In advance of today’s Promo Boot Camp session, “Making Space for Making the Most of Creativity,” at 2:00 p.m. in Plaza 123, Katerina Zacharia remembers her own journey toward building the creative structure that best fit into her life…

My mother once remarked, “All children are Picasso until they start school.” I thought she sounded a bit harsh on schools until I started teaching in youth programs. After years of school uniformity and standards, many teenagers had forgotten how to be creative. They forgot how to play with ideas, see possibility, invent, build and create. So, I spent a big chunk of my time teaching creativity and helping students reconnect with their own innate ability.

Institutions of all shapes and sizes need structure and process to get work done. It’s up to us to find ways to adjust our creative habit to suit the structure. The challenge is to know ourselves well enough to design the engine that will power our creativity. When we identify ways to make space for own creativity, we open up space for others to do the same.

I’m most creative at dawn. Until I had children, I woke every morning at 4:00 a.m. to write and design. Then a quick nap at 8:30, 90 minutes of yoga, and the rest of the morning spent on editing and execution. Afternoons, I dedicated to business planning and development. Evenings, to teaching and/or learning. This structure helped ensure I went to bed inspired, curious and refreshed.

Then, I had children. They took ownership of my creative habit, forcing me to reconfigure around and against my natural early morning creative tendency. I struggled to find a new ritual. I had to rewire myself. I practiced being creative at night. It was painful, like the first day back at the gym after a vacation. But eventually, the new process became my habit. Today, six years later, writing at dawn is a rare treat.

In each phase of your career, consider your creative set up. Identify when you are most inspired. Consider the team around you. Build your framework, schedule and habit to foster your creative success and joy. Then commit to your creative habit like you do your personal health. And thrive. Promo Boot Camp speaker Zacharia is VP of industry development and diversity at PromaxBDA.

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