Should you force yourself to create?

Do you discipline yourself... and risk artistic death?

Hello, Noah’s readers!

Have you ever pondered about…

Should you force yourself to create?

Today, I want to talk about two kinds of people who follow very different approaches when it comes to creating.

The first group is–

#1: People who force themselves to sit down and create.

Even when they're experiencing a creative block, they would force themself to sit down, write, draw, or whatever their choice of creation is. It's hard… but it just works for them.

For a long time, I've tried taking this approach to creating. I tried over and over again to get myself to create by forcing myself– telling things to myself like, “I have to do this!”, “I have to finish this even if it's hard.”, “I have to work on this even if it's boring.”

But… It took a while but I eventually realised that forcing myself to create is just–

Not for me.

It doesn't work for me, and I didn't see any results or improvements by doing this. It always baffles me when I see people who just force themselves to create, and it works the best for them.

Like– “How??”

Okay, the second group of people I want to discuss is–

#2: People who are obsessed with creating.

The second group of creators I want to mention are people who are just deep in love with creating. They're passionate about their art. They anticipate catching a break from their work or school– so that they can go back to creating. And they naturally love and enjoy the process of creating.

Sometimes, they lose track of time, they enter the flow state very often, and it's almost as if they're addicted to creating.

…

Passion is like burning fire

I don't like forcing myself to create. Why?

Because,the way I see it, most creators are passionate. And their passion is like a burning fire. A lot of creators try to keep that fire from extinguishing.

Forcing yourself to create can feel like you're extinguishing the burning fire—the very fire that you're trying to protect.

Without using analogy, it's basically just avoiding doing things that will make you get tired of the thing you're passionate about.

I know there's a lot of, “Force yourself to do it. And your future self will thank you.” or “Be more disciplined.” or “Just do it!” kind of advice rotating around the internet.

But I, personally, don't find them very helpful.

…

I've always loved creating. I loved doing crafts with my friends, I loved showing the things I created to the grown-ups, and I constantly look forward to the time when I can create.

I want to be the latter group of creators I mentioned earlier– the passionate creators.

I chose to become someone who creates for the majority of their life, because I wanted to spend the majority of my life doing the things that I enjoyed doing.I chose to become a creator because I dislike doing boring, difficult, unfulfilling, and stressful work.

Forcing myself to create felt like doing work that I disliked.

I felt like, if I'm not careful enough, the fire would extinguish. Creating would start feeling like doing homework or a desk job, and what's the difference between creating and doing a desk job if they feel the same?

I find creating to be a fulfilling thing to do. It is the best way for me to spend my time. It's fulfilling because I'm passionate. If I'm not passionate, creating will feel as boring, difficult, and stressful as a desk job.

This explains why a lot of creators are hesitant to force themselves to create.

….

Why you must force yourself to create

Sometimes, the best thing you can do as a passionate creator is to force yourself to create.

You're probably confused like, “What?? Weren't you saying the opposite just a second ago?”

Yes, this point I'm bringing to the table is kind of contradictory to what I was saying earlier.

But now, I'm talking about the kind of situation where a creator is going too easy on themselves.

They get too lazy, they adapt a habit of procrastinating too much, they are more likely to get distracted very often and they are more likely to wound up spending hours on social media, playing games, or watching shows.

We don't want to waste most of our day by procrastinating when we have something to work on.

You'd spend the day procrastinating and saying excuses to yourself and justifying your procrastination by saying “I'm trying not to kill my passion,” or “I’m avoiding burnout by taking a break,” and at the end of the day, you'd feel guilty because you didn't make the progress you could've made.

(Don't feel guilty, because you're not alone. I've been through this a lot too).

So in conclusion, the question we need to ask is not, “Should I force myself to create?”

The question we actually need to ask is, “When should I force myself to create?”

To find the answer to this question, you'd have to experiment with yourself and your creation process, and observe the results.

Sometimes, force yourself to create and see if it works for you. Try doing it multiple times, try doing it twice a week, try doing it when you're in the right mood to force yourself. But most importantly, do it in moderation.

Don't force yourself too much that it leads to burnout or it kills your passion.

One common mistake passionate people make is that they underestimate the strength of their passion. They hold back too much, thinking their passion is fragile, and that it can be ceased just by forcing themselves to create for a week.

That could be true with little kids (as they don't have much patience) but teens and grown-ups are more stable and patient with creating, when they are passionate and keep persistently practicing and producing many, many small and occasionally big pieces, that they feel proud of.

When you leave your comfort zone for long periods of time and force yourself to create, and make progress, give yourself a pat on the back, and give yourself a reward. Be proud of the progress you made no matter how little it seems. To let your brain know that hard work pays off.

That's how you keep your passion from fading. That's how you reinforce your good habits and actions—by forcing yourself to some extent, making progress, rewarding yourself a little, feeling good at the end of the day, and by taking a moment to appreciate how far you've come.

…

About the author of this post

Hello!

I'm

Harshini

, an aspiring manga artist and a multi-passionate who likes writing. And also the one to write this guest post. Nice to meet you! If you liked this article, feel free to stop by my newsletter, Harshini writes, to read more of my writings.

Here’s my LinkTree if you're curious to see some of my stuff, including the link to my art Instagram: Harshini’s LinkTree.

I hope you enjoyed—or had a spark of inspiration and thank you for reading! ✨