It’s winter, you know this is a perfect time to work on that piece of art you’ve been meaning to get to for a while, now, but you just can’t seem to motivate yourself to work on it. Or maybe you haven’t made any art in a while and have been putting it off for whatever reason. Now is the time to get to it.Before you can “get to it”, it might be helpful to brainstorm why you’ve been procrastinating for so long. What if I’ve lost my edge? you might ask yourself. Or you might tell yourself I can’t think of anything to paint/write about/draw/sculpt/compose.

The “What If’s” and the “Cant’s” are some of the Motivation Murdering Monsters all of us have been familiar with at one time or another. Everyone has his own unique brand of Motivational Murdering Monster, but What If and Can’t seem to be all of their parents.

Let’s dive into five ways that you can destroy overcome any motivation killer.

1. Turn off your computer (and cellphone, and Crackberry). Unless you use your computer itself to make your art, shut it off for a while. Give yourself a specific timeline for how long it has to be turned off. The computer can be as big of a time-black-hole as television, so discipline yourself and turn it off. If you must leave it on, install and run some kind of distraction-killing software like the free JDarkroom for writing. Lifehacker has a complete list of free or low-cost distraction-killing software from which you can choose.

2.Tell others about the project you’re working on. It’s surprising the sense of responsibility that comes with telling others what you’re up to. When you tell others about the new sonnet you’re writing, the new painting series you’ve begun or the symphony you’ve started, they will naturally ask you about it when you see them. This helps you to work on said project because you want to be able to report your progress to your friends and colleagues.

3. Give yourself a deadline you can’t get out of. Some people work best under pressure. If you’re one of them, maybe this tip is the one for you. This is my tactic of choice lately. I have been spending so much time working on making this site what I want it to be that I’ve been neglecting making art. I have committed to a gallery exhibition opening in March, so I need to get cracking.

4. Play. Feeling stuck? Can’t figure out what you want to make, no matter what? Give yourself permission to make some really bad art. Stuff that would definitely make it into MOBA. Experiment with new mediums, color on the walls. Do something artistic that is outside your normal routine. Play for a specified amount of time, be it ten minutes or one hour. Then immediately begin working on your project.

5. Show Up. Just start. Start your painting (yes, I know paint is expensive). Start the next chapter in your novel. Throw some clay on the wheel and just start working. Whatever you do, just do the work, even if you don’t feel like it. Sometimes the most surprising things can happen when you just start making some art.
How do you break through the motivation blues? Let me know in the comments.

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