1. Make breakthroughs happen by breaking creative work into component parts

As a young designer, I’d try to plow through all my projects at full strength. It was exhausting, and there was no telling when a creative breakthrough would come.

When I wrote my first book, I finally realized how much energy I had been wasting. I’d spend all day struggling, just to hit a 15-minute creative burst.

What I learned is that creative insights are the product of various components. You have to do your research, you have to generate lots of ideas, and you have to refine it all. Periods of rest in between actually fuel creative insights while you’re not “working.”

Don’t try to force creative insights, and don’t try to power through an entire creative project in one sitting. Instead, do one piece at a time, with breaks in between.

2. Preserve your creative energy by riding your creative waves

In design school, and early in my career, I’d often work nonstop until I’d finally collapse.

What I learned is that you have a limited amount of creative energy. If you don’t manage it wisely, it will run out in no time. Moreover, your creative energy fluctuates, with peaks and valleys.

Learn to recognize the time of day when you are most creative, and do your most creatively-demanding work during those hours. Counterintuitively, most people hit their creative peak in the morning, while they’re still groggy (maybe even before they’ve had their coffee).

You’ll eventually notice that your creative energy also fluctuates throughout the week. After enough practice, you can start to build a weekly routine (instead of a daily routine) that makes the most of your creative peaks. This will allow you the time and space to recharge as needed and then do it all over again the following week.

3. Be creative on command by building creative habits

As Stephen King said, “amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”

When you’re a professional with deadlines, you can’t wait for inspiration. You have to be creative even when you don’t feel like it.

There’s no better way to train the ability to be creative on command than through creative habits. Pick a time of day that you’ll do creative work, and do it every day at that time, without fail.

This helps eliminate the creative second-guessing that paralyzes you when you sit down in front of a blank Photoshop canvas. It’s a habit. It’s just something you do.

Start with a small habit. You may commit to ten minutes, then an hour, or you may have a pre-set deliverable. I currently publish a measly 100-word article every morning, just to keep writer’s block at bay.

If you learn to manage your creative energy in a way that suits your workflow, and use habits to practice being creative on command, you’ll quickly find professional success.