Mount Malarkey: Just Make Stuff.

Oh, I've heard all the excellent reasons for not working today. I've created many new ones, too. Malarkey, every last one. If we can get into the studio, we will get work out of the studio.

So, here are ten little reasons to go to the studio that have nothing to do with making things, and everything to do with fooling yourself into accidently working on a project. Make a twenty minute commitment to go to the studio. Set a timer and do ONE of these things for fourteen minutes:

1. Sweep the floor.
2. Doodle with your non-dominant hand.
3. Take snapshots of your work-in-progress.
   
4. Pick one square foot of clutter (on your desk, in a file cabinet, near your drawing board, on your workbench) and clear it out.
5. Throw three useless items away. (old paint tubes; scraps of wood, paper, yarn, fabric, glass metal or other material you hoard but don't use; dried up pens or markers; old catalogs)
6. Play one favorite recording.
7. Put your feet up and relax.
8. Brew & drink one cup of tea, coffee, or chocolate.
9. Drink twelve ounces of water.
10. Maintain one tool. (Sharpen a chisel; restore a neglected paint brush; flatten a waterstone; lubricate a machine or airgun; empty the trash baskets or dust collectors)

With your last six minutes, pick one:

1. If you have a current project, go look at it. Rapidly write down three items (preferably on a white board) about what you need to do next on it. Look hard at that list. Can you do any one of those tasks now? If so, do it. If not, write down one reason next to each of those tasks. Can you (will you?) do anything about any of those items? If so, do it. If not, you are free to leave for the day.
   
   
2. If you do not have a project in progress, rapidly write down seven deeply daft ideas for your next project. Put them on little scraps of paper, toss them in a box dedicated to this purpose (or add them to a box you've already started), mix them up & pull one out. Rapidly, jot down three good reasons for assigning this project to a student. (You may have to dig a lot!) Can you make yourself that student? Have you shaken loose any ideas? If so, try to capture them in whatever way makes sense for your discipline (sketches, outlines, prototypes). If not, you are free to leave for the day.

This process will either get you going for the day, or it will focus your mind on why you are blocked from further progress. Even if you find yourself leaving after twenty minutes, you will create a little puzzle that will roll around in the back of your mind until you find a way to resolve it.

Tomorrow, make the same twenty minute commitment and see what pops out.