PG: Shana Cutler

The creative process is only as elusive as you make it. 

What do I mean by that?

Ever notice how when it comes to prioritizing your own artistic endeavors, you never seem to have enough time? There’s suddenly a dozen other tasks demanding your immediate attention? Somehow the entire day flew by and you haven’t gotten any closer to working on your art.

I’m guilty of it. Scrolling on Instagram or Facebook in the name of ‘networking’. Organizing and reorganizing and organizing yet again stacks of papers, books, my desk, anything at all to not have to spend time working on my art. While I’m not consciously trying to sabotage the time I’d have spent working on my art, but I am. 

Yup I said it. I am my own problem. When I don’t commit to an action plan. When I allow myself to procrastinate. When I come up with excuses instead of producing results. 

How do I change this? I focus on setting intentions. Intentions are baby steps, tiny little goals that I know I can accomplish, like working on my project for 5 minutes a day. I’ll agree to this because 5 minutes feels like no time at all. Then three days later I’ve put 15 minutes towards my goal and am feeling pretty proud of what I’ve accomplished so I’m encouraged to add another 5 minutes to my daily practice. A week goes by, I’ve stuck to my daily practice and it’s building my confidence.  I can do this. 

I sure hate it when the answer is that simple but it is.