How to Make Time to Make Art

How to Make Time to Make Art while Juggling with a Busy Schedule

I want to make art but I don't have the time to do it! Have you said this before? You're not the only one. I did too. How do you juggle being busy and being creative at the same time?

As a Creative working from home, I have to juggle my time wisely between working on different passion projects, gym, make time to make art, housework and spending quality time with my family; these are my daily priorities. When I first quit my full-time job to pursue my passion, it was not easy to learn how to manage my time independently without someone to supervise job assignments & deadlines. I was swarmed with busy administrative work, meetings and not much on making time for art as compared to before I quit my full-time job. I still managed to fit in time, but I felt it wasn't enough. I also learned that being 'busy' doesn't mean that we are 'moving forward'. It took me some time to develop target habits, but eventually I learned how to prioritize my life goals and focus on the big picture when meeting my daily tasks. In the process of learning how to prioritize my life goals, here's what I discovered:​

1. Goals

Small, medium or big goals. I made a list of small goals which are daily goals to achieve my big goals which is what I want to achieve in a big picture. I work backwards by asking myself everyday, "what small goals can I do today that can get me to my big goals?" I should also mention that to meet your daily (small) goals, you need to have a healthy mindset to make sure that it is your main focus everyday. Without it, you wont be able to see the purpose behind it and most likely will end up procrastinating.

2. Time Blocking

When I discovered the power of time blocking, I was mind-blown because it helped me with finding time to make art incredibly and allowed me to stay creative everyday. We were taught to give ourselves a daily schedule and multi task with a bunch of to do list, except that with a bunch of things to do, sometimes it snowballs which leads to burn out. Time blocking allow us to give ourselves the permission to focus on one important task a day. You spend a couple of hours focusing on perfecting that one task, with zero distraction. Once you are done, you can choose to reward yourself or move on to the next task. Google Time Blocking to find out more.​

3. Distractions

In the process of practicing time blocking to meet my daily goals, I have included eliminating energy or time sucking distractions. For example, spending too long on the phone or on social media getting sucked into negative dramas, or aimless web surfing. All that should only be done (well, except allowing ourselves to be sucked in to negativity) when important tasks are completed during time blocking.​

4. Re-Evaluation

Finally, the biggest lesson that I have learned is re-evaluating what I spend my time on as it helps with more than just productivity and creativity. It helps with being conscious with the time that you spend on what you want to spend to get the most out of everyday without feeling as if you didn't do enough.

What's the one thing that sucks the most out of your time? Perhaps, start with this question and then you are able to work backwards on how you can achieve your creative goals and how you can make time to make art everyday. 

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The Artsy Craftsy by Shia Lynn documents her journey on exploring life through art, crafts, creativity and creative mindful living. She also covers mainly creative arts and handmade community related stories. We welcome content collaboration with creatives, creative lifestyle event invites, including sponsored content and brand partnerships. Request for our rate card or speak to us about our creative service. Email theartsycraftsy@gmail.com