New Creative Content System Check-In

When I finally admitted to creating and following a new plan that would allow me to follow all, if not most of my creative pursuits I knew there would be a learning curve. It isn’t that the setup/concept was difficult, just that starting any new habit takes time, especially when they’re good ones. I anticipated being excited and pumped at the beginning, but also that there would be a definite struggle as well. Knowing that, I planned out check-ins so I could keep myself and my reading community up to date with what’s happening, but also be honest with myself on the changes I’d need to make going forward.

So, how has the first month of this new system gone?

It’s been a mix honestly; the art part of the plan has gone pretty well, but reading has been the harder part ironically. The new challenge is to limit my phone usage more at night since that is my typical reading time. During this year so far it’s been easier and sometimes more relaxing to watch videos on YouTube or read webtoons than it is to pickup a book and commit to just reading. Part of it is getting to bed right before I go to sleep, but generally it’s just pointless phone usage, so really taking a look at that and cutting back is going to be a key aspect to my success.

Overall, the start to doing art again is actually going well. I’ve been working to make more time on weekends to work on pieces. One great method is working on smaller pieces since I do colored pencil, it allows me to create more, build the habit of doing art again, and still have that feeling of completing something. I’ve learned that even a 6 x 8″ piece can still take quite a bit of time to create with colored pencil due to the layers you build before truly even blending. The beginning stages of creating these pieces still continues to stress me out, as well as some of the more challenging/new parts where I’m learning, but that moment I sit at my desk and create has started to be a relaxing part to my weekends.

Beyond reading and doing art, the other segment of my plan at this stage is to slowly work up my blog schedule again. During the period of time where I struggled to be motivated the blog took a hit in terms of how much I posted. Since coming back I’m still on the low quantity side of posts, but I’ve been working on the content schedule, and prepping material to start writing on. It may be a bit before I’m fully back to normal, but for now I’m liking the fact that I’m able to get myself to sit down and actually write.

This is the first check-in, so it’s still about learning what works, and tweaking the system so that I can have success, and not just founder at the slightest of challenges. What are your methods of making time for your hobbies/creative pursuits? Let me know in the comments below!

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