QotW: How do you motivate yourself to be a doer rather than a dreamer?

[Pres]

Hi folks, even though there was no QotW in the pool, I did receive an email with a good question to ask from @Bam2015: 

 have good intentions to work on pottery in the evening, but after a long work day I'm tired, so instead of working on pottery projects, I spend time on Instagram looking at pots. While I learn a lot and it's entertaining, I realize that it's not very productive. 

So my question, how do you motivate yourself to be a doer rather than a dreamer? Feel free to revise, or if it's not in line with what you are looking for, I understand.

I know how this went years ago. I was teaching school HS full time, just barely making ends meet when I started doing the Penn State festival. I had shown my pots at local shows and sold some. I had also joined the local PA guild of Craftsmen, and was the head of the jurying committee. The Penn State festival is in mid July, and the same weekend as the Alumni weekend. At the same time they opened up the rules for the locals to jury in with their pieces in person. I started producing in the middle of the early Spring in the garage, heated with a kerosene heater. I would get home at 3-4pm, turn on the heat, go in to change, then get out and throw til dinner, usually at 6pm, then throw til 11pm. Thing is, I am not a good judge of time, and often I would work until 2, get up in the morning and do it all over again. It was joyous at first, then work, then drudging. To do the festival, rumor was 10K of stock was needed to properly do the show. I really worked hard for months to get there. In early Summer as soon as school was out, I was in the shop everyday for all day often working before breakfast, and til 11pm or longer. My wife and one of her friends learned to dip glaze, and I sprayed color and did calligraphy for decoration over the white bristol type glaze. 7 year I did the show, until my wife was burned out, and was I. In the end, it really made me better at everything, but I realized in the long run, I loved to teach, loved to make pots, but wanted to make pots for myself. . . whether I kept them, sold them or not.  Hope that last statement makes sense since it is not as simple as it seems.  If being a doer is in you, then I believe you will do, being driven is inherent if you love it, but how do you sustain that if working two jobs.  

So,  QotW: How do you motivate yourself to be a doer rather than a dreamer? 

 

best,

Pres

[Sorcery]

I think it's counter productive to think looking at pots is counter productive.

That's the mindset I stay in.

Sorce

[Mark C.]

Whats a dreamer? Always been a doer-I think some dreaming skills may help me-lets see drinking my expresso now I'm dreaming of finishing all my work today-only have one hand so work is slow.I am dreaming about this cast coming off-only 5 days left then it a tempory cast for two weeks and rehab on the thumb will start. clay throwing still a long ways out-wait thats a dream.

I do dream about being underwater if that counts

[liambesaw]

Set a schedule and adhere to it.  If I'm potting this week I will write down what I need to accomplish and then when I put the kids down for bed, I go out to the shed and do it. 

This can mean making pots, decorating, glazing, etc.  But it can also mean cleaning, organizing, taking photos, listing items on my website, filming or editing video, etc.

Just about everything in my life outside of work and family is pottery themed.  I stay away from social media to avoid having my ideas and styles tainted by others.  I do use it to post my work and answer questions, but that's all.  It can be a big time suck if you let it.

[Hulk]

Likely as many takes on your/Bam's question as there are potters (plus those dreaming of being potters).

While dreaming/doing can be exclusive - opposed on the "doing" continuum* - per the core o' this week's question, my thoughts on it keep veering toward the dreams that drive doing.

I'm well into my third year of retirement, happy to be where I am, and looking back, gave up a lot for it - nights and weekends burned to complete my second degree, restore and remodel properties (our several homes) so we may be able to sell at a profit someday, and work, work, work (including working away from home - out o' town). In the world of 24/7 production, one must, etc. Now, the "must do" is between my partner and I, and no one else - no one that's a regular base human creature, that is.

The dream, dreaming is important, whatever Hamlet say. 

Any road, to the question, I am competitive, to a fault, hence, to get "doing" going, a smidge of competition, whether real or imagined, doesn't matter, I'm all go.

Pottery is a hobby for me; I don't see that changing. Motivation to do isn't a big deal for me. For those whom motivation looms larger, may I suggest looking at the big picture - decades down the road, what's your dream? Like the song says, "You gotta have a dream, if you don't have a dream, How you gonna have a dream come true?"

Aaaand, balance, priorities.

 

*pronounced continue-uhm; Webster on continuum:

: a coherent whole characterized as a collection, sequence, or progression of values or elements varying by minute degrees

"good" and "bad" … stand at opposite ends of a continuum instead of describing the two halves of a line

— Wayne Shumaker

[GEP]

My motivation source is similar to @Pres's answer: Give yourself a deadline. Shows are terrific for this. Once it's confirmed on your schedule, you have no choice but to get ready for it. 

With all of last year's shows cancelled, I had to create my own substitute events, but they worked the same way in terms of giving myself a deadline. 

[Callie Beller Diesel]

I like deadlines....to a point. Motivation for me can be a complicated thing, because I have ADD (inattentive type, so no H). Not enough on my plate, and I slip into the mindset of there are only 2 times: Now and Not Now, and anything that doesn’t have to happen Now isn’t happening today. Too many deadlines, and the overwhelm leads me to freeze. So for me, rest is something I’m finding I have to be VERY conscious to add into my schedule. Maintaining a steady pace of work and setting limits on my work day is becoming increasingly important to me. I’ll admit it’s a work in progress. I am aiming for a steady rate of work, even if the tasks vary from day to day, or week to week. 

I find when I hit the place where I’m burnt out or too tired, creativity and motivation go right out the window. And that’s not good, because it can take a long time to get yourself back to a place where you can work again. I’m finding self care is mandatory, and that includes but is not limited to: rest, “work hours,” exercise, good diet, going outside, doing things that don’t involve work sometimes, talking to people who aren’t artists, talking to people who are artists, limiting social media and other screen time, good sleep hygiene, knowing limits of patience/time/resources/capabilities and communicating them properly, etc etc. 

If I’m going to be an artist, my job is to be able to call forth my creativity when I need it, and in order to do that, I need to be fed properly, rested and have my limbic system more or less under control. So self care becomes non-optional. That can be a surprisingly challenging thought to internalize in a culture that values overwork.

[Bam2015]

I'm enjoying reading everyone's responses. When I thought of this question, I wasn't necessarily looking for personal advice, but rather hoped that it would be thought provoking while at the same time provide insight to hobby potters and it has.  

On 2/28/2021 at 4:21 PM, Sorcery said:

I think it's counter productive to think looking at pots is counter productive.

That's the mindset I stay in.

Sorce

Sorce, I agree with your response. 

Betty

[LeeU]

I don't. 

On 2/28/2021 at 2:21 PM, Pres said:

how do you motivate yourself to be a doer rather than a dreamer? 

 Someone else has got to do for me what I can not do for myself.  Bless, them, one and all! The mentors, the ass-kickers, the nudgers, the badgerers, the bribers, the seducers, the cheerleaders, the chastisers, the carrot-holders, the stick-holders, the muses & the jump-starters. Bless them all.

[Pres]

I could spend a life, learning, and never producing, but then where is point in that if the learning produces nothing but itself.

 

best,

Pres