How to stay Motivated

How to stay Motivated. 

I’m writing this article for the type of people who say that just can’t find motivation to:

Make a portfolio
Finish a painting
Work on their personal project
Etc.

I got three tips I’m about to write, and it’s just advice and things that I found useful for myself. If you are capable to do any of these things you should definitely try them.

Tip 1

Fear. Get rid of it. If you are fearful of the outcome it will unmotivate you immediately. Just finish whatever it is and think about how you can improve after. If you can’t see what you need to improve ask someone else to tell you. There is always room to improve, and if you go into a critique with an open mind you will grow exponentially.

Think of it like this. If you were running one lap, and half way through you stopped because you were afraid you were going to throw up or pass out, you will never really know how fast you can run that lap. You didn’t push yourself enough to know your limits. If you finished the lap and did it in, lets say 3 minutes, you can now train and try again. If you run 10 seconds faster, you can see improvement. If you don’t you can see whatever you were doing may need more time or isn’t working. But at least you can now see where you are at, and make a move.

Tip 2

Which brings me to my next tip, which is clarity. The lack of it will keep you unmotivated. If you don’t know what you are going to TRY to do to be motivated, you will never start. I like to make a game plan of the things I’d like to learn or improve on. Let’s say Tuesday I’ll go and do some studies in lighting, the next day anatomy. I set a time limit and follow through. Even if all I did was draw/paint from reference, I put in a good effort to improve myself that day.

Here is another way of thinking about it. If you are playing a role playing video game where you can level up, the goal is clear. Kill 10 monsters, you level up. So what do you do, kill 10 monsters and sure enough you LEVEL UP! Then it says kill 20 monster, and so on and so forth. The thing is that the game is giving you an artificial sense of achievement that propels you to stay motivated in it and keep playing. All you need to do is the same thing with schedules, and planning. Just say to yourself, if I put in 10 hours a week, I should level up in art. And you would.

Tip 3

And the last thing you should do to stay motivated is have fun. It doesn’t always have to be work or studying. It can just be dicking around and see what you come up with. Many of my personal projects have evolved from this. At first it started out as a test or some practice, but then it turned out great, and I had a blast doing it. So I would do more and more, and then BAM bunch of new pieces and art to show others. And be proud, even if they aren’t all that great, you had a moment of glory and that rewards you with self confidence to go on.

Imagine if you had to sit down and play a game of tag all day. I mean playing tag is fun, but noone is forcing you to play and if you were forced to play for HOURS that would be a nightmare. Being artistic and creative is fun by nature, so don’t force it. Just find the time to do it, and make it interesting and exciting to go on new frontiers. Try not to be bogged down by external pressure, and be motivated by personal growth and prowess. The more you do that, the more others notice. Trust me on that, it worked for me.

Good Luck,
AJ