We are on day three of writing a blog post every day, and I’m on #66 of drawing a sketch-a-day. Trying to form creative habits is not new to me. I have attempted to animate every day, vlog daily, create a comic every day, and other failed attempts that have been quickly forgotten.
What has changed to allow me to stay on task when it comes to sketch-a-day?
I’ve listed five things that have helped me in being consistent.
- Having Low Expectations
- Connecting with Other Daily Tasks
- Seeing Every Day is a New Start
- Having Easy Access to Tools
- Plan for Short-Term
1 – Low Expectations
The daily sketches have been relatively easy to do because I can finish one and have it posted in under 5 minutes. I have taken up to an hour working on a sketch, but I mostly stick to a quick drawing.
A daily blog post, however, takes an hour on average to write and post. This doesn’t include editing or formatting. The results are blog posts full of errors, misspellings, and grammar mistakes.
I do plan on editing them when I have a few hours this weekend.
The point is that I to get any of these daily creative tasks completed, I need to give up on the idea of perfection. Perfection is for procrastinators and counter productive to point of creating daily.
2 – Connect with Other Daily Tasks
It is surprising how easy it is to forget to do my daily blog post and sketch. You would think if I have to do it daily I would never forget, but days often fly by. I’ve even woken up to realize I had missed two days (usually the weekend) of doing my daily tasks.
What I’ve found helpful to get over this is to link the activities to something I already do daily without a choice.
I use dinner time as my other daily tasks. I know I will eat dinner daily, so when I get ready to eat, I now remember I need to do my writing and sketching.
I do both after my kids go down for bed, which is right after dinner.
3 – Everyday is a New Start
If you do miss a few days, don’t worry about it. Just keep going and do extra to catch up if you feel the urge.
The goal of doing something daily isn’t really about it being done everyday. The point is to practice consistently and to give yourself permission to experiment.
Instead of focusing on what you have done in the past days or missing a few days, think of everyday as a new start. A start that gives you permission to experiment and an opportunity to explore your creative task/s.
4 – Have Tools Easy to Access.
If you have to set-up tools to get started, it gives you an easy excuse not to start. For example, when I do my sketches I just use whatever is around me and photograph it with my phone.
With blogging, I’ve been learning to use my iPad so that I don’t have to get out my laptop or go to my desktop to get started.
The easier it is to access the tools needed, the easier it is to create daily.
5 – Plan for Short-Term
When starting a new daily creative habit, it is good idea to think short-term over long-term. If you tell yourself you want to write 500 words a day for a year; we have a tendency to give up sooner based on the overwhelming feeling of the goal. If, however, you commit to doing something daily for 30 days, it is much more manageable and less overwhelming.
You can always extend from 30 days to 90 days to a year as you get use to doing your daily creative task.
What Do You Want to Do Daily?
What are you working on that you would like to do daily? Are you doing something daily already? We all would love to hear about it.
Feel free to share your daily projects in the comments below.
