Artists... How do you balance your creative side with your responsible side?
I have a huge problem balancing my creativity with my daily responsibilities. I become so entirely consumed and immersed in every creative project put upon me that I often forget that it’s trash day. Bills pile up until the very last second that I can send them out. My responsibilities always get done, but I loath the giant load I’ve put upon myself by not spreading them out evenly throughout the month.
The thought of doing my weekly yard or auto maintenance is repulsive until I actually force myself to do it. Once I start, then I’m fine, and apply my creative side to the task at hand. But starting is the problem, seen only as chores which take me away from my photography.
How can I find a more even approach to balancing the daily duties of life with the creative lust constantly burning in my heart?
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Hmmmmm…..hmmmmmm….hmmmm
With a broken scale.Yes.That’s it ;)
Don’t waste your precious time here or on other websites. Just do what ya gotta do! ;)
You can be creative and come up with good ideas even while doing mundane jobs around the house. Taking a break from focussing on being creative can itself be good for creativity.
Sounds like you might benefit from having a firm schedule where you can plan to get maintenance around the home and office done, fully released from your artistic duties of unyielding creativity. There should be entire slots of time where you are committed to not producing art and specifically doing other things. A time perhaps every day or every week when it is personally classified by you to be more important to maintain your life than it is to produce artistically.
I know this sounds like blasphemy.. but it’s actually better described as “balance.” Believe it or not, having a schedule in this way that you stick to can serve you internally as playing hard-to-get with your artwork.. making the time you do get to spend on art even more precious.
hmmmm i like that @ninjacolin. “playing hard to get” with my creativity… hmmmm, i like that idea
Do the FlyLady approach to keeping your yard, home and finances in order. Pay the bills when they arrive, use 10mins each day to clean just one room, mow the lawn first thing one set day per week…etc.
Break each “have to” task into small, easy to do chunks, then go ahead and feel free to fritter away your time & energy on your creative side.
great idea @SpatzieLover. I was actually considering the same, devoting smaller amounts of routine time for smaller tasks, rather than letting the build up to an insurmountable mountain. good advice.
@flutherother Yes, my mind wanders on mundane chores. It may look like I’m vacuuming, but I’m actually working out the 3:1 lighting ratio balanced with 12noon sunlight for my next fashion spread.
I’ll second The Fly Lady. A friend raved about her web site several years ago. Keep in mind that it is about how to declutter and stay on top of house-cleaning. If you sign up, reminders are sent every day, but I personally just recommend using the information on the site.
As for weekly and monthly tasks, there are plenty of computer programs that allow you to plug in regular reminders. I’ve made it a habit to log on first thing in the morning with a cup of coffee or tea, and and any reminders pop up. If you aren’t an early morning person, the reminders can be set for the day before. It works great for birthday reminders as well. Set them for a week or two in advance…enough time to pick up a card or present and mail it out, if need be.
Some of these programs also have the capability of maintaining a task list. The tasks can be prioritized This is helpful if someone is linear and prefers to work down a list instead of focusing on what should be tackled first. Checking off the items, once completed, brings about a feeling of accomplishment.
It might be beneficial to sign up for a local time management class. I took one once, and what was really helpful was planning out the next week’s projects and running them by my work supervisor (or personal partner if there is one), to make sure we are on the same page.
I won’t let myself start what I want to do until I do the things I dislike doing. Kind of like rewarding yourself for the hardwork, because I always feel this wonderful release when I am creating something.
I seriously have the same problem… I had to laugh because I could’ve written that question.
What I did was, I just made peace with dealing with a pile-up when it happens.
I’ve tried planners, time management, FlyLady, rewarding myself, doing the boring stuff first—I even tried self-loathing, but always eventually ‘snap back,’ to my true form. It’s an ongoing challenge to stay on top of responsibilities, but once I made peace with the pile up and considered it part of the equation, I felt better… and it got easier!
The self-kudos thing is, not everyone has the fun of a creative side. Some people only have the responsible side and some people don’t have either. :D
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