Micro-ambition and the art of creative focus

Looby Journal #14: Mind tricks for getting things done.

Hello Wednesday friends,

I have blocked off time for this writing session, set a Pomodoro timer, and am now writing a stream-of-consciousness piece for your enjoyment. I have been so focused on creating and learning about comics lately that changing tack and writing essays is challenging. Expect more comics from me here soon, but today I want to talk about this thing I do, this thing called hyper-focus. I know it’s not uncommon for creative people to feel the creative energy ebb and flow. Shiny new things sparkle and distract, luring us to drop whatever we are working on and dash off in another direction. Who else is guilty of buying new art supplies for every new hobby they become intrigued by? Who else dives deep and then gets bored and dissatisfied? In the last few years, I have made films, ceramics, nfts (god help us), miniatures, a vegetable garden, soft toys, and played 1000 hours (not exaggerating) of Animal Crossing on the Nintendo Switch. And now I am writing and drawing comics. I have latched on to each, and for a period of time, I have dedicated my entire life to the process. Then the interest wanes, and I move on to something else. Sometimes I return and dive back in again, maybe even years later, but not before a brief period of hating on it with an intensity usually only reserved for the sound of mosquitos in the dark, pop-up ads, slimy vegetables in the bottom of the fridge, or Rebecca from Ted Lasso’s ex-husband. 

Scatter-brain, day-dreamer, flibbertigibbet

My periods of hyper-focus are for short spurts of time; I’m estimating around six months, maybe a year or two, tops. I don’t quite know how to encourage myself to keep working on things for longer. I intensely enthuse, exhaust my brain, and then strongly reject the activity (mosquitos, pop-ups, slimy veg, Rupert). I have done this my whole life and have felt so much guilt and self-loathing for the longest time. “Focus! 10,000 hours to become an expert! Slow and steady! Get organised for success! Be tenacious!” All those things… they just seem to elude me. What I end up doing is burning hot, and then not. Recently I have started to accept that this is how my art-practise works, part of how my life works. I try to embrace it and go with the idea that I am project-based, that I am, for want of a better term, micro-ambitious. I create short-term deadlines and small, achievable projects.