Tuning in to your most creative period

One way to truly leverage your creativity is to be tuned in to your own personal rhythm.   And it is not always static.  For me, I have noticed that my new period has become early in the morning, between 3am and 5am.   Sometimes if I am experiencing a particular block on a topic, I will purposely go to bed around 8:30 PM to increase the likelihood that I will get up early.    For me, in addition to the fact that everything is quiet at that time and I have no interruptions, I also find that I am probably a little more connected to my subconscious at that time since I am still somewhat in that zone between the awake state and the sleep state.   For myself, this has also changed over the years...in college, I definitely worked later into the night, so it is important to remain aware as to how your rhythms change.

By contrast, my wife much prefers the energy of working on something late into the night until it is complete.  Her creative process flows quite well as a function of her own self imposed deadlines.

Try to recognize when you are most creative, and when first getting started using creativity try to leverage your most natural periods in addition to other periods that you may want to focus on.