We’ve had a wonderful response to Monday morning’s post on Procrastination and I thought I’d share a few things to do to get out of “Stuck”. I wrote about my “vileness” of putting things off, and, as I discussed in my book, there are some things you can do to get going. As I mentioned, “Resistance” is the enemy, it is a nasty creature, out to defeat us all. It knows our soft spots, our insecurities and our soft underbelly. We should all learn to hate resistance.
Here’s a few things that work:
* Just Begin: When I have to write something, and I am distracted by 100 other things and notice an hour as gone by with no action, I just open the software right in front of me, without giving it a thought, on an impulse, and let the empty page stare at me. My A.D.D. gets distracted by this new shiny object and before I know it words start to appear on the page. (Today the words were: “We’ve had a tremendous response to Monday…”). So just take a step.
* A schedule: If you set aside 2 hours a day for creation and turn off the phone, E Mail, Twitter etc and know that whatever you create that day is OK, you’ll get stuff done. One of the points of The Affluent Artist is to treat your creativity like a business, have regular “business hours”.
* Get off “Someday Isle”. Take daily action, do 5 things a day towards your goals.
*No self editing. Do something that really sucks if you have to, like “Opposite day”, do something you know will get rejected, that everyone will hate. That’s ok, at least you are finding your heart, your creativity. Too much of our time is spent worrying about results. You have talent, let it free.
*Your soul: Please it. Meditate, pray, run, stand on your head, it doesn’t matter. It’s my belief that I am not a material body who happens to have a soul, I believe I am a spiritual being who happens to have a material body. My soul is visiting this world for a while. While I’m here, I want to do work that pleases my soul, so I try to get in touch. When you are in grace, in that state of oneness with everything, creation just flows; no effort required. Get quiet, learn to be still and listen.
*Think like your customer. The more empathetic you are the better. Imagine being the person in the last row of your concert, the person reading your blog, the person using your website. The more you understand your client’s needs, the more you can see things through their eyes, the more excited you will be to complete your project. Ask your client a lot of questions, go sit in the back row, try to use his website, get the opinion of people who are similar to your customer. After seeing through their eyes, your talent will know what to do.
*Come from love. Creation comes from love, God is creation, God loves creative people. After all, that’s his line of work too!
*Get off the couch, put down the remote, no more donuts.
Remember right brains are taking over the world, the revolution is here!
11 Comments
July 8, 2009 at 2:40 pm
My mom always had a quote she would say about procrastination and I’ve found it to be true… “Work expands to fill the time available.”
The founders of National Novel Writing Month have found the miracle cure for procrastination: A deadline. It’s true, too. When I was at a writer’s conference a woman asked one of the presenters how long it took her to write a novel and she answered, “When’s my deadline? That’s how long it takes.”
…I always found that helpful.
July 8, 2009 at 2:50 pm
That’s awesome Jess!
July 8, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Great post.
Some of this can be summarized in the idea that “If you can achieve action, you will achieve happiness”.
We can easily slip into the habit of getting ready to get ready to get everything perfect so we can get ready to start – when we are ready……
I’ve been there. All of us have.
Your advice is top notch. I think I’ll start applying those principles….tomorrow.
Wait a minute………
July 8, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Best use of procrastination joke yet, kudos!
July 9, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Excellent suggestions Rick! I work as a graphic designer at H.J. Heinz, or the Ketchup Kountry Klub as I like to call it. I’m always in need of finding some free time to do something for my soul. I find when I do too much commercial art and not enough of my art, I get stressed. One thing I try to do is get up early, 4:30-5:AM, get all those distractions out of the way early, FB, Deviant Art, e-mail… that way they are less of a distraction later in the day. I go into work early, usually 45 minutes to an hour early, get some coffee and spend some time working on my stuff. I also pack a lunch so I can work on my stuff during my lunch hour. Plus any free time I have during the day, I work on my stuff. At home, there are a lot of distractions, wife, kids, the house… but usually on Saturdays and Sundays I get a lot done by getting up early when there are no distraction. I’m conditioned by the nature of my job to work fast, so I can really get a lot of artwork done in a few hours. Getting an early start works!
-Don
July 9, 2009 at 12:44 pm
I’ve always said that having a job as a creative in a corporation is better than having a job waiting tables, you are getting paid to create. The world is searching for content, I’m glad even ketchup can be a patron! Thanks for sharing your methods, do you exhibit your non catsup work somewhere?
July 10, 2009 at 5:05 pm
True, it does make it a little easier to do the things I want to do. Most of the stuff I do for Heinz is fun, I just not real comfortable with the corporate work space.
I have shown my work, but not enough. I’m a member of the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators and have been in several PSI shows as well as the Art Institute of Pittsburgh Alumni shows. I did the illustration for the 25th Anniversary poster for the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. I have artwork on permanent display at AIP and at Whiteman AFB in Missouri as well as Dyess AFB in Texas. You can always see my latest work on Deviant Art http://yankeedog.deviantart.com/
July 13, 2009 at 2:19 pm
It’s funny that I’m reading this right now, because I JUST got off the phone with my little sister about this exact topic! She’s thinking about starting her own business, but says she’s so busy with school that she never finds the time to do so.
I told her some things that you stated in this article. I advised her to set aside a specific time during the day, or even the week to work a little on her business. Once she gets the ball rolling it’s a lot easier to keep up with it.
She’s only 18, but I’m so proud of her to have faith in herself to start her own business. It’s just the procrastination that could hurt her, so I have to help keep that fire in her heart:)
Thanks for this post, it was a VERY good one with MANY great points. Plus, you ended it with Ellens’ standup! Oh man, that is my favorite standup of all time! Really! My brother and I just watched it for like, the 105th time, over the weekend, lol!
Thanks again, for a great post! Look forward to more:)
July 13, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Thanks so much Cheri, I hope you and your sister will hang around and become regulars!
July 17, 2009 at 1:32 am
All i can say is im so happy i found this blog! keep it up!
July 17, 2009 at 2:14 am
Shucks!