Do you find yourself avoiding your art, even when you want to create?
Suddenly, your studio feels too messy to make art, so you decide to clean it instead, or you remember those bananas turning brown, and making banana bread feels more urgent than pulling out your paints. Maybe your garden or that pile of laundry suddenly seems like it needs your immediate attention.
Sometimes, our studio really does need a clean.
But sometimes, we’re actively avoiding the art that’s calling to us.
Hi my name is Carrie and I’m a perfectionist. Here on Artist Strong, I help self-taught artists with home studios who feel stuck with their art move from wondering what’s next to confidently expressing themselves through unique, original art. To date, thousands have joined the community.
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Today, we are talking about how procrastination hurts your art. This includes issues with perfectionism, setting unreasonable expectations, and even your physical and mental health. Let’s dig in.
Procrastination and perfectionism
Procrastination is a behavior familiar to many of us. A lot of people don’t know, however, that it is a symptom of maladaptive perfectionism.
Perfectionism isn’t all bad, despite current media attention to the contrary, but perfectionism can be bad for us, or maladaptive. I talk about perfectionism and this idea of it being adaptive or maladaptive in my video: Overcoming Perfectionism in Art, which I suggest you watch now or bookmark for later.
Perfectionism, at its heart, is about our performance or results (in work, life, art, etc.) being tied to our value as a human being. In other words, we are worthy of love when we do great things. And if we don’t achieve, then maybe we aren’t deserving of love.
Performance doesn’t have to be work related. I feel it coming up all the time as a parent: how could I have handled XYZ better? And then beating myself up for not doing it all right the first time.
Maladaptive perfectionism can lead to procrastination because the fear of not producing something ‘perfect’ prevents us from starting at all.
This is where procrastination can come into play.
Procrastination is when we avoid, or choose not to do tasks. It is often expressed as having multiple reasons for choosing other tasks over the one we are avoiding, as well as full on ignoring the task and any related deadlines.
At the heart of procrastination lies this issue: we often have tasks we want or need to do, like creating art, but the discomfort attached to them causes avoidance. To avoid discomfort, we avoid the task.
Oh boy, here we are, again, talking about discomfort. If you’re interested in this topic, I explore it in more detail in my video on how learning to lean into discomfort can help us make better art. It’s called How discomfort can help you become a better, stronger artist and you can watch that one here.
Recently, someone I’ll call Blair, shared that she avoids her art and practice because if she is making art it needs to be something good.
Can you see how perfectionism and procrastination work together in this belief?
If we make art it MUST be good, so if I’m worried it won’t be, well… why bother?
Procrastination is a common struggle that often stems from avoiding the discomfort of perceived failure or not meeting one’s own high standards.
And here’s the rub: when we have high standards and expectations of ourselves, the ONLY way to meet them is through practice and developing our skills, which by definition requires us to perform at lower standards. (Hello discomfort).
And of course we perform at lower standards, because we don’t yet have the skills! Talk about a chicken versus the egg problem.
After some discussion, Blair decided that instead of having practice goals tied to performance, it would be better to tie her goals to time spent ON the practice. This way she can feel achievement and a sense of accomplishment when she shows us, even on days she may struggle with her skill development.
It doesn’t make the discomfort go away, or that nasty, mean inner critic poking at our perfectionism disappear completely, but it sets us up to show up without the unreasonable pressure we can place on ourselves.
Do you resonate with Blair’s experience? Please share how you might reframe some creative goals to still help you reach towards those big hopes, but without the unreasonable standards? Tell me more in the comments below.
When I’m Ready…
Another way I observe procrastination showing up in the creatives I serve is creating specific standards we must meet before we are allowed to progress to the next level. We create pressure to get it achieved in one specific (often an unreasonable standard showing up again) way before graduating to the next “test.”
This can be particularly insidious because it feels justified to wait to try that new technique, or start a series of artworks until we have a certain skill set, or can achieve certain effects. But often we see improvement in our skill, but find new reasons it’s not quite where it needs to be before you are ready for the next step.
This creates a vicious cycle where the more we improve, the more reasons we find to delay starting a new project, as we’re never ‘ready’ enough.
Why can’t you be challenged, explore that big idea, and develop your skills at the same time? And I want to be clear here, I’m not saying you should skip the fundamentals. You can easily incorporate practice and study time without using up all your art time and still see gains.
Even better, when we pair practice with a focus, like a series of artworks, learning can remain fun.
As a teacher, I often hear students complain that learning foundational skills is boring, but I think that’s because (1) they don’t tie the practice to their interests and (2) they feel required to learn ALL the techniques and skill before they are allowed to use them in an artwork.
You don’t have to do it alone, either. This is the kind of thing I do inside Self-Taught to Self-Confident, where I guide people through filling in any gaps in their skill so they confidently express themselves through unique, original art. We have regular opportunities for feedback from peers and myself, including our Weekly Check-In where people get feedback on their mindset, process and art.
👉🏽👉🏽👉🏽 If that sounds exciting to you, you can learn more when you sign up for my workshop “How to Create Art from Your Imagination” for free. You’ll enjoy a taste of my teaching, learn more about the program, and get a special 7-day enrollment offer when you sign up. Use the link here or in the comments below.
Mary was studying cubes and felt she had to capture them in both perspective and value before she could move on to anything else. I could feel the weight of her self-imposed pressure and I felt anything but fun.
Art is fun!! That is why we are here. We like art. We like making art. So if the joy is missing, how can you tie the learning you feel is necessary to a topic you actively enjoy? It could be studying value through studying Renaissance masterpieces. It could be studying form through felt sculpture.
You can learn, have fun, and start exploring the ideas that maybe even scare you a little bit, today.
Otherwise I’m curious: when will you finally be ready?
Facing Resistance
In the book The War of Art by Steven Pressfield he coined the term “Resistance” to speak to the inner critic questioning our choices, which can include how we use our time, when and how we show up for our art, as well as specifics like how we use color, or specific techniques.
And this is another way to think about procrastination behaviors.
For example, you might resist using a new painting technique because you’re worried it won’t turn out well. That’s when resistance sneaks in.
Perhaps you feel resistance to the idea of doing a specific task in your painting, or showing up for a particular lesson in an art class you’ve signed up for… and it makes that recipe you’ve been meaning to try and that studio organization time way more enticing.
It’s okay to do those things, and creativity can come in so many incarnations… but it’s important to identify when we are choosing to engage in creative acts because you want to, versus choosing them to avoid something you want to do, but have fear or reluctance to do it.
A lot of creatives here on Artist Strong tend to have a rebellious side. Gretchen Rubin has research that looks at how people meet expectations in their lives (both intrinsic and extrinsic) that she calls The Four Tendencies. I have an article about it I’ll link below. One of the most rare kinds of people are Rebels, and yet, I regularly have clients test out as Rebels.
People with rebel tendencies resist expectations, whether they are self-imposed or from others. This resistance can make traditional productivity strategies, like deadlines, counterproductive.
If you lean on the rebellious side, it doesn’t matter whether you want to make art, or someone else has asked you to make art, you will by your very nature experience Resistance. It’s for this reason I don’t always tell people to create deadlines, or block off time in their calendar. Doing this can actively sabotage creatives who have this rebellious personality.
Instead, I encourage you to document what you ACTUALLY accomplish.
For example, you know you want to show up almost every day for your art. Instead of that being a requirement you block off, you mark down on your calendar each day you do show up, even if it’s 2 minutes of making art.
At the end of the week, or the month, look at your notations. Does that feel aligned with your identity as an artist? Does the way you define being an artist include showing up as much as you have, or more? Or showing up differently?
You don’t have to do this task forever, but it’s a great way to keep track of how much you actually do show up. I often find people diminish how much they are actually working on their art because they think they should feel differently if they were “doing it right.”
And the irony here is often we are making way more art than we realize and are seeing strides in the work we’ve already forgotten about or even dismissed. The first day we feel like we’ve done “it” wrong, whatever “it” is, we start to feel like we’ve failed and can lose momentum as well as sight of the big picture.
With my current life my personal goal is to make art most days. And usually this means I get 2 days a week I can pass on to add some flexibility into my life. The other element I have is I don’t have a real time minimum or maximum. It’s about showing up. Some days, I’ve REALLY not wanted to work on anything, but I would ask myself, “Really, you can’t give two minutes to your drawing?” Some days, that is truly all I could give.
And yet, that practice of barely showing up some days allowed me to finish this recent drawing, which is 3 feet by 3 feet:
My studio was set up waiting for me to just pop in and add a few marks at a time. And now I have this huge drawing I’m proud of, ready for framing.
What about setting a timer for 5-10 minutes the next time you show up for your art? It’s not about making a lot or making anything amazing, it’s about showing up for 5-10 minutes. Perhaps an activity like this can help you ease into your practice.
What in our conversation around Resistance resonates with you? What might you try to help you overcome procrastination around your art? Tell me more in the comments below.
The Whole Picture
Today’s conversation only touches upon a few ways procrastination shows up in our art. But it’s important to note a few things, including its negative impacts outside of your creative life.
According to McLean Hospital, quote:
“Procrastination is connected to negative functioning and risks to mental health. People who procrastinate tend to have high levels of anxiety as well as poor impulse control.
Procrastination is even linked to physical illness. People who procrastinate experience more stress and tend to delay treatments—which can create a cycle of poor health due to just putting things off.”
Our physical and mental health is important. Perhaps THE most important thing we can take care of if we want more time or headspace for our art. And you are worthy of feeling good, because you are a human being. (It has nothing to do with your achievements).
Additionally, ADHD or other neurodivergent experiences may require other approaches or flexibility to navigating procrastination. If you have advice from experience, or resources to share, please post them in the comments below.
Ultimately, my goal today was to help you self-assess how your procrastination shows up and get you curious about how you can tailor strategies specific to you that can help you stop avoiding the work and start making more art.
Documenting art sessions to track progress, rather than scheduling tasks, and setting up your studio with materials ready can make it easier to start creative work. Additionally, finding small, achievable tasks like a 20-minute drawing goal can help build momentum instead of feeling overwhelmed.
Your art is worthy because you want to make it, and you are worthy of love because you exist.
It’s almost like we feel like we have to prove something of ourselves to justify the work that we want to do in our world, whether it’s, you know, gardening or cooking or making our art.
Here’s the thing: it is justifiable and worthy of your time because it’s important to you and and it’s because you are important. The odds of you being born are 1 in 400 trillion! That’s pretty special. And I really want to emphasize that because procrastination tied to this stuff can really get in our head and stop us from showing up.
Remember, every small step counts in your artistic journey.
The big challenge I leave you today with is this:
Either you avoid the discomfort of showing up for your art and possibly not meeting your expectations, or
You embrace the discomfort of not showing up to make your art. (You’re here because you want to make art, so I know that’s uncomfortable.)
Either way, you’re uncomfortable.
Which do you choose?
As always, thank you for watching. Please like and subscribe if today’s message resonates to never miss an episode.
Remember: proudly call yourself an artist.
Together, we are Artist Strong.
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