Structured Unstructured Time

I spoke to some students up at the Revere Academy a couple of weeks ago and they asked some good questions about my creative process. I will share some of what I told them.

secret weapon: the timer.

I use my timer to help balance creative/imaginative time with business/nuts-and-bolts. I set it for an hour or sometimes even just 20 minutes and I know if I can just get through this small increment of time I can get started. Getting my head out of the daily worries and all the other tasks that constantly demand my attention, sometimes feels impossible. The timer helps me break the cycle of procrastination and also it reminds me to take a quick break. I also change the immediate environment with music, flowers and I like to change the scent of my studio. I like to use burning papers from Santa Maria Novella. The timer helps me enter into a state of flow taking me to a place where time doesn't exist. When the little alarm goes off I am usually surprised by how far along I have gotten. At this point I can put the timer away; I am over the hump and into my work.