This month we are looking at the different ways we can invest in our creativity in meaningful ways at all levels of our creative journey. Today, we are discussing investing our time in our creative practice. Now, your practice might be twice a month on Tuesdays or every single day, regardless, we invest our time in the things we value in our lives, the things we want to prioritize. So, how do we invest time into our creativity?
Time is one of those resources that is finite in every way we can understand it. Our lives run out, our days are limited, our nights fly by. We spend most of our time at work, with our families, and then steal little pockets of it for our friends. So where does our creativity fit into this time sensitive puzzle that is our daily lives?
As humans, time exists in many forms. There are frequency, duration, hours in a day, days in a week, weeks in a month, months in a year. Let’s break them down so you can determine which time keeping strategy works best for you to ensure creativity gets a slice of time in your day.
Frequency - The number of times you do the thing. This could look like the number of creative sessions in a week, a specific time of day you set aside as the start of your creativity, or how many days you practice per week or per month.
Duration - The length of a creative session. Does it last minutes, hours, is there a range or a strict time limit?
Hours in a Day - A specific start time, number of hours a day, a week, or a month dedicated to your creative calling.
Days in a Week - This could go back to the frequency question of how many days a week will you practice, or it could veer into the land of scheduling where you choose odd or even days, Monday - Wednesday - Friday, or weekends only to give to you creative practice.
Weeks in a Month - This may look like taking a long weekend for a creative getaway, or a week at a convention.
Months in a Year - Like the famous NaNoWriMo, you could deviate a season or a month or two or three to really dig deep into your creativity, and then take months away to replenish, get inspired and collect ideas for your next big push.
However you choose to invest your time, make sure it works for you, even if it’s in snatches as your child takes a nap, or a few precious hours after dinner when your partner can take over child duty. Even if you only have snatches of five to ten minutes in which to create, take the time to give your creativity and yourself the peace and joy of making. Creativity is a form of self care. Investing the time is a lesson in your home to your partner, your family, your children, that time is a precious and finite resource; we should use it to do things we need to, yes, but also things we love, with others, and sometimes, alone.
By investing time into our crreativity we give it priority in our lives. We prioritize our families, friends, careers, homes, connections, relationships. We should also come to prioritize our creativity becuase it allows us to grow in the most beautiful and unexpected ways.
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