Make Time to do What You Love

It can be really difficult to find that work/life/creating balance. People have asked “How do you have time to draw so much” or “You have time to blog and draw comics?” It’s not easy, but with a bit of planning and strategizing, you can make the most out of the limited amount of free time you have in a day. Here’s how you can make time to do what you love!

Take Advantage of Waiting Time

Gotta go to get the oil change in your car or wait in line on a Saturday morning to renew your driver’s license? You could use this hour to come up with some ideas. I always keep a notebook in my car and one in my handbag in case there is an unexpected 20 minute wait time. Just a couple of days ago my mom had to take her car to get it fixed. I probably waited about 20 minutes, but I sat in my car with my notebook and came up with some great ideas for future blog posts and a few random ideas about my comic.

My mom returned and said her car would need to be picked up the next day. In the meantime, she needed to pick up my niece from play practice. She wanted to get there a half hour early to get in the car line before the traffic gets insane. While we waited, she made a phone call and I mapped out some more ideas. She apologized for making me wait and said the waiting probably wasted my time. It was no problem for me, I was able to get some good material on paper that I was excited to build on when I got back home. Get breaks or lunch at work? Use this time to create a brainstorm map.

Make Time by Saying No

One of the ways to make time is to say “NO” when someone asks to hang out when you’re not in the mood. Easier said than done, especially if you feel guilty afterwards. Turning down someone seems to take a lot more out of you rather than just going along and “get it over with”. This doesn’t mean skipping out on important events like a wedding shower, but if you have people that just want to casually hang out (and you don’t really care to go) just say not this time. 

I believe it’s important to learn to say no at times when you’re asked to go to an all day event that’s going to leave you drained for a few days. It can take a toll on your mental health constantly trying to please everyone else. I used to make excuses, but now-a-days I just say “I am just burned out from work and need to recover”. I mean, working on art/blogging is therapeutic! 

Use Your PTO for Creative Time

If you get time off from work, take a day off to focus solely on your projects. Not gonna lie, the day job kills me sometimes. The stress and anxiety drains me to the point I have no motivation to do anything but fall asleep to Netflix when I get home from work. A good thing is that I have been at this job long enough I have some PTO and vacation time saved. I dedicate this time to spend an entire day writing/drawing.

I am actually on vacation right now, sitting here and writing this blog post. If you get time off, use it to your advantage. I have written about five blog posts for the coming weeks. Some people like to go away on a fancy vacation, but I enjoy staying home and work on my hobbies. I feel like I spend so much time outside of my home during the work week that I want to finally enjoy my place.  Once a year I use a sick day and use it as a mental health day. Sometimes you need an extra day to do that side gig of yours to keep yourself sane.

Get off the Social Media/ Cell Phone/ Computer

Pretty obvious, but we’re all still guilty of this. It’s a beautiful Saturday morning and I planned to spend the day working on the next page of my webcomic On the Bright Side. I check my phone and get a notification on Facebook or Tumblr. It’s downhill from there. Instead of sketching, I have wasted about an hour or two (or more) scrolling through endless postings. My remedy to this, I hold off going on these sites until the end of the day. When I have sketched out and finished my page and burned out from drawing so much, that’s when I will do some mindless scrolling to reward myself for getting something done. 

Take Advantage of YOUR Time of the Day

I am most productive first thing in the morning. I was always a morning person. The moment I wake up, I make myself a cup of coffee, go in my den/studio and start working. The problem I face is that I work 8:30 to 5, so I have a very limited time to get any drawing done. However, I come up with the best ideas this time of the day so that’s what I do first thing in the morning. I jump on my laptop and start typing or doing some quick brainstorming on paper and/or quick sketches.

In my opinion, the coming up with ideas part of any project is the most difficult. Mornings are when ideas come to me naturally and my writing/drawing is more fluid and not so forced. If you work best at night, then that’s the time for you to get in your zone and come up with some ideas!

Some of these (like saying no without feeling guilt) can take some time to get used to. As you begin to learn these new habits, you will find that you can accomplish a lot more in a week than you were able to before. If you found these tips useful, please share this blog and leave a comment!