Finding Balance Amidst the Chaos of Creative Pursuits
In this month’s guest post, Eric Franco shares how he balances creative mediums. Eric is a writer in the #tldrwriters community, songwriter, musician, game developer, and dungeon master with a lot of projects on his plate!
I’ve always been one of those writers—scratch that, one of those people—that could never tie myself down to a single discipline. There are so many exciting things to learn and do in this world that sticking to one thing all my life seems like doing myself a disservice. There’s a reason I spend all my days coding, writing, and performing. I couldn’t imagine a life where at least one of those activities disappeared from my daily routine.
But having a multitude of creative pursuits provides its own slew of problems, and almost all of them center around one crucial question: How on Earth do I juggle all of these different things?
I probably ask myself that every other week. It’s hard, and I haven’t quite mastered the art, but here are my experiences to guide you in the right direction.
Time, Your Worst Enemy
If time wasn’t on your side before, then prepare to meet the one thing holding you back. There are days where I’m juggling all kinds of deadlines: a game pitch, a demo, a story submission, a new song, an exam – all due around the same time. I won’t tell you not to panic, because at times panicking is a perfectly normal reaction. But don’t get hung up on it too long. If you have to scream, just yell into your pillow for a good thirty seconds or so. Then, it’s time to clock in.
This summer’s daily to-dos goes something like this:
– Implement a new feature or plot narrative for Non-Orbital, the game I’m developing,
– Edit and submit any short WIPs, and
– Complete and send finished songs to my producer.
Time management is tricky, especially for spontaneous thinkers like myself with a laundry list of deadlines. But that’s the beauty of juggling: the pattern and process is the same, but you’ll have different balls in the air at different times.
My circumstances will decide what to tackle first. I usually start with the intermediate work, the projects that won’t take the most time but have some degree of difficulty to them. It helps me ramp up into harder, more time sensitive work and, if I find myself struggling at that midpoint, I can move over to an easier, smaller project to give my brain a bit of recharge.
Which brings me to my next point…
Your Brain is an Engine; Give It Time to Refuel
I used to just plop down on a chair for hours to get all my work done in one fell swoop. The more years of university I have under my belt, the more my friends and professors seem to embrace “The Crunch”. Sometimes people do work better like that.
But not me. Not a single drop of quality work has ever come from locking myself away for a whole day straight. My motor just isn’t big enough for it.
The remedy for this, in my experience, is frequent breaks. And I do mean frequent. It’s very similar to how we do write-ins over on Slack, and it’s a process that allows me to squeeze as much creative energy into my work as I can without gassing out or losing motivation.
I pull up a timer for a half hour, and in that time I get as much work done as possible, whether I’m editing a story, debugging code, or working on a song. Once that time is up, I set another one for ten minutes. This is break time. If I’m in front of my computer, I leave the room and plop down on the couch. Maybe I’ll throw in a breathing exercise or meditation for good measure.
I alternate between long work intervals and short breaks, and it’s made me so much more productive than I would be otherwise. It also makes it much easier to transition to another task because it provides time to switch on the parts of my brain that are required at different times.
There is a Such Thing as Too Much
A younger Eric would probably tell you to seize the day with every possible opportunity you can squeeze in there. These days I’ve come to terms with the reality that there is only so much work my brain can handle before it wants to explode.
Your time is valuable, but that doesn’t mean every second of it needs to be spent on your creative pursuits. Remember when I said take short breaks? Well, think of it like sentence cadence: you have shorter sentences to draw the attention to a longer one later, right? The same rule applies here.
I like to take a few hours—a day, even—to relax and spend some time with my brain shut off every once in a while. Usually these times are spent going to the gym, playing video games, or reading a good book. On the rare occasion I’ll even just lie down on my bed and listen to music, or browse Spotify for some new songs I might enjoy. If you can spare the time in the morning, a meditation is a great way to rev up your engine for a big day.
So if you’re like me and have to have all these different creative pursuits, there are a few big takeaways here.
Remember that you’re only human, and gauge your limitations accordingly.
For the love of God, please take breaks. You need to care for your mind just as you do your body.
And don’t forget: stay positive and you will find success.
If you loved this guest post, give Eric some love over at @franc0o__! You can also check out his short stories and poetry on his blog.
Interested in writing a future guest post? Send a query to tldrpress@gmail.com with the subject “Guest Post Inquiry” or send a direct message to @TLDRpress.