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I’ve been doing this 100 Day Project for a little over a month now, and it’s been easier and harder than I thought it would be.
I picked a thing — hand lettering — that I knew I needed to practice, but that I hoped wouldn’t take a huge amount of time every day.
I do sometimes wish I took more time to do it, and sometimes I feel like I’m rushing through because it’s just another thing on my list to do each day.
But at the same time I do look forward to it and I feel bad on the days I don’t get to it.
In the beginning I was just trying to cram it in, like any other to-do, but having this practice reminded me of something important about how to make creativity a priority.
You have to make time for it.
Scheduling Creativity
I know it doesn’t sound that spontaneous or fun to schedule time to be creative. You might even think that creativity doesn’t work like that, you can’t just be creative because it’s time.
Well, yes, you can, but that’s maybe a topic for another post.
The reason you need to schedule in the time is because otherwise you will find all kinds of excuses for not doing it.
In the beginning of this 100 day process, I had doing the work on my mental list daily, but I didn’t write it down, and I didn’t have a specific time to do it.
So I’d end up remembering right before it was time to go get the girl from school that I needed to do something, and I would rush through and feel resentful about it.
A Better Way
I decided that a better approach to help make creativity a priority would be to have it happen at the same time every day (during the week, anyway; I give myself some slack if I don’t get it done on the weekends and will tack on extra days at the end to get to 100).
For me, the best time I could come up with to do my hand lettering project was right after lunch.
I’m at my desk anyway, which is where I keep my supplies.
It’s a good way to transition from lunch time back to work time.
And it ensures that it gets done every day because I have lunch every day.
Setting Your Schedule to Make Creativity a Priority
The key to establishing a new habit is to make it a part of your schedule that’s triggered by something else happening. My morning routine, for example, is full of habits that go together: running errands on the way home from taking the girl to school, cleaning up and doing chores, then working out, then a shower and so on.
The way its set up means I don’t really have to think about it because I do the same things every day. Just like when we get ready in the morning we do certain things in a certain order.
I pegged my hand lettering project to lunch because it’s fun to get a little creativity in the afternoon, and as you can see my morning is already pretty full.
But it could be anything for you. Maybe you can sneak in a little creative work while your kid is in the shower, during homework time or right after dinner (the dishes can wait, I promise).
If your family members see you that you make creativity a priority, so much the better. They might even join in.
How can you use your schedule to establish a daily practice? Or do you already do this? I’d love to hear your thoughts!