If you want to do good work, then you need to get desperate. Yes, living with a sense of desperation isn’t comfortable but that’s the point. I’ve learned that desperation leads to creative solutions.
When I worked in TV News, there was always time pressure. It was rare that you?d ever get to do a story exactly as you envisioned it. An interview would cancel, a spectacular visual wouldn’t be that good, or you’d have a great story but breaking news would force you to immediately switch gears. That last option memorably happened to me when I went from covering a balloon festival to the manhunt of a suspect who shot a traffic cop.
And don’t forget that equipment can malfunction or break when you least expect it.
Sometimes the pressure could be enormous. The daily or even hourly deadline demanded results and you would exist in a constant state of desperation. And while this was uncomfortable, good work could come out of it.
How? You were forced to find a way to make it work.
You would adapt to a changing story, find someone else to interview, and figure out a way to overcome the fact that half of your video was ruined. Or you would learn to understand your story so well that you could write it faster than you could go through a drive thru.
My news experiences are typical for the fast paced world of TV News. Guess what? The rest of the working world has become more and more like a pressure packed newsroom. To Clear the Path to more creativity, consider these exercises:
Choose Quickly: In normal circumstances, it can be very good to take the time to weigh your options. Under pressure, you don’t have that luxury.
Imagine that you need to call your five best clients but you’re not sure who they are. Now imagine that your office is on fire and you can only grab five files as you flee the building. By adding desperation, you’ve forced yourself to make a quick decision.
Honor Your Muse: When a creative idea comes to you, act on it immediately. In news, I learned that there was no guarantee that you’d have as much time as you expected to put your story together. You needed to start writing it as soon as possible. This way you’d be prepared if the unexpected occurred. If it didn’t, then you’d have more time to polish it. Waiting until the last minute to start something never serves you well.
Embrace the Challenge: Stop worrying about the specifics of how you got into your situation, how unfair it is, and any thoughts of failure. Instead, shift your focus from the problem to a solution. This is where you stop saying, “It can’t be done,” and instead say, “What if?”
It’s a powerful piece of mental real estate and that’s where your creativity can come out. Trust the process and ideas will start to come to you.
You are more mentally flexible and creative than you believe. These are muscles that need to be exercised prior to a desperate situation. Once you master them, you’ll become much more productive.
