Friday, July 23, 2010

the Artist's Way - Week Ten - Day Five

Workaholism is yet another block to consider.

This is one block that most artists do not see as a problem. We have to work right? But are you putting in extra just to keep from having time to do what you love? Are you volunteering for overtime, just to stay busy?

Do you work outside of office hours? Do you cancel dates with loved ones to do more work? Do you postpone outings till the deadline is over? Do you take work with you on weekends? Do your intimates complain that you always work?

Do you try to do two things at once? Do you allow yourself free time between projects? Do you place your creative dreams before work? Do you allow yourself downtime to do nothing?

One way to achieve clarity about where our time goes is to keep a daily checklist and record out time spent. One hour of creative playtime can go a long way to offsetting the workaholic's tendency to keep their dreams at bay.

Because workaholism is a process addiction, an addiction to a behavior rather than a substance, it is hard to tell when we are indulging in it.

Begin a list of what you do during the day. Keep up with list for at least a week.

Do you see areas that can be exchanged for creative play? Are the distraction tendencies obvious? Did you watch television for three hours, when you could have been creating? Did it take you an hour to clean house, when it could have been done in fifteen minutes? Are there tasks that could be assigned to other members of the household to free up your time?

2 comments:

Aubrie said...

I do tend to work a lot...

Anonymous said...

And you still get so much writing done? Can you imagine what you would get done if you had no blocks at all?

 
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