One may be a real case of the Resistance — your own laziness, outside distractions, or some other negative force keeping you from making a difference. If that’s the case, then you only have one choice: show up, do the work.
However, if you’re feeling empty, be careful. You could waste hours sitting in front of a computer screen or with a guitar on your lap. If this is the case, you may need to step away and go do something that fills you up — play with your kids, listen to music, go for a run.
But don’t be fooled; Resistance is still waiting to snatch you up at the earliest possible moment.
Once you’re full again, get right back at it. Start creating and continue working through the Resistance.
What do you do when you’re feeling uninspired? And how do you tell the difference between feeling blocked and being empty?
I can’t help but be reminded of the two main practices put forth in The Artist’s Way: The Morning Pages and The Artist’s Dates. The former is more about sending signals (to yourself, ultimately) and the latter is about refilling the well, restocking the pond. (The Morning Pages do a lot to get the junk out of your system so you can focus on being creative the rest of the day.) The Artist Dates leave you feeling energized.
In my experience, the artist dates are best done as something silly or childishly fun. Go buy a grape NeHi, a comic book, and sit under a tree reading on a sunny afternoon. Or spend lunch break doing nothing on a hill overlooking a pond, just enjoying the sunshine and decompressing naturally. It’s all about reconnecting with that playful inner artist-child we all have.
It’s little wonder that the creatives at ad agencies tend to have little toys all around their desk. (I once had a coworker with quite a collection of Homies.)
It’s important to take the time to nourish your creativity.
I recently discovered that an old friend is writing a novel and blogging about it. I don’t know what his novel is about just yet, but I’m excited for him! Too many people put off writing their novel or whatever other ambitious creative project they have.
Today he approached the blank textarea of his blog with nothing in mind to write about, and apparently nothing really came to him. Yet he hit publish anyway. He shipped. Like 37Signals says in their book ReWork, “It’s better to ship a kick-ass half than a half-assed whole.”
A few months ago my friend Patrick Rhone posted Not Writing.” It’s a riff on pretty much the same thing. It may not be great writing, but you’re putting something down instead of waiting around for inspiration to strike. Luck — inspiration, in our case — favors the prepared: you prepare for inspiration by jotting stuff down. In short, embrace quantity over quality. The quality comes on its own. You’ve just gotta show the Muse you’re ready for it by working hard on your craft all the time. It’s why an artist doodles aimlessly, a musician strums random chords and makes up vulgar nonsense lyrics, and a writer jots down drivel. Because eventually, out of that comes something beautiful.
With all his talent, even Paul McCartney can get stuck. In Paintings, he shares a fun, creative little strategy he has devised for dealing with stuckness. Read the rest of this entry »
As you can tell from what I’ve written elsewhere, I’ve come to the conclusion that “productivity” is not the point. And being organized is not the point, either, although it can be tremendously helpful in a number of ways (that we’re not going to delve into today).
The point is whether you are making anything at all. You can plan and plan and plan all day long and have little to show for it, except for a bunch of plans. I’m reminded of the Beatles song “Nowhere Man,” which is about this indecisive head-in-the-sand guy who makes “all his nowhere plans for nobody.” In fact, “isn’t he a bit like you and me?” Read the rest of this entry »
When you’re creating things, you can’t rely on inspiration alone, only painting, writing, sculpting, whatever, when the mood strikes. You have to show up on a regular basis, day in and day out. Creative efforts require a lot of commitment and professionalism. When you do this, you will be “favored by the Muse(s),” if you follow a more mystical viewpoint a la Stephen Pressfield or Julia Cameron. I like how Chuck Close puts it:
“I always say that inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work.”
In an interview with NPR, Chuck Close talks about how his modular marks (I think of them as hot dogs) wind up becoming massive nine-foot self-portraits just through hard work and dedication.
Put this practice into action by setting specific times to work, then stick to it. It doesn’t necessarily have to be 8:00 am to 5:00 PM, but it does need to be consistent and regular. (I know one artist who goes to bed at 8 or 9 PM and gets up at 3 AM to paint, and he does some pretty amazing stuff.) Personally, I try to set aside Tuesday evenings and Saturday afternoons to paint, since that’s what works best with my schedule.
Morning Pages are another form of showing up. (In fact, I think Julia Cameron uses the phrase “showing up at the page” in her book The Artist’s Way.) You show up and you write, dumping out everything that’s in your mind and on your chest, stream-of-conscious style. Showing up like this also gives you the benefit of figuring out what you really need to be doing.
So if you really want to bust creative block and “turn professional,” you have to show up on a regular basis.
When you’re creating things, you can’t rely on inspiration alone, only painting, writing, sculpting, whatever, when the mood strikes. You have to show up on a regular basis, day in and day out. Creative efforts require a lot of commitment and professionalism. When you do this, you will be “favored by the Muse(s),” if you follow a more mystical viewpoint a la Stephen Pressfield or Julia Cameron. I like how Chuck Close puts it: