What if you took some time to practice?
Your Journal Prompts This Week:
Where in my life do I practice something regularly? (This could be a fitness practice, creative practice, studying a craft or field, etc.)
How do I benefit from practice time?
What can I do to strengthen or enhance the time I spend in practice mode?
Scroll down for Prompts for Content Creators!
This back-to-school energy always brings me back to learning and studying, and I am one of those weird people who loves to learn and research. Putting something out there is rewarding, but my favorite time is when I am just exploring a topic and forming my ideas and thoughts around it. You could say that I enjoy being in the mode of experimenting and practicing.
I'm currently helping an art organization host online art workshops, and while I am not an artist, I am learning so much from these teachers! One class focused on watercolor techniques, and the teacher said something about the concept of practice that really stuck with me: He said that you can't let the only time you paint be when you sit down to create a whole painting. You can't truly learn or make progress that way. Your attention will be divided among all the elements your trying so hard to get right. But when you sit down to just practice and play with one technique, like blending colors or painting just one piece of fruit by itself, you give yourself that time to truly hone in on one area of the craft.
This concept seems so simple, but as we get older, we lose the time and willingness to practice. With our full schedules and deadlines, it just isn't a priority anymore. So when we sit down to write a whole page, paint a whole painting, create a whole piece of art, run a whole marathon, when we haven't practiced in ages--of course it feels hard! Of course it feels frustrating or slow or stressful.
So I want to encourage you to explore the idea of practice this fall season. Where could you work in a little time to play with your craft, rather than focusing on completing a whole project?
NEW: Prompts for Content Creators!
Content Creator Prompts:
What would it look like for me to practice creating, just for myself?
How could I work practice into my daily routine?
How might practice help me grow as a content creator?
If you're creating content for social or web, it's very easy to get into a rhythm of sitting down to create, then immediately putting your work out there. We have to feed the beast, right?!
But sometimes that pressure or expectation that whatever we're working on right now is going to be public soon creates more resistance, anxiety, and frustration in the creative process.
When we take time to practice and play without the intention of our creation being public, this allows our creativity to come out. And it allows us time to get into the mode. This is why I love encouraging people to journal--this is your private time to practice writing out your thoughts, feelings, and ideas! And this is also why I love the concept of Morning Pages from Julia Cameron. Give yourself time to create without expecting anyone to see it. Suddenly, you'll feel more inspired and more clear on what it is you DO want to share.
Create a social or blog post from these prompts
Give your audience a behind-the-scenes look at what practice is for you. Is it journaling? Is it sketching? How do you refine your craft or get into creation mode? Show them what you do, and encourage them to share how they practice.
P.S. The SECOND season of Soulpreneur Sundays is coming soon! Stay tuned for details and catch up on Apple Podcasts and YouTube. If you've listened, we'd love to hear your feedback!