Do you struggle to be productive as an artist? I do.

The problem

I am good at starting projects, but not so good at finishing them. I often have crazy ideas for things and collaborate with friends to come up with characters, scripts, voices, website concepts, etc. I have a large animation project called Dragon Mall Quest that I've been trying to finish for years.

My friends also have their own creative projects that they've struggled to get completed, too. We all have our excuses. "I have to do laundry." "I'm too busy with work." "I'm too tired." "I have responsibilities!" "I was up late and I'm too hungover" "I'm too busy adulting." Our list of excuses could fill a book.

The solution?

Pancakes.

I LOVE breakfast. Sadly, my husband isn't that into breakfast, probably because he doesn't like eggs (yeah he's super weird). He takes me out for breakfast about as often as a solar eclipse happens. But luckily for me, my creative friends love breakfast. So how does breakfast help me be productive as an artist? Oh I'm so glad you asked!

How it works

It's quite simple. My friends and I schedule a get together on Sundays dubbed "Creative Times." We start our Creative Times around 10 am and either make a big breakfast ourselves or go out to a restaurant for breakfast. Sometimes we make homemade crepes, or potatoes, or pancakes. And bacon is almost always involved. Mmmm… bacon. Oh! Maybe we should try makin bacon pancakes!

After breakfast, we all sit together and get to work. We each bring our own creative project with us and start working. We take breaks and share what we're working on or discuss a problem we're trying to solve. We then wrap up around 4pm and go on with our day.

Why is it effective?

I find this "Creative Times" strategy very effective because:

We have dedicated time carved in our schedules

The commitment with each other makes it harder for other responsibilities to get in the way

We get quick feedback on our work or get ideas from others to help us solve problems we're working on.

Seeing each other working hard, inspires each of us to work hard

I hope you'll give this idea a try and start a "Creative Times" routine with your friends. Just remember this simple formula:

Pancakes + Creative Friends = Productivity

What fun things have you tried to be productive as an artist? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.