Ah, the curse of being an artist: Gifted with the privilege of pursuing our dreams and doing what we love, but forever doomed to dread it and put it off. It’s so cruel it almost sounds mythical. But if you’re an artist, you procrastinate. In the age of quarantine, it can be especially difficult to keep yourself productive, despite the fact that many of us are enjoying more free time than we’ve had in years. Here are six hacks to beat procrastination and start pounding out those projects you’ve only been dreaming about.
Move to a New Space
This is why many of us are finding ourselves less productive in quarantine than we were when we had less time. Staying in the same space for hours reduces your creativity as your brain lacks new stimulation. You may then look to satisfy this shortage by falling prey to the rapid-fire stimulation machines that are social media or YouTube. And just like that - you’ve fallen into the procrastination trap. Move to a new room in the house, or work outside if it’s nice out. This technique tricks your brain into feeling refreshed and ready to start thinking about something new.
However, don’t move from your location until you’re finished working on your current project. If you move to a new location in the middle of your work, it can interrupt your creative flow and you may feel that your ideas haven’t moved with you. Move to your new space when you’re done with your project for the day, and it’s time to focus on other work. But how do you know when you’re done?
If Nothing’s Coming, Stop Forcing It
If you’ve spent an hour trying to write one scene description, find one chord, or pick out one color, chances are you’ve exhausted your mental energy on your project for the day. Sometimes this happens quickly; sometimes you can work for hours before you run out of attention. When you’ve gotten to that point, you’ll feel it. It’s better to recognize it and take a break or move onto a different activity entirely. When you come back, you’ll be more productive and your time will be better spent.
Okay, You Can Force It...But Only to Kick Things Off
That’s not to say that forcing it is always a bad idea. To bring science into this, Newton tells us that an object at rest stays at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. Sometimes you have to be your own outside force, and break the cycle of your procrastination. Sit yourself down and just force yourself to do something - write one line, one melody, one unit of whatever it is you create. If sparks start to fly, great - follow them! If after a few minutes, they don’t - see #2.
Set Goals, Make Plans
This one is obvious. Sometimes projects can seem so daunting that we don’t know where to begin, so we just avoid them. If you make a step-by-step rundown of what needs to be done, it can be a lot of easier to jump in and start tackling.
Do a Mindless Chore
I find running, driving, or cleaning the house to work best. The trick is to give your brain a physical activity that requires some, but only very little, thinking capacity. With your blood flowing and the “basic functions” part of the brain occupied, your higher-level thinking can kick in without distraction. You might find you suddenly have a solution to a problem you’ve been trying to work through for hours.
Allow Yourself to Procrastinate, Just a Bit
With all of this said, there’s actually a lot of evidence that a healthy level of procrastination on creative projects leads to more innovative and thoroughly examined ideas than completing them as soon as possible. So don’t feel you need to push yourself too hard - it’s okay to put things on the back burner if you’re not ready to get cooking right away. Just don’t wait too long, and when you’re ready to dive in, use these tricks to get your art from your head into your audience..