Creative Director: Accomplishment

I Create: Creative Director of My Life.

As you know, I’ve been working on a painting project that is going to end up being a book cover. I’d written about it previously, May 20, talking about Data and making crappy art intentionally, so I would play with different palettes and techniques and get a feel for what I wanted to do, and then last week, I had found the sweet spot of getting to the other side of the anxiousness. The other side of the procrastination.

I’ve since made some real progress, particularly over this past weekend. I got up early today and got to work with some finishing touches and tweaks. I’m quite happy with how it’s turned out. Here I had been stressing about it for some time, until I realized, my style will come out, I just have to paint how I paint, simple as that. It is as simple as that. So the realization was a major shift and a big weight lifted.

I was just reading about ways to counteract the effects of staring at a phone screen, scrolling and what ‘they’ have now been calling, ‘brain rot.’ One main way to balance it out is giving your brain a sense of accomplishment. Just a few minor things, like make the bed, go and set your eyes on natural daylight before looking at your phone in the morning, stuff like that.

I finished my work on my painting this morning at 5:10am. I was feeling so great, really happy that I was able to get done what I had. I was really feeling the sense that nothing motivates quite like a Sense of Accomplishment. Feeling so invigorated. I swept my floors, washed up some things in the kitchen and prepared some laundry. And all before 5:30am. Then I went for my dog walk.

I’d heard a quote long ago, ‘your success is found in your daily routine,’ or a variation that says, ‘the secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.’ Accomplishment. If you have some sense of accomplishment. Getting things done, you feed off of that. It energizes. Our brains love it. And we accomplish more. Of course balance and rest are important and I’m a huge advocate for rest, i’m an introvert that requires my recharge time! But having things to accomplish is massive. Small things for the rest and recharge periods and then some bigger things that serve creating the life we love – the bigger things that are part of our True North goals. And we know how creativity begets more creativity, ideas grow more ideas. Accomplishment does that as well. I’ve had an idea for something that will be another accomplishment in the near future. Something I’ve decided I’m going to do, that I’m excited for and feel strongly about (details on that later.). I’m encouraging my boys to always have little things to accomplish – reading real books is something in particular I’m encouraging right now, it’ll give their eyes a break from the screen.

Until next week,

Devon