If you live anywhere near New England, earlier this week you probably got hit with some winter snow. I certainly did, and it was the first major snow storm I can remember in a while. Every time there’s a big snow storm coming, and we’re predicted to get an excess amount of inches, the first thing I think about is having a snow day from school back when I was a kid. I remember getting up on the morning of a day promised with snow, watching the TV for that scrolling list to see if my towns school system was closed. Because if it was, it meant a free day. I didn’t have to go to school, I didn’t have to finish my homework, and I could just go outside and play in the snow all day.
So as I awoke Tuesday to flakes falling, I couldn’t help but to remember some of this same excitement I used to feel as a kid. And although these days I work mostly from home, and snow covered roads don’t really impact my ability to work, I still got that snow day feeling. And it made me think twice about my day. I was going to jump into some work that I had planned to do, but the snow day got me thinking. I started to ask myself, why can’t I have a snow day? Part of the benefits of working for yourself is being able to have a flexible schedule and I think sometimes forget that.
So I decided to take a day off of my normal work, and focus on the creative projects that I always seem to put on the backburner. I am a creative person, but I tend to have a habit of never finishing my creative endeavors. Maybe a small part of it is that I know I’m not getting paid to do it, but I think it’s mostly because I prioritize them last. I read this book, Make Your Art No Matter What by Beth Pickens, and it made me really want to stop this bad habit of not prioritizing these creative projects. The book talked about the benefits of creating your art even if you don’t get paid to do it, and how it gives you a different value other than money. That doing something creative helps change your mind, your energy, and it fills you up in a way that money just can’t. Therefore benefiting other areas of your life that you use to make money. So just because there’s no (or at least none right now) money tied to a creative pursuit, doesn’t mean that there’s no benefit.
Make Your Art No Matter What by Beth Pickens [(paid link) As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.]
I spent the first half of my day thinking about writing. I started planning a book that I want to write this year, which then turned into a plan for two books that I want to write this year. I also worked on editing a book that I wrote last year. Now, I’m not sure if I will do anything with these books that I write, but I remember how excited I was to write last year. I took a few months where every Friday morning I went to a coffee shop and just wrote a whole chapter of a book. I remember how I looked forward to that every week. When the end of the week finally came I would pick a nice coffee shop, get an espresso drink, and just sit and write for a few hours.
Then in the afternoon of my snow day I decided to work on one of the music projects that I’ve been working on for way too long. This year I have goals of getting them to good enough and finished, instead of just leaving them on hard drives to be lost to digital decay. I was trying to make a little progress on this one collection of songs when I kept having technical issues. Part of the problem was that I switched my computer at the beginning of this year and in the process of getting the new one up and running, I lost some of my third party audio software that were just too old, or not transferable. Then I was missing files completely and it discouraged me enough to stop working on it. After taking some time to read and watch TV I came up with a solution that would work and get the project done even faster. So even though I felt guilty for watching TV (because I don’t know how to relax) it was all and all a pretty good, productive day. And most importantly, I’m thinking about how to keep working on these creative projects.
But how do I keep consistent at these projects?
Working on these creative projects for one day is great, but how do I keep consistently working to the point of being able to finish them and move on to new ones? I don’t know that I have that answer. But what I do know is that it takes consistent effort and not just once in a blue moon on a snow day. Last year when I was writing my book, I put a block in my calendar to force myself to go and write in a coffee shop every Friday morning for months until I finished the first draft. Then my schedule changed and I got busy on Fridays, and the book was left as a draft. I didn’t put that day back into my calendar which is why I never finished it. So now, as I write here, I’m putting back into my calendar blocks in each week for my creative endeavors. I also think part of what worked for me last year was removing myself from my comfortable environment at home. Going to a coffee shop gave me a little motivation to be accountable and also was a bit of a treat to go out and have a nice coffee somewhere.
What is your creative outlet? Leave a comment below and let me know what you do to just be creative with no ulterior motive. For me it’s writing and music. If you don’t have one, think about what you would do for an hour if you couldn’t do any of your daily obligations and I made you do something creative. What would it be? Let me know!