"How do I find time for creative work amidst all of the other things I have to do?"

There are two versions of this question.

There's the "how do I make time for art in my busy everyday life?"

And then there's the "how do I make time for art in my full-time art business?"

I believe the answers to both of these questions are the same, so I'll tackle them as one.

The ironic thing about making art for a living, or even just committing to making more art in general - and with "art" I mean any creative practice, not just painting - is that we somehow end up with less time for our actual art.

I'm still not sure how this black magic works. It's as if the commitment in itself activates a curse. A sneaky kind of resistance. What used to be a pleasurable hobby that we somehow always found time for because we couldn't stay away from it... suddenly starts to loom over us. Demand things from us.

If we turn our art into a business, that comes with a new set of challenges. Namely, all of the stuff around the art. The admin work, the marketing, the book keeping, the email inbox, the logistics. I frequently hear full-time creatives say they spend maybe 10% of their time on their actual art. Yikes. But I can relate to this myself. Even though I run an art YouTube channel, and make courses about art, I still somehow find myself...not painting as much as I want. Because writing scripts, filming, editing, and marketing are not painting. Making something your business adds a whole slew of extra work on top of whatever it is you do or sell. That's unavoidable, and something we need to take into account before we turn a hobby into a business.

Life will always be busy, of course. We still have the same amount of hours in a day, but we need to allocate them differently. Sometimes, we have less time and energy for creative work because our life demands more from us, and what we need at the end of the day is to read a novel in bed, not sit down to paint or write. That's totally okay. I don't subscribe to the "make art everyday, no matter what" hustle mentality. We are human beings, not machines.

But when we go for months and years consistently not finding space for our art... that's when it might be time for an intervention.

So let's talk solutions. Or, as close to a solution I've found for myself, anyways.

First of all: a little is better than nothing. If the choice is between you drawing for 10 minutes before dinner, or not drawing at all, go for the former option. Partly because 10 minutes is better than nothing, but also because you'll probably sit for longer than 10 minutes once you get started.

The resistance is always the strongest before we get started. This is the classic hack that works for any habit: start really small and go from there. What matters is getting yourself to START, not how long you go or how much you do.

And secondly: put creative work in your calendar, and seriously protect that time. I love to-do lists and goals and plans as much as the next person, but if you really want to get something done, it has to go in your calendar. You must carve out time for it, even if it's just 10 minutes. And during that time, you're not allowed to do anything other that make your art.

We like to say that making art is important to us, but do our actions reflect that? Mine certainly don't, a lot of the time. Out of all the things I have to do in a week, making the art often comes in last. Because it feels too abstract. It doesn't have a deadline or a clear ROI ("return on investment"). It's not a quick and easy win. But it's still the cornerstone of my identity, life and business.

What works for me is to remind myself of why I do this. Why making art is important to me. Why it's part of who I am. Why none of the other crap matters if I'm not also practicing my craft, finishing paintings or stories. I remind myself of what making art feels like. How it calms or energizes me. How proud of myself I always feel afterwards, regardless of the outcome.

Then I carve out a block of time in my calendar, and when that time comes, I just get to it. No excuses. And if I just sit for 10 minutes, I still consider it a win.

That's the best way I've found to make time for art in a busy life.