I want to touch quickly on time, creativity, and productivity. For those who make any form of art, whether it be writing or drawing or music or anything really. It’s important to remember that it’s okay not to be ‘productive’ every day, it’s okay not to hit your maximum creative output, and it’s okay to just take breaks from making anything.
First of all, ‘productivity’ is a load of crap. It’s some capitalist nonsense about working yourself to the bone 24/7, to hustle 24/7. All of this instead of living your own life, living your life to the fullest or making yourself happy. Blah blah blah. I think you get the point.
Secondly, discipline isn’t real and if you see anyone who is disciplined and ask them if they are, they’ll say “no”. Why? Because we never feel disciplined. Discipline isn’t some sort of thing you do, it’s something that arises from the many things you do. Same with motivation. Motivation is just the ability to hold a thought in your mind. It’s nothing else really. Eventually, it’ll sit there long enough and something will happen (unless you’re depressed). If you want to actually get something done and if your life isn’t getting in the way so that you can actually do it. What you should do is set a small amount of time like perhaps an hour (if possible) as time for you, to work on your creative projects.
This feeds into my third point. Creative output when treated healthily, is ‘self-care’. I think ‘self-care’ is bullshit, but either way, creative output makes you happy and gives you a sense of pride and satisfaction.
What happens is a lot for those working on creative things is that we get burnt out. Or we’re already burnt out. All these horrid feelings just make you feel clogged up or whatever. It’s not fun. And if anything, when you do try to sit down and create, it becomes stressful and/or frustrating. This might be me projecting but what happens is that I beat myself up for not being ‘productive’ or not being able to get anything done. And at this point, you need to step back.
You have to stop beating yourself up and allow yourself to sniff the flowers. You don’t actually have to work every day. When you look at how children learn any language, there is a large period of maybe a year (I don’t fully remember) where they don’t speak their mother tongue. They just listen. But this is the period where all the words begin to enter their brain. Only later do they begin speaking but this period where they don’t speak is dismissed as them not learning. This is what sniffing the flowers is like. It’s allowing yourself to enjoy other art.
There is probably something about the psychological effects of art consumption. But I think personally, it allows creative juices to flow, it provides inspiration (you cannot draw from an empty well), and it’s good for the psyche. It can act as an emotional conduit or it be something you meditate on. Art being anything from physical art to films to video games to literature.
Also if you’re thinking all day about what you have to do and stressing about it, that’s not you doing nothing. If you’re stressing all day but ‘getting nothing done’, that’s not the same as relaxation.
