Welcome to Mind Your Practice. I’m Beth Pickens and in this episode, I’ll talk about focus and productivity. What can you do to increase them for your practice and when you ought to accept limitations.
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THIS EPISODE'S HOMEWORK:
Ok, let’s talk about your homework. This episode’s homework sounds paradoxical but conflicting ideas can coexist at the same time.
First, I want you to think about your 40% capacity. What could you do in a day or a week in 2019? What does that look like if it’s reduced down to 40% right now - not forever, just right now? What can you let go of? What can become imperfect? Where can you have some help? What can be tabled until later?
Next, I want you to write a list of what you intuitively know helps you rest and recover and what you intuitively know is numbing out. Make two distinct lists.
Ok, now I want you to commit, in the next week, to a 24 hour period of no screens. If that’s not possible for some logistical reason, how long can you go? Try it.
Finally, I want you to build some creative practice space into your week, every week for the next month. Put it into your calendar, protect it in the shape of your week. Jealously guard it.
Let me know how it goes. I’d love to hear from you.
Mind Your Practice is produced by Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs. You can find out more about her practice at carolynpennypackerriggs.com
Ep. 2: Focus + Productivity
Welcome to Mind Your Practice. I’m Beth Pickens and in this episode, I’ll talk about focus and productivity. What can you do to increase them for your practice and when you ought to accept limitations.
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Hello artists. I’m writing and recording this podcast during month four of being quarantined in Los Angeles. It’s less than two months into the increased mobilization in the Movement for Black Lives. Problems with focus and productivity have been on the minds of every artist I know. These are evergreen issues for sure; I’ve never talked to an artist who didn’t bring them up. But I have noticed a definite uptick in anxiety surrounding focus and productivity in 2020. And that makes sense because who the fuck can concentrate on their art right now?
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This may seem a little counterintuitive but I first want to talk about reducing your expectations for being focused and productive. Since the pandemic began in the US, I’ve asked my clients to accept the concept that their capacity has been reduced to 40% of what’s normal for them. What I mean by this is however much you can focus on a task, the length of time you’re “productive” in a day, the volume of things you can accomplish - I estimate we are at about 40% of what is our individual norm. This is all observational by the way; I’ve conducted no studies.
But using the 40% capacity rule on myself has revealed this to be true and my clients and friends all agree. The larger circumstances surrounding us all simply decrease our ability to do shit. Of course, right? There is a lot on your mind. Depression, anxiety, and trauma are all very activated in 100% of the people you interact with in a day. You may find yourself extra tired after what used to be a typical day. Maybe your to-do list has gone sluggish or silent. Or the things you think you ‘should’ be able to do during a pandemic just don’t seem to happen, day after day.
Here’s the thing: you don’t have to be productive during a pandemic. This experience isn’t something to conquer, master, or obliterate. We have to navigate it carefully, tending to ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities and that will simply zap us of most of our energy each day. Mundane tasks and decisions are fraught and confusing now; depending on where you live, getting groceries is charged and emotional while also being a weird logistical puzzle.
The daily tasks of living probably take a lot more out of you than they did in 2019. You are excused from being a quarantine superhero. Or rather, what makes a quarantine superhero can become a lot more expansive.
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Now, we still have to do things in a day, though. Right? You have a body that must be fed, cleansed, cared for. You have an emotional landscape and mental health that must be attended to. You might live with people or have loved ones that you regularly check on. Kids, chosen family, elders - there are people you probably care for to some degree. You live somewhere and that place has to be somewhat clean and livable. You might have a paid job that you’re working from home or going to regularly. You have activism and community commitments that are vital. And you have a creative practice that is central to your ability to process being alive. That’s a lot and likely an incomplete list.
In the spirit of the 40% capacity guideline, I suggest you accept that you cannot do all these things in a single day. Instead, the week is the unit of measurement. What can you tend to across the week? Which among your many obligations to the self and to others can be turned down slightly. Maybe you give it 90% instead of 120%. In fact, that’s a regular suggestion I give to all my artist clients who are employed in realms outside of their creative practice - give the job a solid B instead of an A+.
On any given day, during our 40% capacity era, whatever you have to do that day - work, errands, oversee kids’ school from home - that might zap you of your limited focus and productivity. And that’s ok. After you do the unmissable tasks, you may be spent. You may need more rest, more mindless activity, more recovery than you used to. This is completely acceptable. Your to-do list each week may be shorter and more basic than it used to be. Let that be ok. How can you let yourself accept your reduced capacity?
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There are also tactics to help you, even in this very special year of 2020, be more focused and productive. And for some listeners, this will be what you need. First, accept limited capacity and then try some methods to increase focus and productivity. But do it in that order, please.
Again, this may sound counterintuitive, but first you have to make sure you're resting and recovering enough. This is different from numbing out through drugs, alcohol, sex, food, social media scrolling, TV, online shopping, or the many other substances and activities that lead to a little escapism. Numbing out is helpful but it’s not the same as rest and recovery. Instead, I’m suggesting sleep, napping, any quiet nature time you can access, meditation, reading, puzzles, cooking - you probably have some deep intuitive knowledge of what helps you feel truly rested and recovered. When you create space and conditions for real rest, when your mind and body get the soothing they need, you’ll find yourself more focused and refreshed. You can do a little bit more.
This is like NO Duh but really, reduce your screen experience to the extent you are able. Phone, tablets, computer, TV, all of it. And this is a little wild but what if you cease from any screen experience for 24 hours once a week? Or even just once a month? I would wager real dollars that this will restore large amounts of focus. And you’ll find yourself both wanting and able to do more.
And for more focus within and productivity for your creative practice, habit and behavior change are key. If you show up regularly for your creative work, regardless of how you feel, whether you want to, if you are concentrating or not, the habituality of a regular practice will help you grow your focus, strengthening it like a muscle. Seriously, the more frequently you show up for it, even in short bursts, the deeper you’ll be able to drop into the practice.
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Ok, let’s talk about your homework. This episode’s homework sounds paradoxical but conflicting ideas can coexist at the same time.
First, I want you to think about your 40% capacity. What could you do in a day or a week in 2019? What does that look like if it’s reduced down to 40% right now - not forever, just right now? What can you let go of? What can become imperfect? Where can you have some help? What can be tabled until later?
Next, I want you to write a list of what you intuitively know helps you rest and recover and what you intuitively know is numbing out. Make two distinct lists.
Ok, now I want you to commit, in the next week, to a 24 hour period of no screens. If that’s not possible for some logistical reason, how long can you go? Try it.
Finally, I want you to build some creative practice space into your week, every week for the next month. Put it into your calendar, protect it in the shape of your week. Jealously guard it.
Let me know how it goes. I’d love to hear from you.
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Thanks for listening to Mind Your Practice and be sure to subscribe so you get all the bonus episodes coming your way. If you are an artist who likes to be told what to do, I am more than happy to boss you around through email and social media. You can find me on Instagram at @bethpickensconsulting. Join my mailing list on my website bethpickens.com. Thanks for listening and keep making art.
Mind Your Practice is created by Beth Pickens and Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs. Beth Pickens