This morning, I slithered out of bed, climbed into my desk chair, didn't even wash my greasy face, ate some cookies and water at my desk, then went straight to work on polymer clay. While I was molding, I listened to a YouTube vid from my "creative motivation" playlist, and I mostly agreed with it. "Skill over talent" and all that. Then it got very aggressive about "don't just get to work in your pajamas! Clean yourself up! Have respect for the art!" and I just had to laugh.
For years, I had been doing just that, but every day ended up either never getting around to the work or barely getting much done, then pushing late nights to 3am, desperately trying to accomplish SOMETHING, and thus ruining my brain's ability to wake the next morning, and consequently exasperating my lack of productivity for endless cycles to come. I was miserable. Because just the simple acts of washing my face, using the bathroom, even going to the kitchen for breakfast or a hot drink, distracted me too much. I'd eat breakfast, staring at YouTube and scrolling through Tumblr (and now Twitter too), and one post would lead to another distraction, then another, then something I'd have to write or more ideas for more projects---but wait, those previous projects are more priority, but now I have urgent need to at least jot down these new designs... Or just the walk to the bathroom or coming out of the bathroom would have me run into someone who then has me do one or another thing for them, or just the conversation itself would go long or break my motivational flow or even break my habitual drifting toward working... x_x;
If you're the easily-distracted type, I highly suggest getting to your art desk/space and getting to work, before even taking care of yourself first. At some point, needing to use the bathroom or clean yourself up, becomes a reward and push to finish a piece (and maybe that's not very good for my well-being). But this has been working for me, better than anything else in years. Maybe prioritizing cleaning yourself up before getting to work on your art, really helps other people. But for me and my easily-distracted nature, it's just a trap; it doesn't work for me.
