Developing and Maintaining Habits as a Creative
I read once that to solidify a habit you have to repeat it about 18 times. Not sure where that number came from, but as a psychology grad, I love mental tips and tricks that help change behavior over time. Habits are routines that have to be practiced and built like muscle-memory. Learning to develop and maintain habits as a creative and artistic person takes time and practice. Routines and schedules are important to stick to when implementing new habits in your daily life.
My habits definitely change over time, some are bad and some are good. At one point I knew I needed a better nightly skincare routine. Once I started, I hated missing it at night. I layered serums and eye creams, and it felt luxurious. It was so simple to incorporate as well. Over the past 10+ years, I’ve done various routines that help reduce my stress, and make me happier and healthier. It also helps me realize my goals and aspirations. If I want a more happy and healthy life, it means I need activities that directly correlate with positive physical and mental health. For instance, crash dieting never works, but making a habit of not eating after a certain hour in the evening eliminates mindless snacking at night. This is a great for weight maintenance and overall health!
When I do not have a routine or schedule in place, I am stressed out and much more anxious! Even when I am on vacation and fairly relaxed, I get to a point where I need stability, like eating dinner at the same time. I need a plan in place even if it’s just a general idea, for instance roughly knowing which meals Jared and I are going to eat in a given week. I don’t meal plan down to the day, just the general week. So I’m flexible if we need to switch a meal if something comes up. Then it’s no big deal since groceries are bought beforehand. My cleaning schedule got way out of balance when I was dealing with morning sickness. I had to let a few things go, but have slowly resumed adding weekly chores and tasks back into my schedule. Once I started implementing my cleaning schedule again, I felt like I had order and balance in life that just cannot exist in a messy environment. A tidy house means a tidy mind for me!
Habits
Habits are one of the best things I can develop in any given season of life. At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, I knew exercise was paramount with the amount of stress and anxiety that everyone was feeling. I was always an avid gym-rat and runner through high school, college and grad school, but after I got married, I made less time for it. That had to change. I made a goal to walk 100 miles in one month in 2020. While this goal was possible and feasible, it took me about two months, but I still did it. The timing was less important, but the achievement was what mattered. Now I race to finish my 100 miles each winter and spring as I start each new year. Then, I continue it throughout the year. This is the best habit I developed during the pandemic! I am in Year 4 from setting this goal and I still keep it up, while pregnant too! I am a little over 50 miles as of this week. More than halfway there! Routine and practice help me keep and maintain habits.
Daily Walking. I enjoy walking daily about 3 to 5 miles, which is not only wonderful for my mental and physical health, but allows me time to think creatively. When I walk outside, I stop and take pictures of flowers and plants. When I use the treadmill, I have my iPad open with video tutorials of becoming a better designer. I find I can type while I walk as well, which helps me get blog posts written, just like this one!
Sleep Hygiene. Sleep is also incredibly important to the creative process. I am sometimes tempted to stay up late into the night while working on my website or new designs, but I pay for it the next day with grogginess and needing a nap. Pregnancy forced me into going to bed early to sleep through the worst of my nausea. I would naturally wake up earlier too. I love it! I do hope to keep this up post-baby since waking up before the baby awakes crying or needing to be fed will help me start the day at peace. Then I can focus on the baby when he/she awakes and give him/her my full attention!
Schedules. I live by schedules. If I put it on my calendar, I am much more likely to follow through. In 2023, I decided I would take any and all webinars, classes, and tutorials that came my way (that were free). I fill my schedule with these to become a better creative entrepreneur and design business owner. I look at each week and month to have a general idea of how much time I have and what I need to accomplish that day or week given my goals. I schedule time for writing pitch emails to prospective art buyers and clients, as well as, writing blog posts. I know I have two weeks left of February, which also means two weeks until spring break when Jared and I will travel to visit both families for the first week of March.
Creative Time. Having scheduled periods to create allows freedom. It gives me an open window of allotted time where I can crank out new ideas and sketch new designs. This is a newer habit I want to practice more. Last Sunday, I needed to get some client work done. I also wanted time to get a few new designs sketched out. Since it was a Sunday, I wanted a day to rest and relax. So I walked a short distance (half a mile) and then set up my computer on my porch with my Wacom tablet to enjoy the day. I just sketched away once I was done with the imperative tasks. I find batching designs is helpful, since I often edit illustrations and complete patterns at a later time. I can lose myself in time when I am wrapped up in new work. This is a nice way for me to relax. I schedule the weekdays for working more on the business side of things, like emailing my portfolio, completing blog posts, or updating my website. This leaves time on the weekends for more creative outlets.
Wearing a Uniform Outfit. With pregnancy, there is a limited option on outfits available since maternity clothes are not overly abundant. I find that I reach for some version of leggings, a tunic, a sweatshirt or a sweater, and sneakers. I throw on a denim jack and/or vest on the cold days in Texas. Steve Jobs wore the same thing everyday to limit paradox of choice and while I did not set out to do this, it is working for me. I know I’ll be comfortable. Since I always wear sneakers, I am ready to go on walks. I definitely want to have a rotation of outfits for the postpartum and newborn haze when I will have no energy to think about my clothing choices.
Meditation. Meditation was so helpful when I was experiencing daily anxiety and panic attacks. When I get overwhelmed out in public, I can easily remove my mind from the stressful sitation and focus on meditation. I find that going to Lowe’s is one of the worst experiences for an anxious person on the verge of a panic attack. There are so many beeping sounds and flashy lights. I’ve used meditation multiple times when trying to check out at Lowe’s and also use it when I just find myself getting anxious in the moment. This definitely takes practice since it requires the ability to know when you are getting anxious or overwhelmed.
Chunking. Chunking is a term used in psychology. It is mental way of condensing a larger amount of information into a smaller chunk that is more easily retained. For example, if you need eggs, milk, cheese, deli meat, and bread at the store, you make take the first letter of each item and continue to say it back to yourself to ensure you do not forget your needed grocery items. Our working memory is extremely limited and cannot hold more than 7 to 9 items without constant repetition, until the information is encoded into our long term memory store. My mind is constantly churning. When I go to bed, I am thinking of things I want to write about or designs I want to make. I find that I will reduce the ideas I have to one summary word and say the list back a few times before I fall asleep. I may text myself or make a note in my phone for a later date to revisit these ideas when I have time to flesh them out more. This way, I do not lose the creative ideas, but I make the mental load smaller. This also helps me take advantage of my working memory before losing valuable ideas or thoughts as I drift off to sleep.
Being Realistic and Flexible
These habits are what help me focus on other things, accomplish what I need to get done, while also being flexible. I feel better about how I will get things accomplished when I have systems in place, such as an exercise routine.
I love design work and am working on it being a full-time business so that I have more time at home for my baby. This also means I am working around the clock right now while I have no childcare responsibilities. I get quickly exhausted with this level of work, especially while pregnant. Setting realistic goals and expectations is necessary, as well as taking breaks to enjoy life pre-baby. Jared and I went out to celebrate Valentine’s Day last weekend since dates are about to be much more limited. It was so nice to take a break and just enjoy the evening by going out to dinner and watching a movie.
Embracing Uncertainty
Embracing uncertainty is one of the hardest things for an anxious person to do. The season of life I am about to enter is filled with uncertainty. The habits I have help me deal with uncertain times and seasons so I have systems in place. Practices like exercise and meditation make it easier to be flexible when things don’t go according to plan since I am more mentally and physically healthy to deal with it.
