I almost wasn’t going to post anything this week. I’ve been dragging my heels, writing wise, over the past few days because of a whole bunch of life stuff that took up a lot of time. This means I have had little energy to sit down in front of the computer to put anything into type. But when I can’t write the best thing to do is dive into my sketchbook to get the creative juices going, so this morning I joined a couple of friends on zoom for a bit of sketchbook practice.
It’s not always easy being consistent with blogging. I should know. I look back over the past year of this blog and see very large gaps in between posts at times. This is something I am now trying to remedy by sticking to a consistent schedule and making sure that I use whatever time I have to work on the three elements that need to come together to create one post. Because it’s not just about writing the thing. It’s also about presenting the thing.
In today’s digital world, being creative in any form can lead you down a rabbit hole of possibilities when it comes to trying to get your work in front of an audience. With artists like Austin Kleon telling us to ‘Show Your Work!’ and other successful creative types banging on about the importance of getting your stuff out there, regardless of whether or not it’s ‘perfect’ in your eyes it’s hard to know where to start? And how much do you need to show? And which tools do you use to do it? And what is it going to cost?
Productivity gurus are right about one thing: systems do help. Making small adjustments over time does lead to the better results when it comes to making positive changes in your life (thank you James Clear and your Atomic Habits). However, systems are only as good as your willingness to follow them.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the word reset. Reset buttons are quite wonderful. When one has royally stuffed up, or something isn’t working properly, you can simply hit the button and start over with a clean slate. Of course, the downside is that some things can get lost.