Working From Home
This step can provide the single biggest gain in efficiency. For years I had a studio outside of our home, because our home was tiny and my tools were big (industrial sewing machines.)
Your creative medium and your personality will really affect the best choices for you with regards to this strategy. For me, shifting to working at home has been essential to my efficiency. If you are a writer, this should be no big deal, but depending on the tools you have and use, this can be a major challenge. We moved from a tiny downtown condo to a house outside the city. The move was prompted by a perfect storm of life factors, including a high energy dog, but it has resulted in my ability to now work from home.
Specifically, this means I am now able to work creatively and productively after 6pm without feeling like I am neglecting my marriage or home responsibilities. Reducing car time or travel time is a magic efficiency gain of 10 or 20 hours per week- just enough time to really make a dent in that 1000 hours yearly goal.
