https://www.wired.co.uk/article/wired-work-smarter
F**or Andy Serkis, productivity is about creativity.**And leadership. And technology. And… in fact, it's always changing. As an actor, writer, director and co-founder of pioneering motion-capture studio The Imaginarium, Serkis spends his time exploring new ideas, trying out bespoke equipment, taking instructions from directors and, of course, running a company. He redefines multitasking on a daily basis. In July, for instance, he's on screen as Caesar in War for the Planet of the Apes, "a traditional - if gruelling and exhausting - acting job." He's also in post-production on two movies he's directing - a version of The Jungle Book, which he describes as "Dickens in the jungle" and Breathe, a love story starring Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy - and he's doing his best to reverse Brexit with online petitions and campaigning.
How does he fit all this in with just the industry-standard, 24-hour day? Until he set up The Imaginarium with film producer Jonathan Cavendish, he explains, he would just focus on one job and bury himself in it. But building a business changed all that. We asked Serkis to reveal how to maintain a prolific workload while remaining productive.
"I wake up very early. I hate night-time, I hate the idea of going to bed and I hate the idea of sleep. I love it when the birds start singing in the morning. The dawn of a new day is the most exciting, creative and uplifting time, and everything is possible at that moment. I tend to go to bed between 1am and 2am - there's lots of business in LA, so I'm on multiple time zones - and get up about 6am. I find I'm the most creative at that time."
"My most productive space is The Imaginarium - it's a mix of a black-box theatre/virtual cinema space with computers and a viewing gallery. The stage is surrounded by motion-capture cameras. Upstairs, there's a green room, relaxing space, post-production team and animators. It all focuses in this creative cauldron where actors try out things - proof-of-concept pieces, character development or shooting a film. The game changer was head-mounted cameras that track facial expressions. That took things from motion capture to performance capture."
"I have nothing close to a routine. In any one day I can switch from a business meeting to working on a documentary to creating concepts using performance capture, or working with VR and AR. When I'm shooting, I get picked up and taken to a film set - that's the closest I get to a routine."
"My work ethic comes from my parents. They were both incredibly driven. My dad is Iraqi - he set up the Ibn Sina Hospital in Baghdad. My mum went to live with him but moved back to the UK, where she brought up five kids by herself and taught disabled children. My desire to change society comes from them."
"When I have to pull an all-nighter for work, I tend to steer clear of sugar and caffeine. Instead, I eat a combination of fruit, nuts and seeds."
"The thing people get wrong about managing a team is thinking that you have to be right. You don't have to lead from the front all the time. Being a good listener is equally powerful, as is being able to make firm decisions - but equally being able to admit when you're wrong. You have to find the balance between using your ego and suppressing it for a better outcome."
"I didn't set out to be an actor. I went to university to study painting and sculpture. I happened upon theatre studies and realised I loved acting. Everything went by the by until I met Peter Jackson and he cast me in Lord of the Rings. Almost everything I am now I owe to him."
I'm very selective about what I answer - embarrassingly, I have thousands of unread emails in my inbox. I just go through the ones that are the most important, are going to be the most effective or ones that I absolutely need to answer. I leave the rest.
Right now it's Nitin Sawhney - he's writing the music for the Jungle Book and Breathe films. John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Charles Mingus - I'm locked into a post-bebop bubble. Modal jazz has been the backbone of my life.
My worst habit is being so busy that I forget to wash. There will be days that go by when I think, "I must have a shower." My best habit is the ability to concentrate on work. Which I suppose is the cause of my worst habit.
Yes. Paperwork.
I barely see enough of my family. I did get to a point where I was working in New Zealand a lot and not seeing them. I realised that things would have to change, so the balance is a little better now. I would love to see more of my friends, but that's one of the hardest things of all.
Weekends are when I do that - I spend a lot of time walking with my family. My wife and kids love getting out of town and walking in the hills. That's one of the most important things in our lives - to get outside and really engage with nature.
Seek opinions and talk it through it, but go with your gut. In the past I've relied on other people to make decisions, whereas I listen to my gut a lot more now.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
