Being creative and allowing yourself to spend time working on art, music and creative ventures takes constant effort. It's so easy to make excuses not to practice, not to create. There's work to be done, money to be made, housework to be done, dinner to be cooked, etc. There are also a gazillion distraction techniques that we use to sabotage ourselves. For me, these include checking Facebook, playing Solitaire on the computer (I'm embarrassed to even admit that), checking email for the 10th time, and the list goes on.
Here are some tricks I've used recently to help me stay on track, I hope these help you too.
1. Write Morning Pages.
So many people swear by this that there must be something to it. The concept is to write three pages by hand (no typing) each morning, no matter what. Write whatever comes to your mind, anything at all that you're thinking whether it is deep or silly or nonsense. Important ideas, feelings and thoughts will come to the surface and you'll identify trends in what you're thinking about, what keeps coming back to the top of your mind, what you have known all along to be true but that hasn't been articulated properly until now. I like it because all the things I'm thinking about in the back of my mind including tasks I haven't done spill out onto the page instead of bottling up in my brain, causing a traffic jam for my creativity to navigate through.
Julia Cameron talks about the benefits of Morning Pages in her book, the Artist's Way, and on her website. It's worth a try!
2. Identify your greatest distraction techniques and what pushes you off track.
What are the things that you do to distract yourself from what you really want to be doing? Take notice of exactly what these things are, and what triggers them. For me, I found myself playing Solitaire on the computer, triggered by when I wasn't sure exactly what to do next. It was a mere habit, sometimes even without me realizeing it, to go over to the menu, click on games, and start a new game. I do it after I have completed one task and I'm not sure where I'm going next, or mid-way through something if I hit a challenge that I don't feel up to tackling. Observe your habits today and identify what you do to distract yourself, waste time, and why.
3. Come up with your own solution to those specific distraction problems.
To slow down my Solitaire adiction, I have given myself a healty choice. If I play a game of Solitaire, I have to do a rep of 10 arm exersizes such as curls. I have already stopped myself from playing three times today. And, if I really want to play that's fine and I'll get some exersize too. Your solution could be anything, as long as it works to hold you accountable.
4. Value your music-making process and it will become a priority.
Why is doing that load of laundry more important than playing a scale? It's not. If you deem music practice to be among your most important things to do then do that first. Make a list of your three most important things to do today. Now do them first. The rest you will either get to today or sometime soon, but nobody will die if it has to wait. Your three most important things are valuable and necessary. Place value on them, make time for them, refuse invitations and requests from other people and yourself until you have given yourself time to do your vital work.
Here's a little video to inspire you. Good luck, and have fun!
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