Overcoming Resistance: By a Chronic Procrastinator
"Hello resistance my old friend, I've come to meet with you again" I say to myself as I'm writing this blog and as you've probably said to yourself when you make your art. It's hard to overcome resistance when there's the distraction of social media, TV, an endless amount of chores, and about a thousand other things we could be doing. It feels like there is an army of resistance surrounding you, and any move towards your creative goals makes that resistance harder and harder to overcome.
You don't have to be a professional artist to experience this. You might be someone who paints, or crochets, or makes indie games for a hobby. It feels good to do these hobbies, but sometimes the resistance of other things keep us from creating anything.
As children it felt so easy to pick up a pencil or a paint brush and to just start drawing. As an adult it's harder. Of course, as an adult you have other obligations such as work, chores, and taking care of pets or children. It's reasonable to feel too tired for your hobbies after keeping up with the demands of life.
Copy of "The Fallen Angel" made in a late night ferver. Acrylic on canvas.
However, I think there is something else, something bigger, that affects creative people from creating, and it's dopamine. Specifically, I'm talking about dopamine from social media. I recognize not everyone struggles with this problem, but many of you out there struggle with social media addiction. Especially with the addition of TikToks, Reels, and Shorts. Social media platforms are designed to keep our attention for as long as possible, meaning they're literally designed to make us addicted. This is sad, social media has the power to be such a positive thing. But, for myself, I felt like in the times where I was unemployed and depressed, it took my life away from me. I was too addicted to it, and I lost motivation to do anything else. Even if you work, social media fills the void of every silent, quiet moment of our lives. We are never bored anymore.
Which sounds great, but boredom is essential for motivating us.
A couple years ago I had moved into a new house and there was a huge snow storm. I was stuck at home because of the snow but also, having just moved in, no one could come out to myself to install my internet! Thus, three days of pure boredom went by. Did I mention that my phone also ran out of data? I truly could not access the internet for anything. I was so bored, I needed to something to fill the time! and thus, I had the most productive three days of my life.
I created art that I still love and treasure to this day and I actually read a book! Who knew reading could be so fun?!
A copy of an original artwork that I made during snowmaggedon depicting the toxic jungle from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Acrylic on canvas board.
Those three days taught me one huge lesson about social media in my life. My lack of boredom kept me from want to do more, to work hard, and to create something. Getting my little dopamine hits from TikTok was enough to keep me comfortable to not want to create anything.
All of this goes to say that resistance for young adults is stronger than ever before. If you struggle the point where it feels existential, just know you are not alone in this. It's dystopian the sort of mind control quick, cheap dopamine has on our brains and how companies utilize this to keep us hooked on their apps.
Resistance make us feel like we want to create something amazing, but we just can't. Then we start to believe that we never had the gumption to create in the first place. However, I'm here to tell you that in order to overcome resistance we have to have a perspective shift on the role of resistance in our lives.
When it comes to any achievement such as winning gold at the olympics or making a masterpiece, what makes people who make those things so great is the inherent resistance they have to overcome.
I know for myself, every time I reach a problem in my goals I'm reaching for that dang phone for that hit dopamine to compensate for the pain of the problem. I like doing that, I want to do it, but I know I shouldn't. To keep my phone away from me to focus on work actual feels hard. Let that sink in, just a simple act of putting my phone away feels hard.
The easiest of tasks feeling difficult increases the sheer abundance of resistance in young adults. However, it also makes competition less steep. Many people are not awake to their own potential and are okay with sinking into the consumption trap of dopamine. They aren't going to put forth the simple effort it takes to put their phone down. If you can do this simple thing, that puts you leagues ahead of so many people.
Overcoming resistance is necessary for creating art. I don't want to go as far as to say overcoming the resistance is easier now days, but just being able to sit down and get something done is extraordinary.
So, how can we get to that point? Because resistance shows up in our lives in so many ways, we need methods to manage it.
1. Identify the cause of your resistance
Resistance comes in more forms than I have mentioned. It's important to identify your areas of resistance. This can be anything from a physical object, like your phone, or it can be emotional, such as the belief that you don't have what it takes to make something great. Identifying your resistance means spending time on how and why that resistance exists in your life. We have to have a deep understanding of our resistance in order to overcome it.
2. Minimize your resistance
By identifying your resistance you should be able to know how that resistance wins in the fight to keep you from doing work. If you know when x, y, and z happen you are less likely to get something done, how can we eliminate those things? For example, if you struggle with consistent exercise and you identify that riffling through your unfolded laundry and going to a gym causes your resistance, eliminate those things. Stay on top of your laundry and pick out your clothes ahead of time. Maybe instead of driving to a gym, you can look up free work out videos on Youtube. Remember, this your life you are in charge of. It's not always about doing the most, it's about doing the thing that works for you.
3. Practice makes perfect
It comes to a certain point where you are just going to have to be disciplined. Being disciplined is hard, and there's no short cut to it. However, there are two things we can do to become more easily disciplined.
- First, recognize that being disciplined takes practice which means you will fail from time to time. That's okay! If you aren't failing at something then you are not trying! But we cannot accept that failure, that would defeat the purpose of discipline.
- Instead, we have to keep motivating ourselves to be disciplined. To motivate ourselves we have to keep the vision of our goals alive. To do this, we have to have radical belief in ourselves and surround ourselves with the things that inspired us to have that goal in the first place. By doing this, every time you fail at being disciplined, you have a reminder of what you are giving up by not being disciplined.
4. Have a routine
I know this point seems cliché, but this is so helpful for overcoming resistance. Humans are naturally creatures of habit. If you are someone who has or worked with kids, you know that kids thrive on a routine. Adults aren't much different! By practicing your routine everyday, it's like keeping the cogs oiled in a machine. You are so used to going through the same actions everyday that it comes naturally to you. You don't have to think so hard about what you are going to do next, because you already know! You'll be less likely to be distracted from your goals and you'll also be able to effectively plan time for your obligations.
5. Know thyself
As a philosophy major, I had to add my favorite philosophy quote. As simple as it is, knowing yourself is very powerful. Know how your brain works in order to set up systems for yourself to minimize resistance. You can start that by asking yourself these questions.
- What motivates you?
- What keeps you from forgetting things?
- Do you do well with negative and/or positive reinforcement?
- What feels like a reward to you?
- What makes you angry enough to take action?
- What do you feel like other people need to know?
- Why do you do your morning routine in the way that you do?
- What thoughts make you want to hide away?
- What words do you need to hear from your parents?
- Who are your heroes and why? Is there a quality they have that you want in yourself?
- What do you care about that you've been shoving away?
The purpose of these questions is to get deep and build a strong relationship with yourself so you are motivated to achieve your goals. At the end of the day, we are all different. What works for one person may not work for another. It's important that we dig deep into ourselves and notice the why behind these questions. We have be analytical our lives and conscious of our decisions so we are aware of what works for us and what doesn't. By knowing ourselves so deeply, that leads us to have ownership of our own lives.
In the end, overcoming resistance is not about eliminating distractions entirely or magically finding more hours in the day. It’s about understanding the resistance itself and learning how to engage with it in a way that empowers us rather than holds us back. The reality is that resistance is a constant companion in the journey of creativity, but it’s also a powerful teacher. By acknowledging it, understanding its roots, and developing strategies to navigate it, we can cultivate the discipline and focus needed to create the things that matter to us.