WHY I DON'T FIGHT DISTRACTIONS IN MY CREATIVE SPACE - (Notes to self)
As creators in our different crafts, the power of a good creative space cannot be overemphasized, if you are going to spend hours on end in your craft, then it's normal to try to make your creative space conducive for yourself.
Although, our creative spaces can oftentimes come with its own set of distractions as we stray away gradually to other things, Most especially in the digital world where there is a major influx of content on our fingertips.
Personally, I also have attention issues when focusing on one thing for long periods, especially when am working on something creative, I often times find my self-straying away from what am doing.
In the past, I've read tons of self-help blogs that give advice on how to fight or stop distractions. Most of their talking points actually work for the people that possess some disciplined personality traits but people are different and a lot of people end up struggling with their distractions.
You can call me dreamy but I don't think everything has to be a struggle, especially when it comes to distractive thoughts, I believe in the Don't fight it Philosophy. This also stems from the Zen philosophy which teaches meditation and inner mind exploration.
In Zen philosophy, when it comes to negative and random thoughts, it is advised not to fight them because fighting them naturally creates more tension which defeats the purpose of meditation.
By just observing these thoughts with indifference, we can easily guide them to focus on the breath. There is a 1:42 min clip of some Zen philosophy below.
The same principle can be applied here, we know that distractions will always be there, we cannot magically wish them away. All we need to do is just understand our distractions, If you can be able to set the terms of your type of distraction, it becomes easy to tune it out and focus on your craft.
I'm going to use myself as an example. I design graphical illustrations and my distraction is mainly watching movies when I'm in my creative space. I oftentimes get carried away by that. I realized that I get distracted by visual cues.
By Understanding the root of my distraction, I decided to make my distraction my ally, so anytime I'm designing something with a particular theme, I watch movies with a similar theme. let's say, I'm designing something with a tech theme, I watch a tech-based movie.
Having a similar distraction to my craft, It becomes easy to tune out my distraction. Sometimes I get inspired from my distraction, sometimes I get triggered to continue my craft from my distraction, other times I just easily tune out the distraction as the movie play in the background.
Most eureka moments also happen when the innovator is doing something outside and similar to his craft, letting our self to get distracted but not carried away can help the creative process. For Newton, it happened in the apple yard, for Archimedes It happened in the bathtub.
I could remember when trying to draw some cartoons, I was watching the Simpsons. Then I began to imagine how I would look like in the Simpsons universe and that spawned my Simpsonization episodes on steemit. where I drew people as Simpson characters and had a lot of positive feedback from that.
I know my case could be an Isolated scenario since I'm the only case study here but maybe the same principle can be applied to other people facing distractions in their creative space. You can tell me in the comments what you think about this.
Thanks for reading friends, see you next time.
![dvote.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmP3mL7sAPk3qBvCARHZCK8RzReNdkgz6hYBxmrxDC3u32/dvote.jpeg)
This post is sponsored by @appreciator in collaboration with @steemitbloggers. Keep up the good work
Thanks for the support. shout out to @steemitbloggers @appreciator :-)
I like your theme: "A distraction is not linear. It's just an ally that hasn't come full circle yet."
Nice article.
Namaste,
JaiChai
You've got it my friend. be like water. :-)
This is a wonderful treatice on dealing with distractions! I love the line about how "giving banana to the monkey mind doesn't work!" The honorable Rinpoche explains things in a beautiful way! Your writing is very articulate and easy-to-read, so BRAVO! And THANK YOU for sharing this with your #steemitbloggers family! 😊
Thanks for your kind words @thekittygirl . am so glad you enjoyed reading this :-)
Im not very displined wheb it comes to distractions. One leads to another and then i forget what my original plan was. I am workimg on letting the thoughts come, acknowledging them and moving on. Sometimes I catch myself. Other times i argue with myself but given there is no winner this is becoming less common, which is a step forward.
The first step is acknowledgment, once you get to know those distractions and what triggers them, it becomes easy to tame them. thanks for reading my blog post :-)
You are most welcome. I am loving the stuff I find through #steemitbloggers. Thanks for the confidence boost. I am on the right track.
keep on being awesome, it's nice to meet a fellow steemit family 😄
Let me add to your case study and yes you are right! You just have to flow with creativity or else it can be difficult to 'force' it to happen.
Thanks for your input, am glad to hear your point. the flow of creativity is important indeed
As always great post @abmakko, I was pretty excited to see you upvoted my recent post so I thought I would crazy not to return the favor. Very well said, the workplace needs to be a place where distraction goes to die and focus can multiply fruitfully. Wonderful post, I have to hit this up with a treeplanter, my voting power is getting pretty low. Keep up the great work as always @abmakko! RESTEEMED/UPVOTED
Thanks for your support fam, I appreciate. am glad you enjoy my content 😊
Distractions can be an unexpected form of inspiration. Be optimistic :)
Nice post. upvoted!
Thanks for stopping by @jacinta.sevilla. I appreciate your input :-)
Good thoughts! It is such a strange and wonderful thing, when others describe their own creative processes... I find that the desktop begins inside my head... If I clear away the clutter there, then the ideas just flow...
Also, I find a little chaos to be both stimulating and character building?
I love your desk. somewhat similar to mine lol. It's pretty astonishing how people can create out of disorder. Thanks for passing by my post fam :-)
You always appear to have great thoughts in your head!
Thanks for the compliment :-) I tend to overthink things, am introverted and barely talk lol.
Most eureka moments also happen when the innovator is doing something outside and similar to his craft
^ true i get many great ideas for all areas of my life when I'm running for example:)
You've got it. there is something refreshing about it, that jolts the creative part of the brain. thanks for reading :-)
You are welcome! Keep up the good work on here. :)
You have been upvoted by the @sndbox-alpha! Our curation team is currently formed by @anomadsoul, @GuyFawkes4-20, @Steemitworldmap and @Martibis and @fingersik. We are seeking posts of the highest quality and we deem your endeavour as one of them. If you want to get to know more, feel free to check our blog.
We love making friends with monkey mind:)
This is a courtesy of @fingersik
Thanks guys. for rewarding my post. am glad you enjoy my content. much love :-)