Why the chores can wait!

We have all been there. You have fifteen minutes of quiet before your next commitment. You look at your desk, where your brushes and paints lie waiting, then you glance at the laundry basket. The bit of post that needs opening. The leaves that need sweeping. And you choose to do the chore.

So many of us tell ourselves that we shouldn’t do the creative stuff until everything else is in order. A 'treat', so to speak, a reward once we are all caught up.  But here’s the truth:

We will never be fully caught up!

Mixed Media Fruit & Veg by Jo Dixon

Just as your body needs a steady flow of vitamins to stay healthy, your brain needs a steady drip of creativity. Practicing for five hours once every few weeks is similar to only eating fruit and vegetables on a Sunday; there may be some health benefits, but it isn't the optimum way to do things!

So, how can we do things better? I mentioned in a previous blog that 'practice makes permanence' and that's what I am suggesting here; giving yourself permission to be a little bit creative every day.

It is easy to overestimate what we can achieve in a day, and just as easy to underestimate what we can achieve in fifteen minutes.

---

Be prepared

Set yourself up with a toolkit that is ready to go; keep it nearby, somewhere you can see it.  Putting everything neatly away in the cupboard each time might look tidier, but if you have to spend ten minutes finding everything, you’ll probably never get started.

Sadly, I am a fully paid-up member of the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ club. Once my materials are tidied away, they may as well no longer exist.  I know from experience that I am much more likely to finish that knitting project if I can see it!

---

Set a timer

Next time the chores start calling your name, try this little experiment:

A selection of small projects by Joanne Lamb

1. Set a timer for fifteen minutes

2. Ignore the laundry

3. Pick up your pen, your brush, or your needle, and just get started

4. When the timer goes off, check if the laundry is still there

It is?  Oh yes, sorry about that.  But how do you feel?

A little happier. A little more fulfilled. A little more inspired, perhaps.

---

Lower the stakes

Kawandi in progress by Christine Green

Don't try to finish a masterpiece every time you sit down to create. Take the pressure off and just play.

Why not mix a new colour or practice only the letter B?

If even that seems too much, just sit down and do one thing:

write one line of drills

knit one row

paint one leaf

stitch one patch

Remember, it is much easier to continue than it is to start.

---

Suffering with housework guilt?

Reframe those thoughts. We should be considering these fifteen minutes as an investment, not an indulgence. 

Need more convincing?

To me, time spent on chores and maintenance tasks has a 100% depreciation rate.  (And I know from a recent conversation with students about ironing, that lots of you agree!) You do the washing up; the sink is full again by dinner time.  

Sure, It might be a necessary investment, but once completed the value of the task diminishes rapidly.  Time spent on creative practice could be thought of as a higher-yield investment. 

Practicing your Copperplate 'G' might be seen as building ‘compound interest’ - after all, you are creating new neural pathways and improving your overall skill level.

But isn't it also paying dividends? Boosting your dopamine, lowering your cortisol, making you happier. 

I’m no financial whizz kid, but that seems like a better return on investment to me!

---

At Ardington, we offer lots of opportunities to be an artist or a maker. But the first step happens when you decide that (even if just for fifteen minutes) you are going to put creativity before cleaning. 

Which chore are you ignoring today and what will you be doing instead? Tell us in the comments!