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Working "In the Micro" to Achieve Your Goals

One of my favorite words in the English language is "and."  You can be a student "and" an athlete.  A banker "and" a painter.  Even a college professor "and" a bass player.  "And" makes it possible for us to have a "calico" career and lifestyle: 


All of the "colors" in our lives can run in different directions and shades while still creating a useful "coat" for our career and hobby body and soul.  However, just as the cat above is running out of white space to fit another endeavor, we can run out of time, energy, or overall space for that next endeavor.  We can't (or don't want to) give up our existing patches, but we also feel the need to make a place for the new creative output.  

At this point, we seem to have three choices: 

A. Give up on the new project (not desirable). 

B. Give up something existing to make room for the new colors (could be desirable, depending how attached we are to the existing patches)  

C. Work "in the micro."



In the micro?  What the heck does that mean?

I, admittedly, stole this term (and the concept) from my dear friend, colleague, and bandmate, Jim Donovan.


In addition to being the multi-platinum founding drummer of the band "Rusted Root," Jim is a highly-recognized teacher, author, multi-instrumentalist, and entrepreneur.  His ideas have influenced thousands of attendees via workshops, books, and online training programs...and he might be the busiest person I know.

As he was putting the finishing touches on his first "Sun King Warriors" record (in the midst of a full-time teaching job and rigorous performance/seminar schedule), I asked him how he accomplished so much with his time.  He simply responded "sometimes you gotta work in the micro; do what you can, when you can."

Here's how Jim's simple-but-profound concept works.  Think about how much time we have in a day.  Yes, many of us are busy and working with aggressive deadlines and hectic work-life schedules.  Are there five free minutes in your day?  What could you do with those five minutes? 

It's the same concept as saving money; most people who claim they can't afford a savings account could probably manage to set aside $5 from a paycheck.  In 10 paychecks, they'd have $50 with a minimal commitment of funds...which they didn't even miss.  Even very small allotments of cash accumulate to larger sums over time.

Working in the micro is very similar in concept; you're finding resources of time in small doses which add up to substantial things.  I can attest to the power of this philosophy, as it's what is enabling me to write and record an album of original music, while teaching full-time, completing doctoral work, and advising students (not to mention sporadically writing a blog....which also came out of this philosophy). 

Some tricks for working in the micro: 

1. Pick endeavors which will work in 5-10 minute blasts, knowing that bigger time commitments may be required to complete the effort.  A great example is writing songs; 5-10 mins is a great amount of time to fool around with a new guitar riff or a vocal phrase.  

2. Avoid shoehorning projects into the micro which don't work well in this format. For example, a new fitness program might NOT be an ideal "micro" project; it's tough to do significant muscle development or burn calories in 5-10 minute increments.  

3. Get the right tools and environment to facilitate micro creativity.  I frequently record voice memos on my way to work when a song idea hits me and I have a guitar within easy reach in my office.  At home, I always keep a guitar in view to remind me that instead of watching the 15th Youtube video, I could be creating something. 

4. Share your progress.  Not every poem, guitar riff, or drawing is going to be great, but share your rough drafts with people who can give you good feedback.  Knowing how to improve will make your limited creative time more productive.

5.  Be ready to change the size of the color splotches on your calico coat.  What began as a hobby for me in learning to play the guitar (i.e. one of the good things to come out of COVID) has steadily taken up more of my time.  I've had to prioritize songwriting over working on short fiction; as a result, my traditional writing "splotch" has gotten smaller (i.e. blogging) to make more room for writing and recording music (which sometimes takes an entire day on a weekend).  

6. Stay in for the long haul to see your creative "savings" pile up.  That daily 10 minutes of writing might not feel substantial, but keep it up.  Watch your output accumulate!  A weekly (or bi-weekly) blog post grows into a catalog of content over time. 

7.  Forgive yourself when you cannot find the time.  My original goal was a blog post every week, and sometimes life gets in the way.  Don't beat yourself up; your life is most likely not depending on your micro-output. 

8. Get back on the horse.  It's tough to get restarted when we fall off a routine (or an actual horse, for that matter).  It's during these times when doubt fills the creative space; we may convincer ourselves that the creative endeavor wasn't really that worthwhile if we can't keep up with a minimal commitment.  Knock that evil specter of doubt off of the steed you should be riding!

9. Try to give your self good break points.  It's much easier to jump back in to a project when you've created the right scaffolding.  For example, if I'm working on a song, I may push a little harder to complete a verse (even if it's not perfect) so that I have an easy connection point when I jump back in (and start working on the chorus).  

10. Save everything.  I love digital for this purpose; no matter how rough or embrionic, there's no reason NOT to save song lyrics.  Or sketches.  Or starter guitar riffs.  I use Google drive so that I can work on lyrics via my work computer, Chromebook, or even my phone.  Keep your stuff in a place where you can easily return to it.  The starter idea of today could be your next project in waiting. 

Ironically, today's blog posting came from an unexpected block of 15 free minutes today.  Start investing time in your creative savings by working in the micro....and watch your creative output stack up!  Good luck with your own micro-endeavors!

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