One of the alluring aspects of an artistic career is
autonomy. But creative control of your life is a balancing act between desire,
distraction, and discipline.
Desire fuels your efforts. Developing ideas and living creatively everyday feeds your soul and nurtures your heart and mind. Your deep yearning to live everyday different and on your own terms sounds like a dream life and it is. Autonomy produces amazing opportunities but freedom demands a price.
When distraction strikes and threatens to derail your plans, discipline must kick in to combat challenges so you can keep on enjoying the autonomy of a full time writer.
I know discipline is not an artist’s favorite word. But if you can commit to doing even a few things differently it will have a positive impact on your writing results.
Here are 3 ways to implement a dose of discipline into your schedule:
1. Exercise personal initiative and accept responsibility for your schedule. There is no boss. You are the one in charge; the captain perched at the helm with the autonomy to claim your desires or cause yourself despair. You chose this path. You don’t have to. You get to wake up every day to a blank canvas that’s ready to receive your ideas so you can deliver them to the world.
2. Decide the night before what writing project you’re going to tackle and knock it out first thing in the morning, after making the coffee but before you start web surfing. This spawns momentum and sets you up for a productive day.
3. Don’t listen to your right brain when it says we’ll just do a quick email check and touch base on Twitter. Social media is such an idea generator but it’s also a winding road full of detours. Save that journey as a reward after you complete at least one piece of writing.
Autonomy for an artist takes time, patience, and consistency. Try this 3 pronged disciplined approach to help you reach balance between your desire for a creative career and the inevitable distractions that will be thrown in your path.
What aspects of your life do you need to bring into balance in order to achieve autonomy in your artistic career?
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