When my brain is at its absolute worst, I find that it’s often the result of the environment I’ve created for myself, and part of keeping myself motivated is creating a work environment for myself that helps me stay on track. 2020 is nothing if not ten years’ worth of news headlines packed into a single year, and if you’re anything like me, it’s hard not to check my social media feeds throughout the day to see what’s new. (Same goes for email.) I’m here to tell you—and myself!—not to do that. Will you come across a news article that you *needed* to see? Probably not. Will you come across something that sends you down one rabbit hole, and then another, and another? It’s likely.
To be clear, I believe we should all be cutting ourselves major slack right now; this is an extremely stressful time to be a student, which is stressful enough under ordinary circumstances. But I know that I get upset with myself when I reflect back on how I’ve spent my day and realize most of it was spent aimlessly shuttering between news sites and social media, and I suspect you probably feel the same way, too. So let’s be good to ourselves—and our dreams and goals—and set limits on social media and email use.
I think it’s also important to know yourself and your habits and routines and capitalize on the times of the day when you know you’ll be at your sharpest mentally. For me, that’s first thing in the morning, so if I have an important writing project to tackle, my ideal morning looks like this: wake up, do not look at my phone at all, eat breakfast, and write. Mason Currey has written several books about the creative routines of artists, musicians, and thinkers, and he offers an excellent weekly newsletter that covers the routine of a famous creative person each issue. I enjoy reading it and taking inspiration from people like Angela Carter and James Baldwin.
That leads to my last point for keeping your motivation alive: there are plenty of motivational newsletters and sites you can follow. Two of my personal favorites are “Brass Ring Daily” by Kara Cutruzzula and Austin Kleon’s newsletter and blog. “Brass Ring Daily” comes during the week and always contains a small bit of heartening encouragement to help you stay on track creatively. Austin Kleon, who’s written several books on living a creative life in general, leaves me feeling inspired when I read his work—he advocates for making habits out of the work you want to be doing and carving out time for the projects you care about.
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