If you identify as creative, it’s part of who you are to want to do so many different things, try every art style that you come across, experiment with every existing medium, and jump around to be everywhere and do everything. Our creative mind is an idea-making machine. And that leads to confusion, distraction, and the inability to differentiate good ideas from scraps of thoughts and trashy thinking patterns. So how do we go against our nature and get our creative brains to focus better?
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Why is it bad to lack focus as a creator?
Let me reassure you that it is brilliant to have the desire to explore and try everything; it’s the amazing excitement and curiosity that go hand in hand with being creative. No one can convince you that creating the same thing over and over is the right thing to do until you decide that it is what you genuinely want to do.
However, shifting attention all day comes at a huge cost. In work done by Dr. Gloria Mark for her book Attention Span, research shows that it takes about 25 minutes to regain focus after an interruption. It also shows that switching triggers negative emotions such as anxiety, stress, fatigue, burnout, and a decline in creativity.
Confusion in your mind eventually reflects on what you create, how you show it, and where you show it. I am in particular speaking to the artists who want to build an audience and a strong online and offline presence in the art scene. You can create whatever your heart desires; you can experiment as much as you want; you can try every medium out there; but your audience doesn’t need to know about it all. A picture of your dog and the fact that you like cooking will not keep the people who followed you for your art interested, nor will it show them your wide range of talents. In fact, these people care less about you and more about themselves and the value you add to their interests. That sun hat that your boyfriend’s father bought for you from Italy in 2012 only has emotional value to you and to your boyfriend’s father. Well, maybe to your boyfriend as well, but not to every stranger who followed you for your art.
It is up to you to choose what you want to showcase, but money follows attention, and attention follows value. Are you educating, entertaining, and inspiring your audience? If not, do you have previously built trust for your content to convert to sales? If you can’t identify what your creative content is doing, then you lack focus, and you need to figure it out asap.
How do you bring your creative brain back into focus?
Maybe rethink how many hours you interact with your screens daily
Let me tell you something: I too thought that spending all day working was productive. For humans, focusing for lengthy periods of time, especially without breaks, is not natural. Let alone in a seated position in front of a screen. Constant attention switching (from app to app and from tab to tab) consumes our very limited cognitive capacities—the cognitive energy that we should store for our creative projects.
Learn more about your peak focus time
You’ve certainly heard some people say that they focus the most in the morning and others at night. In both cases, make sure you match your creative projects to your peak focus time. That way, you make sure that you’re not spending your best time of the day mindlessly scrolling or doing tasks that don’t even need as much focus.
Schedule tasks, and Take breaks
For a creative mind, it’s not always work and productivity. You need breaks just as much as you need creative practice. A break doesn’t include scrolling on social media, as it consumes a cognitive tank just like work. You choose what suits you best. I love walks, and for someone else who would rather do something fun, crossword puzzles, gardening, and cleaning are great activities that allow your mind to stay alert while great ideas incubate in the background.
Prioritize the goal of your art
Why do you create art? As a matter of fact, and to share your visions with the world. Great! Now that you have shared your art with others, do you want them to buy it? Do you want to attract more people to see it and keep them interested?
Let me say it louder for the people in the back: artists do not create for money, but they need to make a living to keep going! They need to see that the art they create is engaging for them to have the will and motivation to continue creating.
Give yourself the time you need in every trial
I support the experimental way of living! I know that thrill, and I live for it. But if you are going on Etsy for a month, on TikTok for a week, and posting on YouTube once a year, nothing is going to work for you. Every trial we start will take months to evolve and take shape. And while your trial is shaping itself, your persona, tastes, and preferences as a creative will be shaping you to become the version required to thrive in this quest. So, next time you’re thinking of giving up on something because it didn’t work in the first two weeks, recall that you gave up on a meant-to-be personal growth project.
Do only what feels right TO YOU
Never do something because your parents, siblings, family members, or friends think it’s right. You have an inner voice that was instilled in you for a reason. For better or for worse, even if your intuition leads you down a closed path, know that the road was worth it and that you will eventually harvest what you planted on that journey.
Take a moment to fantasize about the life of your dreams
What are you doing in that life you fantasize about? Who is with you? What do you spend your time doing? What are you creating, and how is it affecting the world around you? You are not entitled to remain the person you have always been. You are the main character in your story, and the people you try to please and work so hard to not disappoint are the main characters in their own stories. Do not give your life where it’s not needed.
Stay laser-focused on that dream life of yours
Everything around us is just a disturbance. Once you have identified what your ideal life, creative process, persona, and everything else looks like, it’s time to reverse engineer it. Start working and figuring out how you can achieve that. Have fun, explore, and experiment, but do not digress from your purpose.
Conclusion
Creative brains are a wonderful blessing, we were given the potential and the puzzle to reach it. Don’t let your brain become the bane of your life and as always, enjoy creating <3
