Creatives, maybe you're like me. Sometimes I fool myself into thinking I have no time to pursue my passions. When I come home from the 9 to 5, the last thing I'm inspired to do is pick up my ukulele or pull out my paintbrush. But I'm working hard to change this mentality. Because my friends, 15 minutes a day, is all you need.
If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you'll find an excuse.
- Unknown
Melissa's 15-day creative challege has motivated me to stop making excuses once and for all. No matter what the endeavor, whether you aspire to write, tap dance, design websites, scrapbook, or bake pies, the rules are simple. For an entire month, take at least 15 minutes each day to work on your craft. Sometimes 15 minutes will be all you can handle depending on your mood or circumstances beyond your control. But more often than you think, those 15 minutes will turn into 30 minutes and then an entire hour will have passed.
The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.
- Michael Altshuler
There's always a reason to not do something, especially with things that are unpleasant, like washing the dishes or cleaning out the fridge. But why do we make excuses for things we want to do? Why do we put off doing the things we love; the very passions we cannot live without? I believe it comes down to fear. Fear of failure, fear of change and possibly even fear of success.
Sometimes, I'll catch my inner voice telling me I deserve to lay on the couch and zone out on the Bachelor because I had a miserable day at work and I have terrible cramps. But who says I can't watch Juan Pablo with a hot water bottle and learn a new song during the commercials? Come to think of it, last week as Hal and I were babysitting our niece, I completed a painting during the final hour of Pulp Fiction. That powerful feeling of accomplishment and productivity made me want to do it again the very next day.
The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon,
but that we wait so long to begin it.
- W.M. Lewis
Waiting until I have large chunks of time to devote to my art, music and writing will get me nowhere. This was my strategy for the past five years, and I have little to show for it. Melissa kept her 15-minutes-a-day experiment going for 12 months, resulting in the most prolific year of her life, creating more art than she had in the previous decade (150 completed pieces). She says that "baby steps, over time, will take you further than you ever imagined."
Let's do it. Are you willing to devote 15 minutes-a-day to your creative pursuits?
