Manage the mundane, create the extraordinary
A practical workshop with Mark McGuinness
Introduction
Interview recorded at the Royal College of Art, courtesy FuelRCA
Time management training may not sound the most inspiring activity — but it could make or break your creativity, not to mention your career.
Many creative people would like nothing better than to shut themselves in a room and get on with their creative work. This isn’t just self-indulgence — creativity requires focus and dedication, which is hard to achieve when the phone doesn’t stop ringing and the e-mail keeps pinging.
As a creative professional, you’re constantly having to balance focus on your work with responding to the demands of colleagues, customers and clients.
This practical workshop will show you how to resolve this tension, by finding the time and mental space for focused creative work — and still meeting all of your professional commitments.
The workshop will help you:
- Spark your creativity
- Boost your productivity
- Meet your professional commitments — without compromising your creative work
- Stop worrying about forgetting important tasks
- Tame your e-mail inbox
The workshop is based on my ebook Time Management for Creative People which has been downloaded over 100,000 times. The material has been tested and refined by working with many groups of creative professionals.
“Clear, intelligent and genuinely useful material.”
Thomas Heath, thomasheath.tv
Who for?
Public Workshops
This time management training workshop is for creative people of all kinds — artists, creatives, freelancers, entrepreneurs, and anyone else who takes their creativity seriously.
Workshops for Organisations
The workshop has been designed for the specific needs of creative teams and employees of creative industries organisations.
In addition to personal time management, the team version of the workshop addresses collaboration and teamwork within a busy creative environment.
“Mark delivered a hugely useful time management seminar for our staff away day. He gave careful thought to our organisation’s needs and did a lot of specific preparation on the types of people in our staff team, the context in which we work and how we might improve our internal communications and business processes.”
Michael Garvey, General Manager, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Topics
Topics covered include:
- Finding the method in your creative madness
- Identifying and prioritising your most important work
- Getting in the right state of mind for focused creative work
- How to minimise interruptions and distractions
- Managing e-mail effectively
- How to remember — and fulfil — all your important commitments
This workshop is based on my e-book Time Management for Creative People. The workshop includes new material I’ve developed since writing the e-book, and will help you apply the principles to your own work.
“I liked the way the ideas for managing time were uncomplicated and realistic enough to start fitting them into your everyday life.”
Candida Bradley, candipops.com
“The content was clear and can be easily applied.”
Jacob Sam-La Rose, jacobsamlarose.com
How it works
How the workshop works:
1. Before the workshop
Tell me what you want to learn – I’ll e-mail you some questions about your current challenges and what you want to learn. Based on this feedback, I’ll tailor each workshop to address the challenges that are most relevant to the group.
2. The workshop features:
* Practical skills you can start to use immediately
* Stories and real-life examples
* Activities to help you apply the ideas to your own work
* Questions and discussions – ask me what you want to learn!
* Networking and learning from other interesting creative people
3. After the workshop
I’ll send you my time management e-book as well as articles and links to help you digest the material and apply it to your work.
About Mark
Mark McGuinness

I’m a coach and trainer for creative people and innovative organisations.
I’ve been coaching and training creative people for over a decade, and have worked with organisations including the BBC, Channel 4, The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, Arts & Business and Cockpit Arts.
I’m the author of a string of successful ebooks, and write two of the most popular creativity blogs in the world: Lateral Action and Wishful Thinking.
“I can’t recommend Mark enough. His seminars are always engaging, useful and relevant. By the end of every session the seminar room is full of motivated and inspired faces. I can’t wait to work with him again!”
Sian James, Project Manager – Create KX
“Mark’s presentation and workshop was illuminating, entertaining and, most importantly, beneficial to my development team.”
Sean Kirkegaard, Development Executive – BBC Children’s Television
“Mark gave some excellent food for thought to the wide range of creative freelancers we work with. The seminar ended with the room buzzing even at 8pm at night after a long day’s work.”
Clare Hudson, Creative Industries Manager – Creative Leicestershire
Book
Book this workshop for your organisation
To enquire about booking this workshop for your organisation, please contact me using the form below.
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