I have been finding it increasingly difficult to be creative when the pressures of life simply get in the way all the time. Let’s face it, most of us do not have the luxury of being able to focus solely on our art.

I remember while I was in college, we had a visiting artist (Stephen Richards, whose paintings sell for anywhere from $20,000 on up) come and give some demo’s and a short talk. During one of his demo’s someone asked him what it took to become a professional artist. His response was that he had a very supportive wife who made very good money…and it still took him over five years to really make money.

It’s easy to look at situations like Richards and say, “I can do that.” And we all like to think our art is good enough to sell for those prices. But if you can’t get past the day to day pressures of life you will never even have chance.

Just how do you block out life’s pressures?

The best thing (and sometimes the only thing for me to do) is to make it a habit. Set even just 20 minutes aside every day to sit with your sketchbook or your guitar or whatever your creative implement is. Spend that 20 minutes doing nothing but focusing on creating something.

Don’t get caught up in what it looks like or sounds like, just create. It has been proven that it takes anywhere from 2 weeks to 30 days to make something habit. But that is only if you do it every day at the same time. As soon as you take a day off, you start all over again. So no shortcuts.

Once this becomes a habit, the rest should fall into place. You have now trained your brain and body to complete this exercise regularly. It will actually help you to focus in other areas of your life also. The key is blocking out all the other stuff of your day. You will then start to see that you are creating even when it is not a set aside time.

5 other tricks for removing life clutter

• Go for walks – cleanses the soul
• Garden or mow the lawn – yard work is proven good for mental health
• Play chess – you can’t win if you’re thinking about bills
• Video games – some may disagree, but when was the last time you killed a orc while worrying about that meeting tomorrow?
• Meditate – always a great option to “escape” and clear your head.

So whatever you choose, get away from the news, the pressure, the boss and just create something!