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How to Find Time for Your Art: Overcoming the "I'm Too Busy" Trap
As a visual artist, you’ve probably struggled with balancing your creative process alongside everyday responsibilities. Between work, family, and life’s endless to-do list, finding time to dedicate to your art can feel like an impossible challenge. If you’ve ever found yourself saying, “I’m too busy to create,” you’re not alone.
But here’s the truth: It’s not about having endless hours in the day—because none of us do. It’s about understanding the time you do have, what additional time you can make available, and managing your goals and expectations to fit your reality.
In this post, we’ll dive into how you can overcome the “I’m too busy” trap and make room for your creative practice, no matter how packed your schedule may be.
Why Time Feels Scarce for Artists
Many artists struggle with the feeling that there’s never enough time. Unlike other professions, the creative process requires not only physical time but also mental space, which can be difficult to come by. However, the key issue is often less about having time and more about how we view and use the time we have available. Here are some reasons why time feels scarce:
- Overestimating what we can accomplish in a given period
- Lack of clear scheduling or structure in our day
- Unrealistic expectations about how much time is needed for creative work
These challenges can be managed, but it’s important to remember that everyone’s situation is different—some have more available time than others, and that’s okay. What matters is how we make the most of our unique schedules.
Shift Your Mindset: Not Everyone Has the Same Time, But Everyone Can Make Use of What They Have
While it’s common to hear that “everyone has the same 24 hours,” the reality is that we all have different levels of obligations and available time. The trick isn’t about magically adding more hours to your day but learning to manage the time you do have effectively and making adjustments where possible.
Mindset Shift #1: Focus on What Time You Have
It’s important to start by recognising what time is actually available to you. Do you have small pockets of free time in your day—perhaps during a commute, lunch break, or before bed? Even 15 to 30 minutes of focused creative work can be incredibly valuable.
Mindset Shift #2: Adjust Your Expectations
If you’re juggling multiple responsibilities, expecting to have several uninterrupted hours for art might be unrealistic. Instead, adjust your expectations to fit your lifestyle. Can you set smaller, achievable goals that fit into your available time? Or can you adjust the expectations of the other responsibilities? Or a bit of both?
Mindset Shift #3: Prioritise What Matters
If art is important to you, treat it like an essential task—just like work or family commitments. Writer Iain Thomas perfectly sums up this challenge:
“And every day, the world will drag you by the hand, yelling, ‘This is important! And this is important!’
And each day, it’s up to you to yank your hand back, put it on your heart and say, ‘No. This is what’s important.’”
Deciding what’s truly important to you—and continually insisting on it—is key to creating more time for your art. This is not always easy, but it’s the first step towards finding balance.
This doesn’t mean neglecting other areas of your life, but it does mean carving out time with intention, even if it’s only for short, focused periods.
Practical Strategies for Finding Time for Your Art
Now that you’ve adjusted your mindset, let’s look at some practical strategies that can help you fit art into your day, no matter how busy you are.
1. Assess Your Current Schedule
Take a closer look at your current routine. Where are there small windows of time that you could dedicate to your art? This could be early in the morning, during lunch breaks, or even 15 minutes before bed. The key is to start small and build from there.
2. Make Time Where You Can
Is there something you can shift or delegate to make more time for your art? For example, could you cut back on non-essential activities like social media scrolling or watching TV? Could you arrange for someone else to take over a task occasionally to free up an hour for creativity?
3. Set Manageable Goals
When time is limited, setting small, manageable goals can help keep you motivated. For example, instead of aiming to finish a large painting in one sitting, focus on smaller goals like sketching for 30 minutes or working on one section of your piece. Over time, these small wins add up.
4. Batch Similar Tasks
If your creative process involves multiple steps (e.g., preparing canvases, gathering materials, brainstorming ideas), try batching similar tasks together. This saves time by allowing you to focus on one type of activity at a time and makes the actual creative work more fluid.
Time Management Techniques for Artists
Time management is about working smarter with the time you already have. Here are some effective techniques:
1. Time Blocking
Time blocking involves allocating specific hours of your day to specific tasks. For example, block out one hour on Tuesday mornings for art, and protect that time as you would a meeting or appointment. It helps ensure that you dedicate focused time to your art, even amidst a busy schedule.
2. The Pomodoro Technique
This method involves working for 25-minute intervals followed by short breaks. It’s especially useful for artists who struggle with getting started. Knowing you only need to focus for a short burst can help overcome procrastination, while the breaks prevent burnout.
3. Track Your Progress
Keep a journal or log of the time you spend on your art. Tracking your progress can provide motivation, especially when you see how those small pockets of time add up. You’ll also have a better understanding of how long tasks really take, helping you manage your time more effectively.
Managing Creative Blocks
Even when you’ve found time for art, creative blocks can sometimes make it difficult to get started. Here’s how to overcome them:
- Work without pressure: Give yourself permission to create something imperfect. The act of making art is what matters, not the outcome.
- Create in small bursts: If you’re struggling with a block, commit to just 10-15 minutes of creation. Often, once you start, you’ll find it easier to keep going.
- Find inspiration in your surroundings: Take a walk, browse art online, or look around your environment. Inspiration is often just waiting to be noticed.
Take Control of Your Time
Artists are natural problem solvers and time is just another problem to solve, and as artists, we excel at problem-solving. After all, creating something out of nothing is what we do—turning ideas into reality, navigating challenges, and finding creative solutions.
If you can bring a concept to life on canvas, or in whatever materials you work with, you can certainly overcome the time management hurdles that stand in the way of your art.
So, if time feels like your biggest obstacle right now, take heart: you’re more than capable of solving this challenge, just as you’ve solved
Remember, finding time for your art isn’t about having endless hours. Every artist has a unique schedule—it’s about understanding and making the most of the time you have, and adjusting your goals to fit to create space for your creativity.
By shifting your mindset, managing your expectations, and using practical strategies, you can find ways to incorporate art into your busy life without feeling overwhelmed.
Amanda
September 2024
Ready to Reclaim Your Time for Art?
If you’re ready to stop feeling overwhelmed and start making more time for your creative work, grab a copy of Creating Your Own Time: A Guide for Visual Artists (Use coupon Time5 to get the ebook for only $5) It’s packed with practical insights to help you design a schedule that works for you—so you can get back to doing what you love most.
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