Time management ...

... lack of motivation, being motivated at the right time, making time, motivating yourself, kicking yourself, pushing yourself, stopping yourself because it's the middle of the night, closing the door behind the dirty dishes, opening the door to the supplies, going through drawers to find the right component to inspire you, to motivate you, closing a drawer, giving up for today, this week, this month, taking a time out, feeling the urge to create so much that your fingers tingle ...
I could go on like that for a while, I think.
This month the blog carnival at the Jewelry Artisans Community is about time and motivation.

Let's start with time management because it will be shorter.
It's simple. I work part time due to health reasons, three days a week. On these days being creative is a bonus. It usually doesn't happen because I fall asleep, wake up again at a weird time and it just doesn't make much sense to even pick something up. There is no time that has to be managed.
My weekend, however, has the time, but no rules at all. Other than having to be up in time for the delivery of my veggie box on Fridays, that is. And to make time for the 500 times my cats want to eat, snuggle, play, be silly, sit on my lap and claw my knees. And of course I won't do laundry in the middle of the night. That's it, though. Everything else is completely open.
If you come to visit me, you have to be aware of that. I might be all wrapped up in wire or I just dropped the loom to spontaneously mop the kitchen. I'm a free spirit! My Swabian grandmother would probably have found a different word for it .... ;-) In case you don't understand what that means, Swabians are (in)famous for their homemaker qualities, at least the older generations.

Now let's talk about motivation.
We talked about creative blocks before, but what if you have a whole book of ideas, even a whole library, what if your brain is buzzing with patterns and you are still not able to lift a finger to bring them to life?
In fact that's the situation for me right now and it pretty much came from one minute to the other. It was like my whole system just went down like in a blackout. Pow. I have a portrait on my loom, I have several bead colors laid out for a challenge piece and a vague pattern for it in my head. Maybe it would be time for some wire playing, but my wrist can't take crocheting right now.
What do you do to get your motivation back? I used to think it would come back if I pushed a little, loomed a row or four, just enough to see progress and bring me back on track, but experience showed me that I usually have to loom fourteen rows counting the repeats of the ones I had to rip out again.
Ever since I haven't been worrying about my motivation so much. I found that sometimes I do need that time out. And sometimes it comes back within minutes or hours, triggered by, well, I honestly don't know what, but then I know now things are going to work out much better. 

Elevator music ...

Yup, guess what. My motivation came back and my challenge piece is finished. I wish I could pinpoint the moment when it happened and why, but no, it's a mystery.
Maybe it helped just writing about it.

I am completely aware that this post didn't help you much now, except in learning a little more about me. Perhaps knowing that you are not alone with your own experience helped you, and perhaps that is just the little push you needed. If not, enjoy that time out a little more. Do other things you feel like doing and who knows, your motivation may be just around the corner having a party with your muse, almost ready to go back to work.

Do you want to know what other JAC members have to say about this?

Violetmoon's Corner
Jewelry Art by Dawn
The Crafty Chimp