Create: Day 63

Day 63
Turn unproductive activity into time for creativity.

Are you a Solitaire addict? It's one of the few computer vices I do not share. Screenshot, GNU licensed by Maaaks.

If you’ve been following through on the exercises in the previous month’s Create feed, you’ve been tracking the time you spend on a “nonessential” activity.

Here’s an excerpt from Day 51′s post:

I’m wondering what nonessential things you’ve over-spent your time on. Things that aren’t giving you great returns. Such as watching television or reading junk (romance novels, trashy bestsellers) or surfing the net or shopping as recreation. You note I specify not only nonessential, but over-spent and overdone because everyone occasionally needs to kick back for a little True Blood or you tube or handbag gazing…

For the next 12 days, don’t change your overdoing ways, but do keep track of the amount of time spent overdoing.

You should have 12 days of data to work with. If you’ve not yet done this exercise, try it starting today. The information you glean can be sobering, if not startling.

Let’s be kind to ourselves, in our best habithacking way. How many nonessential minutes or hours did you accrue? Cut that number in half and then divide by the number of days you tracked. What you’ll end up with is a quite reasonable and very achievable goal for the amount of time per day that you can now devote to a creative project.

For instance…
If you tracked:           12 hours web surfing
cut in half:                   6 hours
divide by days:          12 days
equals:                       30 minutes

You’ll note that to begin with, you should still allow yourself a significant amount of unproductive time. We’re doing this in small steps. If cutting your goofing-off time in half feels too severe, just subtract a quarter of the time. Be gentle with yourself. You can always adjust later.

It’s also a good idea to use a timer so you also don’t spend too much of your creative time budget every day. It’s better to finish feeling as if you could have gone on longer. If your nonessentials activity feels like a reward to you, schedule it immediately after you’ve finished your creative time.

Create Month 3
What to do so far:
In case you missed a day, the reminders below are clickable.
Turn unproductive activity into time for creativity.

Need a refresher for Create Month 2? Click here.

Need a refresher for Create Month 1? Click here.

Quiz answers

Hope you remembered all the info from Create posts in months 1 and 2. If not, just go back and review.

If you don’t travel widely, you won’t have the chops to be creative. False.
When you’re having a creative block, hold yourself to a higher standard. False.
You need to buy super-great equipment to create your art, so start saving. False.
You are most likely to be creative when you are feeling unhappy. False.
Picasso originated the quote, “The best artists steal.” False.
Science shows that the color red is conducive to proofreading, while blue is best for writing a first draft. True.
Moodling is the term we use for taking ourselves out on an artist date, which helps us fill the well. True.
On the Ides of every month, we do whatever the heck we want. True.
Every Sunday we spend some time creating. True.
Research shows that quickly flicking your eyes from left to right can enhance creativity. True.