Keep your creative tools accessible

Pro-tip

Jul 13

What do I mean by this? I mean, that if you want to get in to the habit of creating more often, (or any new habit for that matter), you need to make the threshold to start to be as low as you possibly can make it. Because that’s usually where we fail.

Most of us stop before we’ve even gotten started.

When the thought of taking everything out, preparing materials, getting coffee or what not, feels like such a hustle, most of us stop before we even start.

This is what I did:

I bought my first watercolour set in June 2019, right before summer holidays. And I vowed to myself, that this habit, these tools, this medium, was something I was gonna master! I was not going to quit after two weeks like I’d done with everything else I had started in my life.

And one of the key things that I did (and that I think was pivotal to help me succeed) was that I never put my colors or brushes away.

I kept them out, on my desk, at all times. I had the water ready, I hade the brushes and watercolours out and I had the paper close by. So when I got the urge to paint, all I needed to do was to just sit down at my desk and paint. That was it! No threshold.

This was maybe even more important on the days when I DIDN’T feel like painting.

Because like with all new things, starting experimenting with watercolors was soooo exiting at first. But after a while, when the “new-ness” of it wore off, and it started to feel difficult, the thought of sitting down to paint wasn’t as fun anymore.

But the fact that I had all the materials ready to go made it so much easier to get passed the “ugh”-feeling, and sit down and just do it anyway. And then eventually, the fun-ness of it came back!

So get those tools out people!

Keep them within arms reach of your desk or table or wherever you do your creative work. That way, the only thing you need to do is sit down and use them!