Be Who You Are

After a lot of time procrastinating, I’m at the keyboard typing this blog!
This could be a fairly interesting article or not too interesting at all.

I have a tendency to ramble in various tangents. I’m an artist and from what I know and have read, the artist’s “brain” can be a jumble of ideas, visualizations, circuitous routes, colorful considerations, and experimental experiences. This is what generally happens to me.

Therefore, procrastination is inevitable. And yes, I have a tendency to procrastinate. I don’t procrastinate as much when showing up to do art. After 40 years of creating art, I have a habit of showing up. I can feel blocked, which all artists experience, but because my art activities are familiar, sitting down to play in art is easier than writing. I think writing is a more serious artform than visual art. Generally, there is more structure to be followed when writing. The writing needs to make sense. Poetry is different. Poetry is more closely aligned with visual art, as well as jazz.

Percolation is the positive aspect of procrastination. You can feel percolation in your creative pursuits as a hopeful thing, rather than the pressure of procrastination. I was feeling guilty because I didn’t get to my 1x per week blog posting. It’s been over 2 weeks.

However, when I reframed my thinking and dropped the pressure, I was ok and my procrastination became percolation.

Having a schedule is a very good way to show up. The structure puts the wheels in motion, and I’m feeling the momentum now. It was very hard to show up, but now the words are arriving.

It’s recommended by all the really good marketing coaches to have a disciplined schedule when sharing your content. The excellent coach, George Kao, has helped me to reframe my tendency to be private. He coined the phrase “public journaling”, and that’s what I’m doing now. He made it ok to share our ramblings.

If you want to share your ramblings about how you feel, you can. It’s acceptable.

In the expressive arts, it’s helpful to subdue the inner critic as you express your creativity. It will take you on a journey far more fulfilling than not doing your chosen artform. When you can play, make mistakes, and even ramble, you are letting your “freak flag fly” and it’s generally more fun than trying to get it all right.