Artist’s Life: How to Find Time and Energy for Art

Aug 12, 2017
2 min read

Time and Energy finding concept will probably occupy quite a lot of my blog and my other writings. To visualize this Time and Energy issue, there was a funny conversation between myself and a friend. After looking at my recent work he asked “Don’t you just want to go home and go to sleep?” Since I have a full time job, my friend was referring to being pretty much wiped out already.

Yes, No, Yes, No… sure I want to sleep, rest, and even just not care. But I can’t. There is a part of me that continuously whispers to try this one thing. So, I try to try this one more thing and over the years I started to be better in organizing and finding time. Basically, it means that I either minimalize, put tasks in piles for later, or eliminate certain pastimes to make room for practicing or reading about art.

I also use the internet to see how others deal with the same problem. So, I decided that the best way to change habits and in our case become more regimental about practicing art is to try the Japanese Kaizen Method. It is simple and effective for anyone who wants to change their habits and to add a new routine. For first few weeks or even months practice for 5 minutes daily. Originally Kaizen advises to practice for just a minute but with art, a minute passes when you take your pencils and paper out. So, does 5 to 10 minutes sound more reasonable? When one is used to practicing for a short time and may not be threatened by added burden, a person may lengthen the activity due to sheer pleasure. That is what happened to me over time when actually stopping becomes a burden.

Try to consider this approach just for any change. Compare how other people deal with adding new routines and most importantly, stay optimistic and don’t allow your little troll change your mind on what’s important.