photograph, the selby
i'm reading twyla tharp's book the creative habit and so far it's been a wonderful eye opener. it's full of helpful insights and exercises geared toward developing and keeping up creative thinking and daily creative 'habits'. one of the first exercises is to go without one distraction in your life for one week. some of her suggestions were to not look in the mirror, not watch the news, not talk (!), not look at the clock. i don't think i could function without any of those things for one week, but i think that's the point-i probably could function without those things and i could probably function better.
my major distractions are the tv, watching movies and my e-mail. i don't 'watch' anything while i'm in the studio, but i listen to it and it does sometimes become a distraction. i also don't check e-mail while in the studio and i can't not check it for a week because of my job. so beginning this week, i'll switch off the tv in the studio and be silent.
so what's your distraction? what keeps you from the studio or from working while you're in the studio? let me know what your distraction is and if you've gone a week without it. did it help you creatively? did you miss it or replace it with another distraction? please leave your answers in the comments section, i'm really curious about this...
My computer. Need it, love it, hate it. Regardless, it calls to me too much.
ReplyDeleteI gave up the cable TV in 2008 when I moved. I do not miss it. I feel I have evolved and am more productive and less bombarded by a medium so seductive and addicting, you don't realize what has happened until you eliminate it from your life. -- Judy
ReplyDeletegood for you, judy!! i know what you mean that only once that distraction is eliminated you finally understand how inhibiting it had become.
ReplyDelete