Creative Preparation (Part 2)
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MENTAL:
Cultivating a clear mind is the foundation for mental preparation. If your mind isn’t clear, your message, your work and your motivation won’t be clear. Your message won’t be as focused, unless you deliberately creating an ambivalent piece. If you are producing a piece highlighting a new technique then you need to pay attention to how you present that technique. Determine what your reasons are for choosing that technique. Education? Pleasure? Shock Value? Specific customers? These are just a few of the reasons behind your production session. I just want you establish and maintain as much clarity as you can throughout the process. I also want you to remember that that clarity will need to be refreshed. You will need to take breaks, to plan, set deadlines, write lists, consult with customers, mentors, etc. Planning covers a lot of small decisions. Each decision fits into the equation of creating a high-quality piece. If you discover that you are leaving some of those decisions out, it will show up in the finished product. As you continue to read this article, please give some thought to your strengths and weaknesses in this area. The clearer you are about your skills, the more efficient and creative you can become.
PHYSICAL:
Self-care is the foundation for physical preparation. You know what works for you regarding: meal planning, exercise, sleep and other basic needs. It’s up to you to take care of yourself in these areas. No more starving artists! For example, it’s difficult for me to concentrate when I’m creating my jewelry, if my stomach is empty or I’m thirsty. I need to remember to stop for meals and snacks. I nearly always keep some tea or water nearby, so that I don’t dry out. If I don’t do these basic activities, my productivity goes down and my irritability increases. Not taking breaks is one of my weaknesses, which is why I stress self-care so much. When I don’t take care of myself, I fall into another old pattern of setting myself up for struggle during my creative work. I don’t need to put excess pressure on myself when I’m working, but if I don’t take care of myself while I am creating, guess what happens? It sounds simple but it’s not that easy to change. In every area of preparation, you really need to become more aware of what your responses, basic needs are, what your creative goals are and how they all interact with each other in your creative process. Is self-care a vulnerable area for you?
SPIRITUAL:
Spiritual clarity involves more than having just a clear mind. It also involves having a clear heart, conscience and soul. Each person’s perception and practice is unique. I am going to discuss spiritual paths here, just make sure that you take care of this area. From experience, I can tell you that making changes to achieve clarity here, sometimes takes hard work and extra time. When I’m unclear here, I engage in procrastination, perfectionism and other old habits that I’ve discussed before. For example, when I am learning a new skill, I really have to be cognizant of my tendency, to run away from or rush through the learning process. I don’t like admitting that I’m a beginner all over again. I don’t like feeling the range of feelings I go through when I am in a newlearning situation. I immediately set unrealistic production expectations for myself, setting myself up to fail before I’ve even started to learn the new skill. However, when I’m clear, I can see the roadblocks ahead and plan a detour, such as scheduling shorter learning sessions, etc. I can take time to pray or journal through what I recognize to be some strong fears, before and after my creative session. I can jot some notes down about the same issues, while I’m working so that I can return to them later. When I’m unclear I tend to throw my hands up in despair, declaring “Oh, I can’t create today…”, I can gently guide myself into a place of lower but positive expectation and production. I can follow those sessions up with some extra time to journal and pray through my fears and other issues. When I hit a roadblock, I am often tempted to either give up too easily or create extra challenges for myself. Remember that this is a discipline, a habit, that you can learn, through whatever spiritual work you do. So, even if you spend just a few minutes becoming more clear, before you start producing, it will give you that much more of an edge in your daily sessions. If you don’t, for whatever reason, be prepared to face some discomfort, creative resistance and confusion.
ENVIRONMENTAL:
Before you start your session, it’s important to have everything that you need in place and organized so that you are ready to create. Again, this preparation is unique to each creative person. I find it highly disruptive when in the middle of making a piece, and I discover that I’ve run out of cord or specific type of clasp. I really hate it when my printer runs out of ink, just when I need to print some flyers for an event or a final draft of an article. I’ve allowed both events to happen, one too many times. Experiment and establish a system that works for you. Don’t be afraid to adjust and adapt your system. Don’t be afraid to have tough days either, when no matter how prepared you are, your session just doesn’t go well. One of my mentors reminded me early in my coaching training that I’m not a robot. Sure, I need to produce and meet production goals, but I also need to produce in balance, which means that some days I will be very productive and other days I will not be. Mind you, I am not giving you carte blanche to not create regularly. But, for those of you, who become caught unrealistic production expectations. Just stop. Recognize what you are doing. Take a deep breath and start over. You will finish everything, when you bring some balance back into your creative sessions,but if you continue to work in a robotic way, be prepared to experience some roadblocks.
