Practicing Consistency

Drawing a little bit every day for 30 days

Consistency is the key to the success or as John Maxwell said once, “Small disciplines repeated with consistency every day lead to great achievements gained slowly over time.”

I am a huge fan of creating positive habits whether it is exercise, healthy eating, dancing, drawing or pretty much anything that has potential to enhance your life somehow. To create a habit, you should perform a chosen activity for about 30 days and after 30 days of deliberate effort, chosen activity will become part of your life.

As many other people, I struggle with consistency as well, especially when it comes to making a time for my daily drawing.

As part of my daily journaling, I decided to make a space in my journal for drawing, although I call it doodling to take the pressure off. The main rule is to put something every day in that dedicated space. There is no need for any masterpiece, just to fill the space with something, ugly, pretty, big, small, detailed, or rough, anything will serve the purpose of creating a positive habit of consistency. Just to draw something every day will be an achievement on its own in my mind.

Some of my “doodles” took longer, about 30-35 minutes, and the shortest one took me about 5 seconds. I was rushing to go to the bed as it was very late, and I was very tired but still determined to finish my drawing task for the day.

Two main questions popped up:

Was it worth it?

My answer to both would be YES, it was worth it, and I have learnt a lot.

I’ve managed to create a positive habit of making “me time” and doing something productive every day. Those priceless few minutes helped me to forget about busy and sometimes chaotic life and focus on something enjoyable happening in the moment. After each session I was more relaxed, had a sense of achievement and strangely enough I slept better.

Have I learnt anything from the experience?

Additionally, I’ve learnt to simplify things and be happy with whatever the outcome was.

As my mini daily drawing sessions were happening shortly before bedtime, I did not have very much time to overthink. So, I quickly grabbed whatever I found on hand and draw it instantly without thinking just to get it done. This forced me to deal with the situation as it was.

Being more spontaneous greatly enhanced my problem-solving skill which I found very handy. After all, drawing is not about putting some marks on a paper really but about making at least gazillion decisions.

More practice gave me more experience, and more experience gave me the confidence to deal with anything during drawing. As a result, my drawings were done faster from day to day, and with less pressure to create something wonderful. At that point I started to enjoy drawing more.

Sometimes not having a plan and go with the flow is a good thing. It takes a pressure off, and you can go and try something new, something completely different.

Figuring things out as they come will become a welcomed part of the process moving you forward as an artist.