I recently listened to a series by Oliver Burkeman called ‘Time Management for Mortals’ where he discussed the idea of deep work. I can’t be bothered going back and finding all the sources, but the isn’t his concept and he was drawing on it to make a point. If someone knows the original source, drop comment
He explained that many of the great thinkers and influencers didn’t create their greatest accomplishments by working 24/7, they did so by giving deep, undivided attention to their craft for only 3-4 hours a day. That isn’t ‘3-4 hour slots where you have time to work’- it is 3-4 hours of completely focused work, no distractions, no multi-tasking. He also said this wasn’t necessarily in a single block, it might be 2 hours in the morning and an hour in the afternoon, but what it was a focused and intentional.
I found this idea really comforting, especially since I have such limited time (don’t we all?). However, beginning to work like this highlighted two painful truths 1. The reality of how much time things take 2. How crap my attention span is after years of multi-tasking, 140 characters and scrolling.
Today I painted with the intention of doing deep work, and I could only mange two 1 hour blocks. I was fatigued by the end because of the concentration involved- usually I will paint for a few hours but I will flit around 10-15 minutes to check my messages or make some tea. Also, oils are not my comfort medium so they take more thinking for me. All this flitting around also hides how long a project will take. Dedicating this time made me see what I had ahead of me and it was disheartening. In the age of sped up videos it seems I should get this done in a few weeks… I think the size of this project (and all those petals) means I will be working on this for months.
Reality check, this is what life and art actually is, so what I need to come back to is the present moment enjoying my time creating and stop trying to be a ‘productive’ artist.