The Sacred Hour

…how I actually do the things that matter to me.

I’m back in the fray with my new solo show, Age is a Feeling. I got a commission from Soho Theatre – such a dream, especially after literally trying to get them to notice me since 2016.
 
Every couple weeks I meet with their associate director Adam. He’s a great dramaturge and director and he’s working with me as an outside eye and frankly, accountability buddy. I share the material I’ve been working on and we talk about what I should focus before our next meeting.
 
I LOVE this way of working. Light touch. Chance to read aloud and feel words in my mouth and how another person is with me/bored while I read. Accountability and deadlines.

But making progress on the creative work is hard these days.

I’m prone to creating a lot of projects and work for myself. Sometimes the admin side of what I do is a great place for me to avoid making art. I immerse in the promotional aspects of my podcast or get obsessed with putting together a new workshop or course. And while I enjoy that stuff, I can allow it to stand in between me and my ART.

Psychologically this makes sense. Humans don’t like to be uncomfortable. And creating something from scratch, like a book or a show, necessitates sitting in the unknown, floating in uncertainty and figuring things out. Admin is so clean. You tick items of your list and there’s a sense of control.
 
But my true calling and biggest joy is to MAKE ART. I start to feel queasy when I ignore that call. 

How do we prioritise it when there are so many other things demanding our attention?!

Maybe for you those other demands are a 9-5 job, life-admin, raising kids, a fitness regime – you know what demands your attention.

So, here’s what I do when I am aching to create but struggling to get to it every day.

CREATE FIRST.

Or as close to first thing as possible.

I call it the sacred hour.  From 9-10am each day, before email, social media or the to-do list, I spend an hour working on Age is a Feeling.

If you can do more than an hour, great. But don’t push it. If you are super busy and only have 10 minutes. THAT’S OKAY!! Do 10. Do it every day.

The point is that this time is sacred.  Your sacred “hour” reflects your priority through your actions. And it builds consistency and continuity.

It’s so much easier to get work done on a project when you do a little every day.

When you do it every day, it stops being this looming thing that makes you feel bad about yourself. Or this scary thing that seems insurmountable.
 
Moreover, when you engage with your creative projects every day, they worm into your subconscious and you’ll start having ideas ALL. THE. TIME.
 
Why first thing? That way it’s done. And you don’t feel guilty all day. I have no idea if there’s science behind it. I just know it works for me.

Set your sacred hour and do the thing you want to do, first.

And this technique works whether you have deadlines or not. Deadlines help put a fire under your bum. You don’t need someone at a theatre. For years, I created deadlines by asking different friends if I could host them for brunch and read them my material and get their responses. Over Zoom, consider offering a pal a Deliveroo treat when you read to them.
 
Let me know if the sacred hour resonates with you.

Wishing you a creatively fulfilling week!

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