Creative Marathon: Week 2 Training Schedule

Do you feel the burn yet? HOW teamed up with creative coach Sam Harrison for a month-long Creative Marathon full of exercises to revive and strengthen your creative muscles. Click here to see Week One’s schedule.

If you completed week one’s exercises, then go ahead and give yourself a pat on the back. Be proud, and connect with other designers on Twitter who also are participating in this Creative Marathon.

• @HOWbrand @ZingZone ‘s Creative marathon week 1: check. Time to kick things up a notch with week 2. http://howdesign.com/creativemarathon

Tip from the coach: Keep a Logbook
Do you use a notebook to capture ideas and insights? If so, up your entries during this month — and use the notebook for the marathon’s creative exercises.

If you don’t currently carry a notebook, buy one today and commit to keeping it with you this month.

Don’t wait for profound thoughts or poetic paragraphs — add entries whenever the mood strikes. Include words, sketches, random lines. Avoid composed sentences and overworked drawings. Keep it simple.

Tell yourself it’s OK to also use the notebook for grocery lists, reminders, appointments, whatever. The more you use it, the more you’ll use it.

WEEK TWO

Monday
Warm-Up. Give yourself 30 minutes to sketch out a Goal ID — a quick logo and tagline to represent something you really want to make happen this week — a personal or work goal you want to reach. Tape the GOAL ID on a wall or mirror.

Tuesday
Flex. “Rigor leads to rigor mortis,” says artist Deborah Kass. Break out of rigid routines today. Take a different route. Sit in a different place. Open emails at different times. Read different blogs. Try different suppliers. Have lunch with different people. Go to a different restaurant. Brainstorm in different ways. Ask different questions. Take different approaches. Develop different processes. View from different angles. Create a different day.

Wednesday
Feel the burn. Time to burn your excuses. Think of a creative project you’ve delayed with excuses. Maybe it’s a work project you’ve talked yourself out of taking on. Maybe it’s an art class or other personal project you’ve put aside for vague and various reasons.

Take a sheet of paper and print the project’s name at the top. Draw a vertical line down the center of the page. On the left side of the line, list all excuses stopping you from jumping into the project — “too tired,” “don’t have time,” “people won’t understand,” etc. On the right side of the line, list actions you’ll begin this week to burn away those excuses. Get going!

Thursday
Rest. Deep breathing transports oxygen to brain cells and neurotransmitters, and helps calm the monkey chatter in our minds, so we can think more clearly.

Sit up straight. Deeply inhale through your nose, exhale from your mouth. Do this six times, working from your stomach rather than your chest. Focus on the air moving in and out of your body. Ahhhhhhhhhhh.

Friday
Teamwork. Football coach Bill Parcells always posted this sign in his locker rooms: “Losers assemble in little groups and bitch about the coaches and the system and other players. Winners assemble as a team.”

Are you surrounded by people who constantly bitch, complain and point fingers? Turn a deaf ear or slip away before they drain your creative energy.

Have you assembled a team of co-workers, friends and family members who support your ideas? If so, send emails today to those people, thanking them for their help. And if you don’t have a creative network, make a list of candidates and start building your team today.