Using Procrastination Activities to Aid in Consistent Creation

Staying consistent is one of the largest hurdles any creative will have to overcome. Regular work in your craft is the only way to truly hone it, so this is one of the most crucial goals to achieve on your artist journey. When you are able to reach a point where creating is second nature, that’s when the real fun can begin. Art becomes less of a thing you have to be at your best to create, and more of a way to document how you’re currently feeling. Kinda like a journal, but way cooler.

Procrastination is the killer of consistency. All hope is not lost though, there is actually a way we can use this very human tendency to procrastinate, to our advantage. I have been a chronic procrastinator my whole life. From elementary school up until college, homework was done last minute, essays were typed the night before, and long term projects were avoided until the deadline was on top of me. I would miraculously still get things done, but it felt like unless consequences were bearing down on me, I couldn’t focus in on what I sought out to accomplish that day. The tough part about being a creator, is that 99% of people who make art have no deadlines or consequences at all. At the end of the day it is all on you to make your own goals and deadlines. For some this can be a freeing feeling, for others it can be a guaranteed hindrance of progress.

All of life is relative. Your internal experience is dictated by how your brain compares and contrasts your current possibilities. For example, if you were forced to run a mile, depending on who you are, that might seem like a very unpleasant and tortuous time. However, if you were given the option to either run one mile, or ten miles, the one mile seems pretty great now. In this case, your internal experience may be more positive running that single mile, knowing that the alternative could have been ten miles. This same exact principle can be applied to procrastination. If you keep this in mind, you are one step closer to achieving consistency.

In order to work with this procrastination, I have developed a strategy of having planned “Procrastination Activities” that come in a variety of forms. The way I go about engaging with these activities can look completely different depending on the day, but I will try to narrow them down to a few different categories for the purpose of this post. The main categories I have created are “Endless Activities”, “Immediate Activities”, and “Palate Cleanser Activities”. Each one of these can be employed during times of procrastination to hopefully take advantage of that lack of focus. If I am having trouble getting started on the main goal for the day, presenting my mind with one of these options as a direct alternative can typically get me into the swing of things and build some momentum.

Endless Activities are usually straightforward tasks that focus solely on building your skills mechanically as an artist, but don’t really have any ending to them. My main artform is music, so for me this encompasses things like practising my instrument, practising singing, rehearsing songs, or just messing around inside my DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) and seeing what comes out of me that day. A lot of times what causes us to procrastinate is the immense amount of important choices that we are going to have to make while doing the activity. This can be very draining, hence the tendency to avoid starting. The goal of these endless tasks is to think as little as possible, and get into a creating flow however you can with no true end goal in mind. For creatives outside of music this could look like freewriting, sketching, practising specific techniques, or maybe even just consuming other artists' art. Anything that can help you get into the flow and stop thinking so much.

Immediate Activities are activities that may result in an end product, but are essentially the smallest form you can muster. In a music based context, maybe this is just focusing on making a 4 bar loop rather than jumping into working on an entire song. Give yourself a goal that you know you can reasonably achieve in a few minutes. Instead of embarking on painting a masterpiece, let yourself be satisfied with making a silly drawing that serves no purpose other than entertaining yourself, here and now. Sometimes these tiny projects can be the stepping stones to a larger project, or just the inspiration you need to return to the main project at hand.

Finally, we have what I call Palate Cleanser Activities. For these activities, you want to do something creative, but in an artform you don't usually create through. My go to for this is sketching. The goal here is to just get into the creative headspace, but hopefully with less pressure to perform. Since this other artform could be relatively new to you, it may be easier to treat it with less seriousness. Try to be a kid again, who creates because they want to explore, not because they want to improve. These activities could really be anything that draws you in as long as you participate with the intention of inspiring your creativity.

I hope these techniques can help you get some fuel in your creative engine and transform procrastination from a barrier, into a tool for consistent creation. Remember, the goal isn't to eliminate procrastination entirely, which seems impossible, but rather to channel it into activities that keep you moving forward, even if it's in small steps. By embracing these "Procrastination Activities," you can maintain a creative rhythm that feels natural and sustainable. Consistency doesn’t mean perfection, it means showing up regularly, even if that means starting with something small. Over time, these small, consistent efforts will compound, leading to meaningful progress in your creative journey.