Inspiration vs. Motivation vs. Discipline

There has been a lot written about the above subjects and I certainly don’t have anything new to say about them that hasn’t already been said. However, I have found a balance that works for me, and I thought that would be worth sharing in the hopes that it might help someone who is struggling with finding balance. 

The current trend in the self-improvement genre is that motivation is not reliable and you have to develop discipline to get the job done. And waiting for the magical Muse of Inspiration is for the birds. For the record, I love the self-improvement genre - I’m all in. 

 Here is where I land. 

Inspiration is not the muse I rely on to decide when to paint, instead it is what I use to inform what I will paint. Inspiration is walking through the woods in the rain, smelling the salt air on the beach as the marine layer rushes in, or watching a beautiful sunset create a painting in the sky. Nature inspires and informs my art. I see beauty all around me and I want to capture it, keep it, record and preserve it through art. This desire to hold tight to all that is fluid is my inspiration.  

 Enter discipline. I’ve created a schedule around making art. When I was working full time and painting was still a hobby, it was easy to stick to a schedule because it’s all I wanted to do. Additionally, there was less time to paint, so that time was at a premium. Painting is still all I want to do, but there are other things that need to happen as well, like writing blog posts. It’s this schedule and the discipline in sticking to the schedule that make it all happen. 

To a point. 

Cue motivation. There are days that, while sticking to my schedule with deadlines looming, it all begins to feel overwhelming, or more than I have the energy for. I could force it, but that isn’t fun. And the point of throwing the 9-5 job out the window and taking a gamble on being an artist is to have fun. At least, that’s why I’m here; to have fun and enjoy the freedom of making art each day.  

 Finding the balance. When I am feeling overwhelmed and tired (the two go hand in hand) and not motivated to paint or do any of the office admin work that comes with being a working artist, I don’t force it. I make myself be in the appropriate place for the appropriate amount of scheduled time, but I do whatever I want in the moment. 

 If I’m scheduled to be entering receipts and balancing my books, and I just can’t, I’ll paint instead. If I’m supposed to be finishing a commission and not feeling it, I’ll paint something else, prep the surface for my next painting, enter receipts, or edit photos to post to social media. It all needs to get done, and sticking to a schedule makes it happen, but sometimes doing it out of order helps to avoid the monotony and keeps it interesting. 

I don’t experience this lack of motivation often, and I think it’s because I never make myself do anything I don’t want to do. At the end of the day, I want to do it all because I want to sell art, so I can keep making art, but sometimes I don’t want to do it right then. 

 Have you found a balance that works for you? If so, please share it in the comments. I’d love to hear how others manage the big three!