Sage Bray Varon

Most forms of creativity have an adage that equates to “practice your craft every day.” Sounds like pretty good basic advice but why? What do you get out of practicing every day and why is it of such paramount importance?

 

Every Day Things

What are the general categories of things you do every day? You eat, sleep, take care of your hygiene and health, spend time with the family, take care of the home, etc. We do these things because to not do them means to live a diminished life in some way.

If you are not creating every day, is your life not similarly diminished?

It’s strange that we will set aside our creative time and our creative work for far more banal activities. And yet, we may go so far as to define ourselves by our creative endeavors. Do you think of yourself, or call yourself, an artist, a writer, or some other creative title? If you define yourself in such a way, why is it not a priority? Why do you live a diminished day by not including that definitive part of yourself?

This starts to answer the basic question — What does an everyday practice do for you?

• An everyday practice keeps you in touch with that part of you that is so important that you, in some way, define yourself by it.
• An everyday practice puts to work your unconscious mind so that even when you’re not creating, the practice keeps your mind alert for inspiration and works on problems or ideas behind the scenes for you.
• An everyday practice exercises a muscle that, if not used, will atrophy or rust, making it infinitely harder to approach the work when you do get to it.
• An everyday practice reminds you of who you are and what you can do.
• And every day practice feeds your creative spirit and, ultimately, makes your life more fulfilling.

 

 

It’s Just PRACTICE

Putting in time on your creative work every day doesn’t mean finishing a piece, writing a story, or learning to play a new song. In the same way that an athlete will hit the gym every day even if they don’t play their game or run a race, putting some time into just practicing your creative work will keep your skills and creativity limber and strong.

Few of us are able to, or allow ourselves to, set aside big chunks of each day to do our creative work. Your daily practice doesn’t require that kind of time though, making it easy to work into your every day routine.

Spend 2 minutes every day doing your thing.

You really can set this amount of time for whatever works for you but I find 2 minutes pretty ideal. 2 minutes is too small to say no to and yet it’s long enough to get the creative mind rolling.

All you need to do is commit to that tiny bit of time and then if you’re still going at the end of two minutes, don’t stop yourself. Go for two minutes more or for as long as you can.

Do something quick and easy.

For visual artists, this may mean sketching or writing out ideas for new or existing work. You can also set aside something that you just hack away at for your practice, like a small canvas you can do anything to or a lump of clay you just mess around with.

For writers, it could be free writing, outlining, writing up a conversation with a character, or just writing about how you’re not writing. It doesn’t matter. As long as you’re actually writing.

For performing artists, move, play, sing, or act in a comfortable space, probably alone or wherever you can perform unselfconsciously.

Practice the same time every day.

Pick a time to practice and make it part of your daily routine. My preferred practice time is in the morning. Before I even get out of bed, I write. I used to keep a notebook next to the bed but now it’s both a notebook and an iPad so I can switch it up. The important thing for me is being in that foggy mental state where you’re not quite awake yet. It is the perfect time for creative practice.

I’ve been doing some version of this morning routine most of my adult life. I will admit that it was harder when the kids were in the house and because I am so not a morning person but it was harder to get into my creative stuff later in the day because I hadn’t started with it.

So, ask yourself… Can you spare two minutes before you even get out of bed? Or, if you do performing arts before you get out of the bedroom?

Even if morning is not possible, pick a time and stick to it. Tell the family or whoever is in the house that at this time on these days, you will be having a little creative me time. Not only will it help you follow through because you will be accountable to those you told about your creative schedule, you will have increased the importance of your creativity in everyone else’s eyes. Including your own!

Do Not Judge/Do Not Show

One other thing I would recommend about your everyday practice—don’t plan on having it see the light of day.

Remember, you’re just exercising a muscle and trying out some new moves. If you’re hoping the work done in practice will result in a masterpiece, you are putting too much pressure on the practice and are likely to strangle your creativity.

Hoping for usable content from your creative practice sessions also makes room for that little judge who sits on your shoulder and tells you that you are crap or the work you do is lame. Judgment has no place in practice sessions. It only gets in the way of you unleashing your raw creativity.

This is not to say that what you do in practice won’t inform or create the cornerstone for some major piece. That does happen quite a bit but it can’t be about that. If you walk into your practice assuming this is going to be throw away stuff, then you won’t be disappointed and you are more likely to work in an open and highly creative manner.

 

Does Every Day Literally Mean Every Day?

This is not for me to say. For some people, it may just mean Monday through Friday or six out of seven days or the days they’re not on vacation. It’s okay if it’s literally not seven days a week. But it should be close.

For me, it means every single day, rain or shine, workday or weekends, sick or well. I was in the hospital overnight this past week and I did my daily quota of writing that evening as well as my morning practice, even though I felt like crap from the emergency surgery I had. Why? Well, because I could, and because it’s who I am. I also think back to the times when I didn’t do a daily practice. I was not nearly as happy then.

Now, if you have time set aside to work on actual finished pieces works in progress, you should be able to skip the daily practice, right? You could. I wouldn’t. Your daily practice is a routine. Do you brush your teeth on the day you go to the dentist for your teeth cleaning? Well, maybe some people don’t but most people do… Because it’s a routine so ingrained in them that they can’t not do it.

Wouldn’t you love that to be the case for your creative work as well?

 

It’s really a wonderful thing, a truly fulfilling feeling, to create every day. If it is not something you already do, or you let it slide sometimes, consider a new dedication to your creative self. Two minutes or 10 minutes, it doesn’t matter. Allow yourself the time and space, every day, to feed your creative side.