I was recently reading a book about the artist Tom Sachs, and I came across an interesting anecdote: when Tom Sachs needs a creative pick-me-up, he will make a lamp.

A lamp, Tom says, is simple: a matter of running voltage to a bulb. But outside of those constraints, a lamp can be anything you want it to be. Tom has made desk lamps, wall lamps, and reading lamps out of every material you can imagine.

Tom calls this an act of “creative procrastination”.

He says it can sometimes be overwhelming to sit down with the aim of “making something”, because the possibilities are endless. “Limitlessness can sometimes feel like freedom.” he says, “But it can also spark paralysis, anxiety, and self-doubt.”

But a lamp? That’s a solvable problem.

“If I know my job is to make a source of light for reading a book in bed, creating it gets easier: voltage, bulb — it’s utterly doable.”

My own version of this is mask-making.

Over a decade ago, I started making cardboard masks after watching the documentary Beauty is Embarrassing about the artist Wayne White. And in the years since then, mask-making has become my way of getting unstuck.

A mask has constraints: It needs to fit over someone’s head, and that person needs to be able to see out of it. Those constraints are what make something a mask as opposed to a sculpture.

But those are pretty solvable problems. And once you’ve solved them, the rest is up to you. You can make your mask as simple or complex as you want. You can make it look like a face, or a tree, or an abstract shape.

“Creative procrastination” is such a great description for this type of thing. Because yes, it is procrastination. It’s a deliberate act of abandoning the thing you’re supposed to be working on. But at the same time, it’s not mindlessprocrastination. It’s not destructive procrastination.

It’s creative.

You’re bringing something to life that didn’t exist before. And in doing so, you warm up your problem-solving muscles, get your juices flowing, and remind yourself that you can do creative things.

Creative procrastination doesn’t have to be lamp-making or mask-making, though. For you, maybe it’s doodling or free-writing or repotting that plant that’s been root-bound since September. Maybe it’s fixing that hinge on the cabinet that doesn’t close right, or playing with legos, or vibe-coding a pointless little app that does something silly.

The goal is to give yourself something small that has a clear set of constraints.

Counterintuitively, those constraints are what make the path forward easier, because you have a clear goal and an obvious win condition. If the lamp turns on or the mask fits, you did your job.

I’m currently up against a major deadline for my next book. At times I’ve been so waist-deep in the details of editing, planning, and giving feedback on cover designs that I can’t see the forest for the trees.

So a few weeks ago, I decided to make a mask. And now, when I need a little break, I’ll go work on it for a few minutes.

I don’t have a particular use in mind for this thing. Maybe I’ll display it. Maybe I’ll wear it to a party. Maybe I’ll give it away.

None of that matters, because the point isn’t the object itself. The point is the act of making the object.

Once I’ve glued on a couple of beard strands or cut a few oak leaves from leftover packing paper, I often find that I’m ready to jump back into the book with a fresh sense of possibility.

If you’re stuck on something right now, I’d encourage you to engage in a little creative procrastination. Give yourself permission to make something, anything, that will take your mind off the problem at hand. When you do, you might find that a quick creative win was exactly what you needed to get moving again.

Happy Friday, friends. Make it a good one.

Kyle Scheele
Helping Organizations Build and Launch Better Ideas, Faster
​www.KyleScheele.com​