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2014 was a bit of a roller coaster. I did a HUGE amount of work on my house, but I didn’t finish my remodel (I’d honestly thought, in early spring, that I might move into the studio by autumn). My band played some great gigs and made some big improvements, but we also had to cancel to really exciting gigs because I broke a finger. I broke a finger. My neighbor staged the Terrific Goat Mystery, aka Goatdorf. I did recording for a thing that’s now an album! I drug E to my mom’s parents’ place in southern coastal Oregon for the first time. I coped with a few unsuitable-for-tumblr (i.e., involving other people whose issues are not mine to share) crises in an adult way, and while that was exceedingly difficult, I’m proud of myself. I filled up my sketchbook in a year, instead of the two it’s been taking me. I practiced and improved both my guitar and my voice. I wrote, including coming up with original fic seeds.
And I tracked it all.
The ‘Creativity Tracking Log’ spreadsheet that I started on a whim last New Year’s Day survived, against all odds, the entire year. It didn’t transform me into a perfectly productive monster, but it helped — sometimes in ways I wasn’t expecting. Not only did having a little color-change reward help motivate me to do more regular practice, but the diligent recording of both creative practice and really good excuses helped ameliorate the occasional depressive bouts. One common symptom of my down periods is looking back at my last day or week or month and berating myself for ‘not doing anything.’ With a fairly objective record of what I’d actually done always to hand, I couldn’t do that. Depression could not use that particular lie.
I still had a lot of times when I felt I should have done more, or more often, WISHED I could have done more… but it was easier to see where that was reasonable and the many times where it wasn’t. It was easier to balance the bad with the good, since I had it right there to look at. That’s a benefit that I’d never considered and deeply appreciate.
For me, this descriptive tracking seems to be a better tool than prescriptive goals or rules (like ‘don’t break the chain’ or word-a-day minimums). I’m absurdly thankful that I stumbled on the word-tracking spreadsheet that was my log’s genesis — THANK YOU, professional author who’s name I don’t remember!
I’ll post about the actual numbers later, but I suspect that’s only really interesting to me, while the ‘how it worked’… well, that might just help someone else, somehow.
I’m starting a new sheet for 2015, naturally!
And I tracked it all.
The ‘Creativity Tracking Log’ spreadsheet that I started on a whim last New Year’s Day survived, against all odds, the entire year. It didn’t transform me into a perfectly productive monster, but it helped — sometimes in ways I wasn’t expecting. Not only did having a little color-change reward help motivate me to do more regular practice, but the diligent recording of both creative practice and really good excuses helped ameliorate the occasional depressive bouts. One common symptom of my down periods is looking back at my last day or week or month and berating myself for ‘not doing anything.’ With a fairly objective record of what I’d actually done always to hand, I couldn’t do that. Depression could not use that particular lie.
I still had a lot of times when I felt I should have done more, or more often, WISHED I could have done more… but it was easier to see where that was reasonable and the many times where it wasn’t. It was easier to balance the bad with the good, since I had it right there to look at. That’s a benefit that I’d never considered and deeply appreciate.
For me, this descriptive tracking seems to be a better tool than prescriptive goals or rules (like ‘don’t break the chain’ or word-a-day minimums). I’m absurdly thankful that I stumbled on the word-tracking spreadsheet that was my log’s genesis — THANK YOU, professional author who’s name I don’t remember!
I’ll post about the actual numbers later, but I suspect that’s only really interesting to me, while the ‘how it worked’… well, that might just help someone else, somehow.
I’m starting a new sheet for 2015, naturally!
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no subject
Date: 2015-01-16 12:04 am (UTC)From:That kind of makes me sad, but at the same time...you crossposted. Hooray. :) Because you're one of the people I've missed in the mass Tumblr exodus that's seemed to really taken hold over the last year.
I'd be interested in your stats, if nothing else. I don't know if it could work for me ('creativity' isn't high on my priority list as it is yours, what with being a musician AND a visual artist AND a writer), but I enjoy observing the process in other people.
♥
no subject
Date: 2015-01-16 09:00 pm (UTC)From:As for stats, the tool I modified was originally just for tracking writing! I added more columns so that I could get a more complete picture of my time, instead of, say, not writing and then feeling guilty, when really I'd been super productive at something else. You could use it for anything you want, really -- just as long as you decided a standard numerical way to track it. I use wordcount for writing, time for art and music, and Arbitrary Numerical Scale for exercise (added this year).
Anywho, are you interested in the tool, or the stats? Or both?
*whispers seductively* spreadsheets...