Daily Creative Habits: Vote for Who You Want to Be
I was listening to Brene Brown’s Dare to Lead podcast interviewing James Clear, author of Atomic Habits. His book talks about habit formation and he suggests we start by envisioning the type of person we want to be. For example, if you want to eat healthier, instead of focusing on the diet plan you want, he would suggest envisioning a healthy person. When you go into a restaurant and look at the menu, the prompt to yourself would be “What would a healthy person order for lunch?” This type of question will help you drill down to the types of daily choices that person would make.
Habits are a vote for who we want to be
James Clear argues every small decision we make is a vote for the kind of person we want to be. For example, if my goal is to become a more organized person, every time I choose to hang my jacket where it belongs, it’s a vote for Organized Mary. If I leave my jacket hanging over the couch, it’s a vote for Messy Mary, which in my case is a vote for the status quo.
Vote for the Creative Person inside you
When it comes to creative living, I think this idea of voting for the identity we want to have is a good plan. Creative people don’t just buy quilt kits, they sew regularly. Reading about writing isn’t enough, authors put their pen to paper on a daily basis. James Clear emphases that consistency trumps intensity over the long term. He encourages people to set goals based on consistent small behaviors instead of large, outcome based goals.
Sometimes Bigger isn’t Better
I tend to be excited by large hairy goals. I get sucked into the idea of doing a challenge like a big triathlon and it’s very motivating to me. With creative goals, I am the same way. Every November, there is a contest called National Novel Writing Month and it calls to me like a siren song, but I know it’s not a realistic focus for me right now. At this point in my life, with four young kids, it’s better for me to set a goal of writing a little bit every day instead of killing myself to get 2000 words a day. If I get to a place where writing consistently is easy, I can always do more than the minimum.
What’s the Tiniest Step?
Start by breaking down the kind of person you want to be into the tiniest daily habits you can think of and start there. Small habits mean that the barrier to getting them done each day is minimal. The consistency of daily work adds up over the long term and won’t lead to burn out.
What kind of daily habits could you add to your daily practice? What identity can you use to guide your small choices each day? Is it “What would an artist do?” or “What would a great mom do?” How could you add more consistency to your creative living practice?
