The Creative Instinct

How often have you had no time for your art, writing or music because you simply had to do something else?

We all suffer from life’s daily pressures and the list is endless: I have to finish this report; I have to tidy the living room; I must visit my granny; I have to meet my friend again for a drink; I must clean my bike/car/shoes… and on, and on…

Now just hold on there, I hear you saying - these things do have to get done, otherwise our friends and family will hate us and life will generally grind to a halt in a mountain of dirt and confusion. And I’ll probably get fired too.

You know what? I agree. There are lots of tasks, chores and more enjoyable activities that have to be done. And there are also lots that we tell ourselves must be done that are actually a matter of choice. I’ll come back to that last point in a subsequent posting, but see also Time Theft 1 - the Anatomy of a Crime Against Our Creative Self. Let’s concentrate now on the jobs we perceive have to be done.

If all these jobs that have to be done are stopping you from ever finding your cherished creative time, or are constantly eating away at your creative time so that you rarely find satisfaction from it, then it’s my guess that you are suffering from a nasty dose of false priorities.

Because let’s face it, if you are effectively putting everything before your creativity, you must be giving it all a higher priority. Now how crazy is that?

Now I’m not suggesting that you stop doing all these different things - though some of them you probably could stop - I’m saying that priority-wise many of these activities have got way above themselves in your list of unconscious, assumed priorities. They clamour for urgent attention when urgency isn’t required. They insist on taking your times of peak energy when they really don’t need it, and they demand your guilt and self approbation if you don’t do them.

Or is it you doing all that?

Time then, to put a stop to all this false prioritising and get things back in proportion. Time to get your creativity back on the priority list.

Reconsidering Your Priority System

Here are some sentences for you to think about and complete for yourself. The aim here is to get you to reconsider your current priority system.

I must/have to ……… or ………

Example: I have to tidy the house - or - the house won’t feel tidy. Notice the lack of real consequence in the outcome part of this sentence. Often it’s simply not urgent that the job be done now. However, some jobs can have serious consequences if you don’t take them on. In that case try:

I must do this job during my creative time or ………

Example: I must do this job during my creative time or it will have to be done some other time.

Okay, there will be times when there are deadlines that really do have to be met. But in almost all cases where a job becomes that urgent, it’s because you’ve not taken the opportunities to plan and do it at other times other than your creative slots. And the reason we don’t take those opportunities is usually because we can’t be bothered or don’t get round to it.

But the clear message here is that when we don’t organise and utilize our time it’s usually our artistic and creative output that takes the hit.

Let’s try a different tack.

I can’t find any creative time today/this week because ………

Examples:

• nothing whatsoever can be re-arranged or better organised.
• absolutely everything else is actually more important to me than my artwork/music etc.
• (fill in the blanks) ……… and ……… are more important than my creativity *note - most people, myself included, have other things at the very top of their priority list, and that’s fine - but should they really be pushing it off the page?
• I choose to make ……… and ……… more important than my creativity

If you’ve completed these questions, even in your head, you should now be getting some idea of activities that you’ve been falsely prioritising above your creative time. It can be a real wake-up call to write these down and think about the effect it’s having on you and on what is probably one of the most fulfilling parts of your life.

So take some time to recognise the false priorities that are eating up your day and move them down that list. Then take a seat and figure out how to do things differently.

Make sure your creativity gets the priority it deserves.

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Falling off the Horse
Time Theft 1 - the Anatomy of a Crime Against Our Creative Self