Making art, or making time for any first steps into creative endeavors, requires some level of mental piece. This post is about some concrete steps to get you there.
1. Say no to more things, get more time.
I wrote about that in this post, on my other blog: http://www.creativetexturetools.com/news/2013/05/14/making-time-for-art-by-saying-whoa-to-everything-else
2. Reduce your time on social media.
Whenever I give speeches on goal setting or time management and I tell people that there is software that will protect you from yourself and keep you off of Facebook or BuzzFeed, or whatever sites you find irresistible, for however long you want, and the software cannot be overridden, there is an audible sigh of relief in the room. Really! Multiple people sigh, as if to say, “Oh, thank God!”
They are called Self-Control and Freedom. With both of them, they way they work is that you install them on your computer and then you turn on the software for the number of hours you need to be distraction free and boom! You cannot get to those websites. With Freedom, unless this has been changed, you cannot overcome the software unless you restart your computer, which would bring a rather special kind of shame.
With Self-Control, there is no over ride. Restarting your computer will not work. It’s a time-lock safe. You cannot get back on those websites until time is up. I use it and I love it! If going to certain time-wasting social media sites is not an option, I can stop thinking about it, stop thinking about clever things to post, and my mind is free to be more productive.
3. Don’t read or watch the daily news.
There’s good evidence, and it’s piling up, that daily news isn’t good for us. Surely the world won’t end if we’re not “informed” on a daily basis? Don’t believe me? Here are some articles:
The Guardian’s, The news is bad for you – and giving up reading it will make you happier
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/apr/12/news-is-bad-rolf-dobelli
John Sommerville writes, “Why the News Makes Us Dumb,” on why daily news is not good for us, and is actually not even helpful, in terms of understanding what’s going on in the world.
http://www.chaucercenter.net/docs/Why-the-News-Makes-Us-Dumb.pdf
In order to be creative, we need physical space in our homes, in which to work, (or in coffee shops, or our cars, whatever works), and mental space. I hope these steps, above, will help you create more mental space to allow you to be more creative.
: ) Yes! Right up our alleys!
Thanks so much!
Yay! Another exciting tiny thing!