MY PRODUCTIVITY HACKS, PART THREE: WAKE UP TO SOMETHING YOU LOVE by Max Jason Peterson

Snow Kitty by Max Jason Peterson

Earlier works in this series:

Part One: Multiple WIPs

Part Two: These Are Our Tools 

Wake Up to Something You Love

If the thought of getting out of bed is a chore, the rest of the day often drags, too. Everything you have to do feels harder when you're thwarted by not having enough time to do something you love. 

I'm speaking, for my part, of creative work, but this could apply to many different activities.

I’ve recently returned to something I tried years before: getting up before I have to go to work. This is a true challenge, since I’m a night owl with a morning lark's work schedule. When I’ve tried to do it in the past, my resolution didn't last long, since it was hard to motivate myself to crawl out of bed early just to do some really hard work writing and editing on my computer with an aim to churn out as many words or pages as I could. 

Yet there have been two times when this strategy did work for me, and I honestly enjoyed it. The first occurred a few years ago, while I was drafting a fantasy novel. I'd wake up but still lie comfortably in bed, writing with colorful pens in a rainbow-edged journal (my favorite way to write being by hand, especially with fun materials). 

The other time is now: pure joy, to get up before work just to draw, because I love it.

I’ve really missed my art; I'd been away from it for too long, and it's thrilling to watch my skills return. But these mornings aren’t about making up for lost time. And yes, I do have paying art assignments, but these are just pieces I'm making for the love of it. 

Having gotten out of bed because I want to, I find my mind clear, my heart relaxed as I pick up the pencil. It's fun, not a chore. Not something I'm making myself do. Every morning I give myself the choice: sleep in? Draw? I try to sleep in. I end up drawing.

And it brightens my whole day.

Try it! Get up just a little bit early to do something creative that you love, in a way that is all about you and your enjoyment of the process. It may contribute to an overall goal (my drawings will be published online eventually), but the point isn’t the progress, it’s the process. It’s a way to say yes to a deeply held dream. To get in touch with your soul while you’re still so close to your unconscious, and not yet bowed down by the pressures of the day.

Often by the end of a long day at work, I’m too tired to create—because making things from the heart requires so much mental and emotional energy. Even if I had the will to do it, I might knuckle under the stress that accumulates with all I have yet to do, with not enough time to do it. I may feel I don’t have time to play. If I engage with my creative life, it has to be solely for professional work. And in order to justify taking time to do it, I need to work hard and make it count.

This is no fun. It's a quick way to burn out. Believe me, I've been there.

When I wake up and choose to climb out of bed, I feel joy as I rise to meet my art. Obviously that pleasure, doing something I love, is both the benefit and the motivation. But I think it runs deeper than that. I'm making time for my dream first. And that’s important. 

Not only is the mind clearer, the energy fresher before you begin your daily routines, but you'll also be showing yourself that you do take your dreams seriously—that you value yourself enough to make this thing you love a priority.

Maybe the amount of time you have is small—fifteen or twenty minutes. Maybe it’s closer to an hour. Either way, just putting in the time reinforces the sense of commitment. 

Meanwhile, you'll also improve your skills and your connection to your art. Even if you find that you have to keep erasing your subject’s face (or crossing out lines of a poem), the longer you spend looking at the picture you’re drawing, the more deeply you’ll see it, and the closer you’ll be to getting it to look the way you want. 

Incremental progress only looks slow on the surface. Turn off the part of your brain that counts up what you've done and searches for an end in sight. Focus on the process, the fact that this is what you want to be doing day by day. Slowly but surely, you’re getting there. One morning you’ll find you’ve completed a striking drawing or a sonnet full of insight. And it doesn’t feel like an insurmountable effort. You were just having fun, giving yourself a moment of joy by spending time doing something you love.

MY PRODUCTIVITY HACKS, PART ONE: MULTIPLE WIPS by Max Jason Peterson

Photo by Max Jason Peterson

I’ll just say it: I love having multiple works in progress (WIPs). I’m aware that my method of creating works of art (written or visual) doesn’t appeal to everyone. But for me, working on multiple projects helps me make steady progress, continue to advance my artistic skills, and enjoy the pleasure and challenge of my own creativity, without getting stuck as often as I might otherwise. It also helps smooth out some of the ups and downs in productivity I have experienced when concentrating on only one project.

Although I have lots of projects planned, I typically tend to focus on two to four that I give top priority as far as what I’ll finish first. This isn’t set in stone; I do often work on other things in between, particularly shorter works. I’m also creating both writing and art projects, which are quite different skills, so I try to work both into any given week. With art, I typically focus on illustrating one chapter at a time, so I might be painting one piece or as many as six, but all are usually part of the same theme or storyline.

To start out, don’t worry if you only have one WIP. More ideas will come as you work. Once I started collecting ideas for stories, poems, and artworks, I found myself gathering more and more—probably far too many to complete in one lifetime. This is a good thing, though. It gives me the freedom to choose to work on the things I find most compelling or relevant for me in that moment. This is important, because enthusiasm can help carry a creator through the hard parts—and there are many.

Likewise, since my projects tend to be long (novels or highly detailed paintings), my completion rate is better if I have more ideas to choose from; the ones that excite me most are likelier to sustain my interest for the long haul. This is especially important for projects that carry a greater degree of difficulty—whether that be a heavier emotional burden, a lot of research, or learning new skills. Finally, by picking the projects that inspire me the most, I hope that the ideas that rise to the top will also be those of most interest to readers, and that my energy will translate into a more memorable experience.

Given my time constraints, I can’t wait for “inspiration to strike.” Instead, I line up projects that I know will inspire me enough that I want to work on them. If a particular project isn’t speaking to me that day—especially if the thought of it makes me feel too tired to write or make art—I consider whether it’s time to switch, depending on the reasons. Sometimes it is important to just power through: like when I’ve reached part of the narrative that’s emotionally challenging or requires me to push my abilities to the limit. But it might be time to switch if I need to wait to approach the material when I have more energy or information. Maybe I need time to collect reference shots, do research, or brainstorm for better story solutions.

While these are definitely part of the creative process and not a reason to grind to a halt, switching over for a day or two until you have time or energy to complete them can help you keep your creativity flowing and help you avoid feeling stuck. I’m not saying that one must create every day: but the more times when you want to create, and are able to do so, the more confidence you’ll have that you can create when you want to. And this definitely helps when you’re facing the blank page or a challenging part of your work.

Having the option to switch really does help me cut down on artistic blocks or exhaustion. After writing an emotionally draining chapter for one novel, I might need to focus on something lighter for a while to recharge and reawaken my sense of fun. Plus, taking a break between sections of a novel to write a poem, polish a short story, or make a small watercolor sketch can be refreshing. Completing things successfully boosts my confidence and satisfies my urge to make beautiful things. This translates into greater energy when tackling new skills or longer projects. “A change is as good as a rest” for me, creatively speaking.  

Generally, I do try to work in my projects in blocks whenever possible. Though I always have something going on with both art and writing, my aim with each is to finish a certain goal before moving to another project. (With art, the goal might be illustrating a chapter, which can include multiple pieces, but they’re related.) So I try to keep going on the project I switched to until I reach a goalpost, such as to edit a chapter or write a certain amount of rough draft. I set these goals myself before starting. It’s important to pick achievable goals, because you are training yourself to succeed.

Though I believe in the power of multiple WIPs, it’s important to not simply bounce between projects without finishing your goals. Switching too often—especially if you’re doing it to avoid hard work—can prevent you from sinking in deeply enough to make real progress. Pick a project and commit to it. (If you need to switch a few times at the beginning because whichever project you selected just isn’t working for you right now, that’s fine. Just be sure to settle in with the one you finally pick.) There’s another good reason for this: each time I switch, I need to refresh my memory on all the details about plotlines, characters, facts, and what I’ve already covered. So switching too frequently is inefficient, due to this startup time, especially with longer projects that have more to reload.

However, when the time comes to switch, the change is helpful not just to my mental state, but to the quality of the project. It gives me the chance to approach the work afresh. Rereading notes and previous sections to pick up the story threads often generates new insights and better story solutions. And, as an added benefit, it’s generally helpful to get some distance from a draft before editing it; switching projects gives you the time to come back with fresh eyes.

I find it helpful to create a lineup of which projects I’m concentrating on to finish first, and the order I’m working on them. This way I always know which WIP to work on next, and often this helps me dive in without spinning my wheels so much. And because I’m expecting it, by the time I switch, I’ve often collected additional ideas for the next project that provide momentum as I plunge back in. (Note: When ideas come to me for any project, I do stop to write them down. It’s frustrating to forget them, and this also helps me get started when I return.)

All this being said, sometimes one needs to take a break from creating altogether. This, too, is part of the creative process—letting yourself have downtime to enjoy life, relax, immerse yourself in your favorite media, appreciate nature, or take comfort in loved ones. Be kind to yourself.

And enjoy your creativity!

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For more information about Max Jason Peterson (they/them), visit maxjasonpeterson.wordpress.com or the Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram links through gardnercastle.com. Here’s a recent interview as Adele, but the author goes by Max in daily life.