Thanks for this opportunity Drew. I hope your readers find it helpful!
Thanks for sharing your tips for getting past procrastination, Dan. I use many of these things myself. What I have found helped me tremendously was to FINALLY move to an electronic calendar and schedule things.
The first blocks of time I set aside is specific timeframes to work on specific artworks. I use a minimum of one and a half hour for these blocks of time (I prefer 2 hours mostly so I can see real progress each time). I then set aside 3 half hour time frames each day (morning, afternoon and evening) for checking and replying to emails and social media. I get through what I can each time and know that I have more alloted time coming up.
I set aside a 4 or 5 hour time frame one day a month to submit for juried art exhibitions or solo shows. On another day I set aside the same time frame for other art opportunities that I will have found to research and prepare packages.
I have even computer and website backups scheduled monthly so I don’t forget anything. The setup was a bit of work but now I don’t know how I have produced without it! I have found that procrastination has dropped off considerably now.
I am very structured Monday-Friday and leave the weekends open for fluid activities which quite often surprises me and is a few hours of studio time besides the very necessary decompression time to get ready for the next week.
Looking forward to seeing what others have to contribute to the conversation as well.
Continued Success!
I think you’re right Jean about how important it is to have some type of system in place. Different things work for different people, but I know that I have to at least have some type of organization otherwise I’ll spend my day jumping from one interesting website to the next.
As far as procrastination goes, I’m one of those people who’s usually fine once I get started, but it’s being able to get that initial push to get started that’s difficult for me (just ask my dusty treadmill). I apparently have this tendency to over-think everything and run all of these “what-if” scenarios through my head until I become completely overwhelmed or curl up in the fetal position on the floor, so I often just have to jump in and start doing something before my feeble brain has the chance to over analyze the situation and send me into creative paralysis.
Thanks Jean for stopping by and sharing your thoughts with us, and I would also like to thank Dan again for sharing this article with us and opening up a discussion about an issue that affects so many of us.
Hi Jean. I really like your idea of having fixed time slots to do email and social media. I think if you only do this once a day, say first thing in the morning, there can be a tendency to let it drag on too long, but if you know you have more time scheduled later, you’re more likely to stick to the 30 minute limit.
Thanks for sharing your ideas!
Great article, Dan! Thanks for the shout-out, too. Setting teeny-tiny, bite-sized goals for getting started with my art-making has made a world of difference for me. In the course I’m running right now, I’ve shrunk the commitment down even further, to 10 minutes. The idea is to make the commitment so tiny you can’t NOT do it.
The sneaky part, of course, is that once you start, you’re likely to keep going. But if you keep the *commitment* tiny, you’re much more likely to keep it up, and feel successful, which feeds the virtuous cycle. That’s why I keep my own creativity commitments ridiculously small, even now. I can always fit in 10 or 15 minutes, right? That helps me “keep my toe in the Creative Stream,” as I like to say. Plus even if really only do 10 or 15 minutes, I find myself thinking about my creative thing all throughout the day, which doesn’t happen if I only do, say, 2 hours once a week.
Anyway, thanks again for the shout-out. And big hello to Drew — I’m delighted to discover your blog!
Drew,
As always some thought-provoking content. So #5 productive procrastination as a strategy, hummmm. I think this is actually one of my downfalls. I spend time on things that I prefer to do which do benefit me as an artist, but they are often just a justification exercise designed to keep from tackling the things I really SHOULD be doing but am dreading. I guess it is better than just lying in bed…
Thanks. After all these years, it helps just to know that there are other artists who are not always consistently productive. The procrastination leads to so much guilt for me. I am finally at a place in life where I have the freedom and time to create and I only seem to produce about one good piece of art a year! It’s nice to hear from others. I can always inspire others but have trouble inspiring myself. Still working on it.
Yes Debbie,
I surely do relate! And Drew, thanks very much for the post! I Googled: ‘Procrastination and Painting’, your page came up–and it is helpful to see that others find themselves in my state and work towards solutions.
This is some good information, but this method helped me to finally stop procrastinating.
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Hi Dan! Thank you for sharing these amazing tips. I was especially encouraged by Tip#3. It relates to me at a personal level; so I would definitely put the strategy of making bad stuff into action .
Lately I got lot better at dealing with Procrastination. I figured that by forcing myself to just start off on my work irrespective of whether I feel like doing it or not, does the trick. I’m a 3D artist, so I just open my files & start sculpting without giving it much thought, and surprisingly once I start my work I get totally immersed in it. Listening to music while working helps to focus and avoid unproductive thoughts.