HOW TO CREATE MORE TIME FOR CREATING
Do you silently tell yourself that you don’t have time for creating?
The stories we tell ourselves about being creative are soooo interesting. Get to know them. When we don’t create the time for creating there’s usually something else going on. Some fear gremlin who is enslaving you to a belief. A belief that might not be true.
Here’s one of my stories around creating.
I realized upon examination (light bulb moment) that I had a HUGE expectation around the times I devoted to creating (and that could be content for my online business, or a painting… really all the same process).
Whenever I gave myself time to create it had to be a BIG CHUNK of time. Mucho time in order to “go deep” into my process, I told myself.
And of course the mind is thinking that I don’t have big chunks of time to devote to this right now and it goes into a non-existent future with a thought, I’ll have more time to create one day when ……
I also held an unrealistic expectation that the result had to be a ‘masterpiece’, or else it would mean I was total shit at what I’m trying to creatively express.
There’s lots wrong with that thinking. Unexamined this story kept me from a CONSISTENT PRACTICE of making. This thinking put enormous pressure on me to produce something fantastic each time I was creating which of course when you don’t create consistently there’s a smaller chance of that happening.
In nutshell I saw that my story meant I spent little time devoted to CONSISTENT creating. When I did have time to create I had this big expectation on the result.
MAKE SHIFT HAPPEN
How to make more time to create:
• Make a decision
Honestly that’s the very first step. How important is it to you to be creative? Sometimes we feel like it’s not that important and then it becomes exactly that. We won’t have time if we don’t decide its important. When you do give time to create something, there is joy. There is a happy feeling that is undeniable because we are born to create.
“Unused creativity is not benign. If you don’t create it will make you sick” – Brene Brown
• So what’s the story?
What keeps you from giving yourself devoted time to create? That’s the second step. Explore and get curious about the stories you tell yourself. See what fear gremlins are holding you back from making time for a consistent creating practice.
• Plan small bits of creativity time
When you make the decision that this is really important and you’ve discovered and weeded out some erroneous thinking, plan small amounts of creating time into your day. It can be as little as 10 -15 minutes of writing in the morning or evening. It can be 15 – 30 minutes of art journaling. On some days being creative may be reading an inspirational book for 20 minutes.
Decide what you want to do and how it looks for you to be consistently creative. Then do it. Put it into practice in your daily life and stick to it. You’re training yourself with a new habit of nourishing your creativity. If you fall off, look at the stories of why that is.
Consistent Creating Practice means you set aside a tiny bit of time each day to nourish your creativity. Then, when you do have that bigger chunk of time to focus on creating it flows because you’re not starting up again after a long absence.
Let me know how you go.
with love and gratitude,
