5 Tips for Improving Self-Motivation (For Artists)

Last updated on 09/16/2019

Hello Reader, and happy Sunday.

I am generally going to try to keep these blog posts pertaining to whatever my personal experience on the subject matter is. That being said, any additional information or support for others will always be welcome in the comment section. Creative fields are generally a very negative environment once you start breaking into the professional level, so it is always a good idea for those of us in the trenches to support each other. With that out of the way let us dive into this week’s topic.

Motivating oneself is hard. The ability to write, organize, plan, all of that falls away to the very core of what we artists need to do. We have to wake up every day and find the motivation to do what needs to be done. It seems so simple when looked at objectively. Finding ways to motivate yourself should be easy. All I know is what it took for me.

So, keeping all that in mind, I think the best way to get this done is a numbered list. Here are five ways (that I personally have found to be effective) for motivating yourself.

1. Setting Small, Easily Attainable, Goals (At first)

When you start out the process of actually “doing” something it can be daunting. You see a giant wall in front of you that is the task you want to complete. Now, given the choice, would you rather climb one massive wall, or a whole bunch of small ones? Personally, I cannot climb out of bed in the morning without difficulty, so that big wall just is not going to happen.

When needing to motivate yourself the best thing you can do is to first set a goal. Kind of like a New Year’s resolution (except this one you are going to actually do, sorry Marsha, you are not going to quit eating out entirely this year). When I start a writing project I like to start my goal as small as I can. My word counts at the start of a project are generally as low as 250 words. If you were curious that is roughly half the length of the blog post up to this point. So, not very much.

This is a big part of how I build up my writing habit for a project (Spoiler alert: This will be expanded on in an upcoming post). By setting a goal for something as low as 250 words (Or the 250 word equivalent for whatever it is you are “arting”) an easy target. This should be the simplest possible thing to accomplish for what you are trying to do. Fifteen minutes of work.

By setting yourself up to easily complete your daily goal you are making sure you will get it done. In my experience, nothing helps motivate me more for the next day than completing the previous day’s work. Of course you can always go over that goal, but you will quickly be raising it anyway, so why not enjoy it? More to come on habit building another day.

2. Rewarding Yourself for Completing Goals

You are the kid who will not eat your vegetables. The vegetables are your work. Sitting there in front of you, taunting you with how simple they should be (yet we all know they are not). What good comes from eating those vegetables? Long term health. Screw that right? I want something now! Well, if you choke down those vegetables your parents will give you a reward!

Unfortunately in this scenario you also have to be your parents. I know, it is a bummer. When I asked my mother if she would give me a reward for eating my vegies now that I am an adult she hung up on me and went back to bed. Bummer.

So, left to create rewards for myself I found myself overthinking the process (as I tend to do). I created a complex system in which I earned points for completing my goals daily. I could use those points for a variety of things. A few I used are below:

• A half day on my goals. If I completed all my daily goals twenty days in a row I would give myself a “credit” for a half day.
• A full, guilt free, day off from writing. This one took thirty days to accumulate one credit, kind of like vacation time from a job. While I liked the days off I did often find it difficult to actually enjoy it. The “guilt free” part is difficult to get around.
• A Video Game. Oh yeah. This was a good one. If I completed every goal in a month I would reward myself with a brand spanking new video game. This was a good motivator for me. Find something you like, but do not need (authors, you cannot limit the books you can read. You have to read more. Maybe you can limit nice shiny new books?).

Now I do not really recommend making a complex point system. It required me to check in on my phone every day with what I had gotten done. Setting it up was my own way of procrastinating. The way you give yourself rewards should be simple enough that it does not take away time from completing your actual task, but you have to keep track of it. Getting into the mindset of “I’ve been good this week, I’ll take a day off” is dangerous. Negotiating with the enemy is forbidden, and you are the enemy.

3. Setting up a Support System

Doing any kind of creative work while completely isolated is horribly detrimental to the process. Now, I am not talking about the actual “doing it” part. When I write, I do not talk to anyone. I tune out the outside world to the best of my ability. What I am talking about are the parts in between.

I, myself, have a few other authors I talk to about the various goings on of my writing life. Sometimes this is about the difficult parts. Sometimes it is to revel in my successes with someone who understands. It is most important to have these people there to talk to, less important is what it is you are talking about. By simply having them there you should feel a sense of responsibility to get your work done. You need something to talk to them about after all.

Not everyone in your support network needs to be in your field either, or even an artist.

I have several friends I have made over the years that I talk about my writing with. They tell me about their artistic endeavors. By making these connections and fostering these relationships you are, at the same time, accomplishing something else. Networking. Someday you will need someone who can do something you cannot. I had trouble building this very website, luckily, I knew a guy who built websites. Artists can fill in the gaps for other artists. We support each other by understanding and leaning on one another.

Non artist supports are equally important. Hopefully, even though they might not understand the struggle of what you have worked through, they do understand the importance. Nothing beats the pride you have in your work than someone getting really excited about it. It might be your worst piece yet, but to someone else it is a masterpiece. Just you having done it is enough for them to love it. That right there is something special.

4. Using Deadlines to your Advantage

The best way to be productive is to have a deadline. I think everyone has had a time in their life where they were rushing to try to take a deadline down. Like a jungle cat, you stalked it. Followed your deadline, ensuring you struck at the perfect moment. Then you went and took a nap, made a sandwich, watched your favorite sitcom in its entirety, then went back and panicked that your deadline had gotten the advantage.

A deadline holds us responsible for the work we have promised ourselves (or others) to do. It is an unmoving wall that says “This is the end”. No matter what, good or bad, your project must be done. A strong deadline will force you to face it head on.

Sometimes life is not kind enough to give you a deadline. Sometimes you have to create it yourself. Now, this guide is not a guide on having strong self-discipline. I have yet to figure out how to explain that one. So if you are one of the many people in the world who struggle with self-discipline you might need a buddy for this one.

Even a deadline as simple as one set by a friend can be helpful. Be involved in its creation, make it realistic. A chapter a week? Not too bad. So every Monday morning your friend will be expecting a completed chapter in their possession. Knowing that someone is expecting something from you can be very helpful.

My biggest advice to go along with deadlines:

• Actually do it. Your friend, or the person you have designated to oversee your deadline, is not going to force you to do something. If you choose not to do it the only thing you will be doing is diminishing the value of their job in their eyes.
• Do not procrastinate. If you have a deadline of one chapter a week, starting your work two days before you have agreed it will be done is not a good habit to build on. Get the big, nasty, evil work out of the way so you can have time for fun things. Beat your deadlines with efficiency.
• Take advice. The people you ask for feedback will often know what they are talking about. After all, you are a smart person. You asked them to help you. So why not listen to them? Nothing makes people more unwilling to help you than rebuffing the help you asked for. Even if you are not going to use the advice, take it.

5. Do the work

The best way to avoid the writer’s (or artist’s) guilt and get things done is to do it. We are never, as artists, good enough to do the big project that we want to do. There is always a reason not to do it. Always something else that comes up that is more important. Always.

If you do not do the work, nobody will do it. Your story will not get told. Your piece not made. It will never happen if you do not make it happen.

Sometimes motivating yourself just cannot be done. Sometimes there is no magic way to make yourself do the work. It is hard. There is a reason not everyone does it after all. So make yourself. Force yourself to do the thing that scares you. Put in the time and get it done. Nothing is more motivating than having nothing left to do because you already gotten everything done.

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Thanks for reading.