Every. Single. Day.
I’ve been recording videos for the remake of my Procreate Animation class this week. I’ve been recording about 2 videos per day. Which is different to how I’ve done it in the past, which was to record as much as possible as quick as possible so that we could create the class as quick as possible.
The reason I started doing 2 hours per day is because this class overwhelmed me. I knew I had to follow my own advice and just start. With small steps. Every. Single. Day. I’ve realised that when something overwhelms me I procrastinate—for 2 years sometimes. I’m sure I’m not alone. This particular class overwhelmed me because the original has been taken by over 30k students, and because I haven’t made a class in over a year.
So I decided to spend about 2 hours every day working on this class. Whether that was writing curriculum, recording videos, or creating the graphics that go along with the class, I would spend roughly 2 hours. Setting this achievable goal every day has given my dopamine-hungry brain something to go after. It’s also reduced the pressure to perform on recording day. And my brain has stopped worrying about the bigness of the project. Basically, my brain now sees the project in 2 hour segments. I’m slowly inching toward the finish line in bite-size chunks.
Which brings me to another reason for this 2 hour rule. I know what happens when my ravenous dopamine-hungry brain sniffs the finish line: it’ll want to go all-in, full-on, 100%, until the project is finished. I don’t get much else done when I’m like this. I’m not present with my family, I stop responding to emails and texts, and I let other things slide—like eating healthy and sleeping. I don’t want to live like that. I want to be present, do my morning yoga, walk to work, and work on other creative projects—and not feel behind with everything once we’ve published the class.
This is my approach with doing yoga every morning. And when doing 100 Day Projects. And when reading books. I reduce the stakes, reduce the pressure, reduce the time-commitment, and keep plodding. Sometimes the point is not an end goal, but the practice in itself. And doing it daily(ish) helps with that. Your body and brain come to expect it and enjoy it. Now I’m finally doing it with big creative projects.
How I get things done is by working on them daily.
Every. Single. Day.
What could you transform from an all-or-nothing scenario into a small-chunks-every-day scenario?
More news from me:
My Dreamheadz NFT project minted out just a few days after my last post/email. Which was awesome! It took 4 weeks. It feels surreal now that all 1001 pieces have been purchased. I’ve been working on artwork for Dreamheadz owners since.
I’m travelling to Barcelona from 1–6 May. I’ll be attending and speaking at The Avalanche summit. Avalanche is the blockchain where most of my NFTs exist. If you have recommendations of things to do and see, please reply to this email!
I’ve planned out 3 live online Skillshare sessions for mid-end of May. The topic is NFT Success For Artists! I’ll send through details as soon as we lock them in.
❤️ Big loves
Rich from TapTapKaboom