3 Tips for Balancing Responsibility and Creativity

As a creative person who has been adulting for the past decade, the ordinary and mundane parts of my life multiply exponentially as the days go by. They have threatened to take over my creative outlets more than once and I found maintaining balance difficult. So how do I do it?

Get your finances in order

The inability to accumulate the resources necessary to meet your basic needs is one of the quickest ways to block ALL of your creativity.

In order to get the juices flowing and keep the fridge stocked you need to do a few things.

Get a job, specifically a non creative job. The reason I say this is because if you use your creative muscles all day at work you will have nothing to give to your artistry when you get home. Also it is a bonus if it is a job that isn’t physically demanding. Speaking from experience as a former fast food employee, a tired body does not lead to good recording or songwriting sessions.

Create two budgets, your current budget that matches the reality of your income and your expenses and a dream budget that includes things like marketing and studio fees. This helps you to get excited about where you are going and it makes the sting of cutting back expenses hurt a little less.

By doing this you will be able to track your spending, save and start to create a safe financial space that allows you to create without thinking about how you will afford to keep the lights on.

Time management is your friend

We all get the same amount of hours each day, but those who manage those hours wisely can change the entire trajectory of their lives. Use the calendar on your phone (or your planner if you like writing things out) and make a schedule for your week. At the end of the week go back over the week and review which days had the most stress and which days went smoothly. Do everything you can to increase the amount of smooth days. I call this the pace test. This allows me to figure out what is working and what isn’t. For example, I have tried recording music before work and recording music on the weekends. Although I have more time on the weekends to record, it makes me anxious because I feel like I’m still working (which I technically am) and that anxiety snowballs and makes it harder for me to go into the next work week feeling rested. But I wouldn’t have known that if I didn’t try both time placements for the recording sessions. Trial and error is the name of the game when it comes to optimizing your schedule.

Create an inspiring destination

The first two steps in this process are ordinary things that create a strong foundation for an extraordinary life. However if you don’t visualize the extraordinary life you are working towards you will get sucked into the doldrums of mediocrity. No one wants to live there. This destination needs to be at the forefront of your mind on a daily basis. Sometimes that will take the form of a vision board or visualization meditation session in the morning. Whatever form it takes for you, make sure you see the end goal daily.

Bonus: None of these tips will work without a perspective change

I accepted my imbalanced life.

I let go of my personal presuppositions about how I thought my quality of life, my bank account and my career would be by now.

Doing this really enabled me to take concrete steps to crafting the life I actually wanted instead of being frozen in regret. It all started with this question: What do you truly want your life to look like? Feel free to share your answer in the comments and connect with the people who have similar goals, there is room for all of us to thrive here!

Until next time,

Orianna Joy