How to Force Yourself to Draw (Almost Everyday)

Embarking on a creative journey, such as drawing, is a rewarding endeavor that allows us to express ourselves and tap into our imagination. However, maintaining a consistent drawing practice can sometimes pose challenges, especially when motivation wanes or life’s demands take precedence. The desire to cultivate a habit of drawing almost every day is an admirable goal, one that requires a blend of determination, strategy, and self-awareness.
In this article, we delve into effective techniques and approaches to inspire and motivate yourself to pick up that pencil or stylus regularly. Whether you’re a seasoned artist seeking to rekindle your passion or a beginner aiming to establish a creative routine, these insights will help you navigate the journey of how to force yourself to draw almost every day.
Why You Should Draw Almost Everyday
Drawing every day can be a fulfilling and rewarding practice that allows you to enhance your skills and tap into your creativity. Regular practice is essential for improving your drawing skills. Just like any other skill, drawing requires consistent effort and dedication to see noticeable progress.
The more you practice, the better you become at understanding proportions, shapes, shading, and other fundamental aspects of art. Regular drawing helps develop muscle memory. Your hand becomes more familiar with the movements required to create various lines, curves, and strokes, leading to smoother and more controlled drawings. With consistent practice, you develop a consistent technique. This means that your drawings will have a cohesive style and a level of quality that improves over time.
How to Draw Almost Everyday
Drawing almost every day requires a balance between motivation and discipline. Both factors play crucial roles in establishing and maintaining a consistent drawing practice. Drawing based on motivation often stems from a genuine passion for art. If you’re motivated to draw everyday you will be very productive and get really good at drawing. Motivation is a good thing and if you’re motivated to draw everyday you’re very lucky!
The problem is that most people aren’t motivated to draw everyday. That is why discipline is much more importent compared to motivation if you want to be productive or get good at something. If you draw just for fun as a hobby, just draw when you feel like it, dont force yourself to draw. But if you want to get good at drawing or if you have a goal with your drawings then you need discipline!
Discipline vs Motivation
Let’s explore the advantages and disadvantages of using motivation and discipline to draw every day.
Advantages of Motivation:
- Intrinsic Joy: Drawing based on motivation often stems from a genuine passion for art, resulting in a more enjoyable and fulfilling creative process.
- Creative Exploration: Motivation encourages you to explore new ideas, subjects, and styles, leading to artistic experimentation and growth.
- Higher Quality: When you’re motivated, you may produce work of higher quality since you’re genuinely invested in the process and outcome.
- Natural Flow: Motivation often leads to a natural flow of ideas and creativity, allowing you to express yourself more authentically.
Disadvantages of Motivation:
- Inconsistent: Motivation can be inconsistent and fleeting. Relying solely on motivation might lead to irregular drawing habits.
- Dependency on Mood: Your motivation to draw can heavily depend on your mood, making it challenging to create on days when you’re not feeling inspired.
- Lack of Progress: If you draw only when motivated, you might miss out on opportunities to practice and improve during less inspired moments.
- Risk of Burnout: If you push yourself to create only when you’re highly motivated, it can lead to burnout as the pressure to constantly feel inspired mounts.
Advantages of Discipline:
- Consistency: Discipline ensures regular practice, leading to steady improvement in skills and technique over time.
- Skill Development: Consistent drawing through discipline allows you to focus on deliberate practice, leading to gradual mastery of various aspects of drawing.
- Less Reliant on Mood: Discipline enables you to draw regardless of your mood, helping you build resilience against creative blocks.
- Long-Term Growth: The cumulative effect of disciplined drawing leads to significant growth and progress over the months and years.
Disadvantages of Discipline:
- Potential Lack of Joy: If discipline becomes rigid, drawing might start feeling like a chore, potentially diminishing the joy associated with creating art.
- Risk of Burnout: Pushing yourself to draw every day, regardless of external factors, might lead to burnout if breaks and rest periods are not incorporated.
- Artistic Stagnation: Overemphasis on discipline might discourage experimentation and exploration, resulting in artistic stagnation.
- Pressure to Perform: Strict adherence to discipline might lead to performance anxiety, especially if you’re not satisfied with your output every day.
How to Force Yourself to Draw Everyday
Discipline is not something that you are born with; it is a trait that is developed over time through conscious effort and practice. While some individuals might have a natural inclination toward being disciplined, it’s important to understand that discipline is a skill that can be cultivated and strengthened through consistent actions and habits.
Forcing yourself to draw every day might sound challenging, but with the right strategies, you can turn it into a rewarding and sustainable habit. Here’s how:
Self-Awareness
Developing discipline begins with a deep understanding of yourself. Take time to reflect on your strengths, weaknesses, aspirations, and areas that require improvement. Identify specific aspects of your life where discipline can lead to positive outcomes. This might involve recognizing habits that hinder your progress or pinpointing goals that you’ve been wanting to achieve.
Goal Setting
Setting well-defined and achievable goals is the cornerstone of discipline. Clearly outline what you want to accomplish and why it matters to you. Break down larger goals into smaller, manageable steps. Having a roadmap gives you direction and a sense of purpose, making it easier to maintain discipline in pursuit of your objectives.
Commitment and Consistency
Discipline involves a steadfast commitment to your goals, even when challenges arise. Make a personal commitment to consistently engage in the actions required to achieve those goals. Whether you’re feeling motivated or not, follow through with your commitments. Over time, this consistency ingrains discipline into your daily routine.
Start Small
Begin your journey to discipline with achievable tasks. Setting the bar too high initially can be overwhelming and lead to burnout. Instead, focus on one or two small habits that you can integrate into your routine. As these small actions become routine, you’ll gain confidence and be better prepared to tackle more complex challenges.
Create a Routine
Building discipline often requires structure. Design a daily routine that incorporates dedicated time for the actions aligned with your goals. Establishing set times for these activities reduces the likelihood of procrastination and decision fatigue. Over time, your routine becomes a powerful tool that supports your disciplined efforts.
Practice Delayed Gratification
Discipline often entails making choices that prioritize long-term rewards over immediate pleasures. Train yourself to delay instant gratification by evaluating the potential consequences of your decisions. This skill helps you resist distractions and make choices that align with your overarching goals.
Focusing on delayed rewards encourages you to invest time and effort into productive activities that contribute to your growth and success. Over time, consciously avoiding instant gratification strengthens your self-discipline, making it easier to stay committed to your goals.
Here are some examples of activities that fall under the category of instant gratification and that you should avoid if you want to be productive and reach your goals:
- Social Media Scrolling: Spending hours scrolling through social media platforms provides instant entertainment and engagement, but it might lead to reduced productivity and time wasted.
- Binge-Watching TV Shows: Watching multiple episodes of a TV show in one sitting offers immediate enjoyment, but it can consume a significant amount of time and interfere with other responsibilities.
- Unhealthy Snacking: Opting for sugary or salty snacks for the quick pleasure they bring, without considering the potential impact on your health and energy levels.
- Impulse Shopping: Making unplanned purchases due to a sense of excitement or desire for a new item, without thinking about the long-term financial implications.
- Procrastination: Putting off important tasks in favor of immediate leisure activities, resulting in added stress and potential negative consequences later.
- Skipping Exercise: Choosing to skip a workout in favor of staying in bed or engaging in a more sedentary activity, even though regular exercise contributes to long-term health.
- Fast Food Consumption: Opting for fast food for the convenience and immediate satisfaction, disregarding the potential negative effects on your overall health.
- Texting While Driving: Checking or responding to texts while driving might provide a sense of connection, but it can jeopardize safety and lead to accidents.
- Ignoring Long-Term Goals: Prioritizing short-term enjoyments over working on long-term goals, which can hinder personal growth and achievement.
- Excessive Gaming: Spending hours playing video games offers immediate entertainment, but it can lead to neglecting responsibilities and decreased productivity.
- Skipping Sleep: Staying up late for entertainment or socializing despite knowing that adequate sleep is essential for overall well-being.
- Avoiding Challenging Tasks: Choosing easy tasks or avoiding challenging activities that require effort and focus in favor of simpler, less demanding tasks.
- Impulsive Decisions: Making decisions without considering their long-term impact, such as quitting a job or ending a relationship based on momentary emotions.
Mindset Shift
Cultivate a growth mindset, which is characterized by a belief in your ability to develop skills through effort and learning. Embrace challenges and setbacks as opportunities for growth rather than reasons to give up. A growth mindset fosters resilience, allowing you to persevere even in the face of adversity.
Accountability
Share your goals with someone you trust—a friend, family member, or mentor. This person can offer encouragement, advice, and most importantly, hold you accountable for your commitments. Knowing that someone else is invested in your progress can provide an extra layer of motivation.
Self-Care
Physical and mental well-being are essential for sustaining discipline. Prioritize self-care practices such as adequate sleep, balanced nutrition, regular exercise, and stress management. When you take care of your health, you’re better equipped to maintain the mental clarity and energy required for disciplined actions.
Learn from Setbacks
Setbacks are an inevitable part of any journey. Instead of viewing them as failures, approach setbacks as learning opportunities. Analyze what went wrong, identify the factors that led to the setback, and use this information to adjust your approach. The ability to adapt and learn from failures is a hallmark of disciplined individuals.
Celebrate Successes
Acknowledge and celebrate each step forward, regardless of how small it might seem. Recognizing your progress reinforces positive behaviors and motivates you to continue practicing discipline. Reward yourself for achieving milestones, and use these rewards as further incentives to stay committed.
Balance Between Motivation and Discipline
Finding a balance between motivation and discipline is often the most effective approach. While motivation provides the spark of enthusiasm, discipline acts as the guiding force that ensures consistent practice even when motivation wanes. Ideally, combining both factors can lead to a sustainable drawing routine that fosters growth, creativity, and personal satisfaction.
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