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Context shifting and understanding ourselves: 5 things I learnt in my chat with author Kristen Perrin on The Cultivating Creative Podcast

Helen Munro


Kristen Perrin
Kristen Perrin

In my chat with author of How to Solve Your Own Murder, Kristen Perrin, on the Cultivating Creative Podcast we talked about what it's like to write a novel, her amazing success and the things that she's learnt along the way.


Many of the things Kristen has learnt have been about herself as an author and how she can produce work that she's proud of in a way that is sustainable for her.


We discussed the concept of context switching and how it can affect us in our working lives. context shifting was originally an IT term and refers to the process of switching the control centre of a computer from one process, task or thread to another. Context switching is an essential function of an operating system but the more context switches that occur, the slower the system becomes. The term has been adopted to refer to shifting attention between different tasks, projects or thought processes which can lead to disruptions in focus and workflow. To an extent, it is an essential part of our working lives. We need to be able to adapt and respond to different tasks or situations. But if we're constantly flitting between different tasks and environments with an expectation from others that we'll respond to every notification immediately, it can lead to reduced productivity and increased stress.


On The Cultivating Creative Podcast, Kristen shares how the context switches of writing and promoting novels impacts her. For Kristen, the major switch was from writing to promoting - a big change in environment from the quiet, focussed process of writing to the collaborative, public work of promotion. The result of being on show in a more public environment was that she needs to make time to decompress afterwards, to rest and reset rather than going straight back to writing.


As a small business owner I understand the balance of managing different tasks and flipping between environments where we feel more at home to those that are out of our comfort zone. Following my chat with Kristen, here are some suggestions on how to manage the context shifts in our working lives:


  1. Understand your preferred environment or type of work. Often we have a good idea of what kind of work suits us best but until we've tried different things we might be missing something. At the start of my career I was really nervous about public speaking. Over time I pushed myself outside my comfort zone, had some public speaking training and found that I enjoyed leading training sessions and speaking to groups. Now I'm a podcast host and I love it! For me, meeting clients and working out how I can support them is so energising. Through experience I've learnt what I enjoy and what energises me. It's led me to take opportunities that I may have previously dismissed.


  2. Prioritise doing what you love! The joy of running your own business is that you can often work around what suits you. There will always be a requirement to do some things that aren't the most natural fit but once you know what works for you, you can try to spend more time in your preferred context. Factor in recovery time following context switches. Kristen knows that after going on a book tour or speaking at a festival she needs downtime to recover, so she prioritises that in her schedule.


  3. Communicate your needs. If you work with others, be confident to share when you need a bit more time or space after a doing different tasks or types of work. Once you know what your needs are, it's easier to articulate them to others. It doesn't always feel natural to communicate our needs but people are usually understanding and once they know what you need to thrive they are more likely to want to support you. In a small business environment this could be agreeing timeframes and boundaries with clients. Or it could involve chatting to your partner about how to manage your home life to help you be more effective in running your business. Remember that it's a two-way process. There's no point presenting a list of demands with no consideration for the other person. A conversation may be needed where you look at each of your needs and work a way through that is acceptable for both parties.


  4. You don't need to follow advice! There is so much advice around and the danger is that we feel obliged to follow other people's advice just because they are successful at what they do. By all means listen to advice from experts, but ultimately you are your own person. As Kristen explains in our chat on The Cultivating Creative Podcast, the advice she heard about how to be an author made her feel that because she worked differently she wasn't a 'proper author'. Kristen says: 'my biggest writing advice to anyone is just to know yourself and to know how... your ideas come to you, how you work with your ideas and how you are the most productive.' Just because you approach something differently, doesn't make you less than, or inferior, you're doing it in your own way and that's OK.


  5. Remember: things change. My life now with 4 kids, a husband, a dog and my own business is very different to my earlier career when I worked full time and had no real commitments. I need to make choices around what works in this season. That might involve taking a break for the school run and working later in the evening. As Kristen explains during our chat, she works around family commitments and can find certain elements of her routine helpful as a writer. This works for her now and no doubt will change as her family grows and her routine evolves.


That's my thoughts on context switching and managing a small business in a way that works for us. What would you add? Let me know in the comments!


To hear my full chat with Kristen, check out the podcast episode here:


Kristen Perrin's debut novel, How to Solve Your Own Murder is available to purchase and the follow up, How to Seal Your Own Fate is now available to pre-order. Check out Kristen's website for more information and links to purchase: kristenperrin.com





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