Thankfully, there is a cure. It's called HARD WORK. You know, that thing none of us (including me) wants to do. Except I do. I really, really want to succeed at this thing called art. Self motivation when you're not actively seeing results is hard.
So I decided to give myself a second job. My actual money earning job is being a barista, which is, stereo-typically, my dream real world job. My pipe dream job is to make roughly $5,000/year at my work. Low expectations, I know, but I've lived below the poverty line my whole life, so this doesn't seem entirely unreasonable.
Over the last couple of weeks, I've forced myself into a new schedule. This includes housework as well because this new rent house I live in is massive compared to my old efficiency apartment. It stresses me out so bad. I would love to homestead like my parents did, including actually building the house on a piece of country land somewhere.
Anyway, cleaning DOES NOT come first in my life, as much as I like a clean home to work in. However, I did find this handy-ish guideline:
 |
| Shared by Brown Eyed Baker |
Do you know what DOES come first? You're going to think I'm weird. Beading. That's it. Just start your day doing the thing you love. Or if you slept in and had to go to work, end your day peacefully doing the thing you love. It's a little more complicated than that because I have a hard time waking up, but that's okay.
Here's a rough outline of my days. I work generally between 12:00pm and 12:00am. It varies and so do my days. Here goes:
9:00
Wake up. Snooze. Snooze again. Slap yourself awake. Get up. Stop snoozing. Get breakfast and coffee. Maybe. Remind yourself that you have work to do and nobody is going to do it for you.
10:00-10:30
Realize how much time you lost trying to wake up. Immediately regret that you can't not be a night owl. Take whatever is left of your breakfast to your work desk for the day. Work of designated daily project until noon.
12:00
Find a good stopping point because you got way more interested in your project than you initially thought you would. Happens every time. :-) Now go play DDR for roughly 12 songs or until you break a sweat and are exhausted. This is the only form of exercise I get. Because it's a game I enjoy. Always do whatever exercise actually interests you. You'll never stick to it otherwise.
12:30ish
Shower and nap. Super important if you want to be rested later on. Don't forget to make your bed if you haven't already. I do it now because JD is still sleeping in it when I wake up.
1:00-3:00
Clean. Do whatever your daily task is. Catch up on others. Do your best not to put it off. Stick to it.
3:00-6:00
Out and about errands in town. Or play Ingress. Because everyone should be Enlightened.
6:00-Bedtime
Do whatever. It's your day off.
Most of my shifts start at 3:30, so I can almost always make it to the cleaning step. However, I spend so many extra minutes on all the other stuff, I don't even make it that far. And I'm a work in progress. I still have lots of areas where I need to push myself better, but I'm getting it down. It's nice to be constantly working on things again, even if I see no results yet except for a personal expanded skill set.
I hope this helps all you artsy types out there. Nobody is perfect. Treat your passion like a job you have to do. But at the same time, tell yourself that all you're doing is making sure you have the time to do what you enjoy. And do it first thing in the morning. (I realize I probably get up a lot later than most of you, but I have no children and work nights. This just happens to be what works for me.)
For further inspiration, listen to Elizabeth Gilbert's TED Talk on Creative Geniuses!
For even further inspiration, watch Neil Gaiman's University of the Arts 2012 Commencement Ceremony Speech!
Speaking of Neil, don't forget to be a goofball:
 |
| Me dressed as Death for Comic Con. |
No comments:
Post a Comment