of road signs is to keep drivers on the right course. If they appear too frequently, they simply become noise and are ignored. If they appear too infrequently, they are useless, because drivers are always unsure of whether they’re headed in the right direction. In a similar way, you need to plan checkpoints at specific intervals in your life to ensure that you are still on the right course but not so frequently that so little has changed that you might be tempted to ignore them. These checkpoints help you establish and cultivate the practices discussed in this book in a way that they will facilitate meaningful engagement in your work.
To stay on course, this kind of rhythm analysis must be both long- and short-term. This is no different from what you probably already do in many areas of your life, though you may never have thought to apply this kind of strategic thinking to your creative process. A little bit of thought and planning time go a long way toward ensuring that you’re not falling into the efficiency trap but are instead focusing on effectiveness.
Checkpoints slow you down, in a good way.
Many creatives are aggressive in how they tackle their work, and they attack it with vigor. Having occasional checkpoints in my (Todd Henry) schedule forces me to stop and reflect on where I’m headed and whether my life is really structured in a way that will get me there.
Checkpoints provide traction.
Traction is gained when points of friction—even small ones—push off against one another and enable movement. Until there are two opposable surfaces, there will be no traction. Checkpoints act like strategic points of friction in your life to ensure that you’re still moving forward and not losing traction. This will generate forward momentum in each of the five elements of Creative Rhythm and lessen the chance that they will get squeezed out of our life as the pressure escalates.
Checkpoints clarify opportunities.
A big factor in shifting from obligation mode to opportunity mode is thinking regularly about how you are investing in your capacity to do better work in the future and taking accountability for your own creative growth. To do so requires that you ask difficult questions at regular intervals and to have the courage to readjust your lifestyle as necessary to accommodate what’s required of you in any given season.
Here are a few other critical notes about checkpoints:
There is no “one size fits all” solution for how the practices are implemented.
The specific mix that works for one person may not work effectively for another, and you must be patient and willing to experiment. If you are diligent you will see results.
When the practices are implemented collectively, they work together like an engine with all of its parts intact.
Your relationships impact your focus, which helps you determine what should be in your Stimulus Queue, and so on. When taken piecemeal, they still will provide improved clarity and insight, but you will not derive the full benefit that is present when all the practices are working together.
Get ready to compromise.
Any degree of intentionality involves choice, and letting go of activities that have become comfortable and habitual may be awkward at first. In order to establish healthy habits, you need to let go of things that are making you efficient but not necessarily effective. This means that you may see a short-term dip in the amount of work you’re producing while you are retraining your instincts about where to look for ideas.
Now, let’s go further into short-term and long-term checkpoints.
* Source: The Accidental Creative by Todd Henry