How to create time for creativity

One of my biggest challenges is finding the time to do it all. Sound familiar? I work full time and after I am finished with my work day, it is very difficult to find the energy at home to work on my real passion which is my Photographic Art.

There is always the weekend, right? Well, let's see; by the time I do the laundry, do a little house cleaning, and I do mean "a little", buy some groceries, (you got to eat right?), fulfill my one Saturday a month volunteering at the artist's gallery I belong to, take care of my beloved dog Kayla, run errands, visit my mom, etc, etc, Oh my god, where did the time go?

So this is where decisions need to be made about priorities. My theory is that priorities should be broken down into the following 3 categories:

1- Must be done- (Take care of the kids; I don't have any but I do have a dog that needs to be cared for, pay the bills, buy food, wash the clothes, visit my mom, exercise).

2- Needs to be done at some point, but it's not really that important- (Wash the car, bath the dog, go clothes shopping, read the stacks of articles and emails that you might learn something helpful from, learn some new techniques on Adobe Photoshop)

3- Longing to do because I love it and it brings me much happiness - (Create a new piece of art, go on a picture taking excursion, a bike ride, a walk on the beach with my dog, create a Squidoo lens!).

I make weekly lists of the things I need to do and want to do and I fit those things into my schedule based on the 3 categories above.

Here's the thing I have learned. I do not have to run the vacuum every week although my dog is part Husky and sheds like crazy! (I do brush her every night which helps with the shedding). So really it's about working smarter, being organized and not thinking that every aspect of your life has to be perfectly ordered. That's kind of hard for someone like me who likes order because it makes my mind more at ease to be creative. But I'm getting over that.

I try not to be so hard on myself. It's too stressful to try and do it all and have time to pursue my creativity.

My strategy now is to break things down into smaller increments of time. For example, spend 15 minutes every day cleaning instead of taking 2 hours to do it every weekend. I was very surprised that little changes like this have created more time that I can put toward my creativity.

The other thing that has helped me was de-cluttering my home. I cleaned out and organized my entire home so that it makes it easier to have things be a little dusty until I get around to it because my space looks "tidy". The key to this is putting things back in their place when you are finished. Doing this has also accomplished a couple of other things. More stuff to sell on eBay and the de-cluttered environment just feels more calm so I don't feel stressed out about what needs to be done. Scroll down for more about organization.

Last but not least, I now get up 15 minutes earlier in the morning. This one was tough because I like my sleep! But those extra 15 minutes have given me more time that I use wisely.

I hope you will try some of these things because they really do work. Thanks for reading and good luck to you as you find the time to be creative!!