As an award-winning folk and roots music producer and session musician, Joel Schwartz tries to spend his days in a state of creative flow. In this episode of the podcast, Joel shares how he uses digital technologies and systems to help clear more time for artistic exploration and human connection.
“My goal with technology and systems is to create something that supports me in my creative flow. So all the administration, all the stuff I’m scared of to ask or do or complete and procrastinate on, that’s all kind of like offloaded onto a checklist or whatever. I’m not having to reinvent it every time, because that takes up so much emotional, creative, and spiritual energy. So I try to offload all that. I want to be in a creative flow state as much as possible.”
“The point of the tech and the systems is so that the people I’m working with have an amazing experience. I want them to be in a container that feels very supportive to them.”
“What was helpful for me was to create a mind map of like all the interactions that happen, like the minuscule things that need to happen between myself and the client. And I write that down on a piece of paper, a spreadsheet, whatever — it doesn’t matter. And then you think, okay, what can I automate? And the second part would be, what can you delegate? … Highlight with red the super annoying parts of your job and see if there’s a tool can can help you with that.”
“You find the thing that works and then you just stick with it. You make it work. It’s not about the technology. It’s about the experience.”
“I am the kid that had a really, really messy room until I kind of discovered some systems around it, you know, and I discovered like having places to put my things and then I could follow that. Otherwise, somebody who’s a creative person with, like undiagnosed ADD, I get overwhelmed. I’m not efficient. My brain is like shiny object, shiny object! These sorts of processes and systems really helped me to focus on the thing that I need to be focusing on in that moment to be the most efficient in that moment. And that includes rest too, and downtime, and play, and experimentation.”
CRM and project management tools
Automation
Booking calendars
Other links mentioned in the podcast
