{"id":3069,"date":"2017-05-18T16:56:59","date_gmt":"2017-05-18T16:56:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/?p=3069"},"modified":"2017-05-18T17:04:26","modified_gmt":"2017-05-18T17:04:26","slug":"seasonal-change-as-incentive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/seasonal-change-as-incentive\/","title":{"rendered":"Seasonal Change as Incentive"},"content":{"rendered":"

After weeks of chill and rain and oogling\u00a0other folks’ pictures on Instagram of gardens and trees that have long since come to life, the leaves are finally filling in and spots of color are beginning to bloom on our hill. I think it’s safe to say that, almost five full months into 2017, spring has finally taken root in Vermont.<\/p>\n

The external changes of the seasons also tend to have an impact on me internally, so seasonal\u00a0change-over invariably becomes a time for re-evaluating and rebooting work patterns. While posing the question of whether there are ways to improve isn’t a guarantee of definitive answers, I still think\u00a0it’s healthy, and invariably productive, to at least take stock of studio habits at several points during the year. Juggling various goals and aspirations is an ongoing process requiring a certain level of flexibility, so there is much to be said for working to build habits that can improve efficiency, leaving time for change.<\/p>\n

\"Stacked\"

Stacked<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a92017 Elizabeth Fram \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Though not yet framed, this piece is complete.<\/p><\/div>\n

If you haven’t already read Charles Duhigg’s 2012 book The Power of Habit – Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>it’s worth picking up from your library. The case studies he covers, both corporate and individual, are fascinating in their own right, but of course the real value of the book is in understanding the possibilities for applying his findings to our own habits and the ways\u00a0we might want to change or develop them. What I found most compelling is the importance of belief (that the habit can become fully established) and the necessity of community, even just one other person, in fostering both the essential\u00a0element of belief and, ultimately, success.<\/p>\n

When I decided to recommit myself to drawing at the beginning of 2015, the most helpful advice I received was to incorporate it into my routine as a habit, relying on a self-determined trigger to spur myself into action at a regular time every day. Starting slowly with very short sessions allowed for gradually expanding\u00a0both the time and scope devoted to each sketch…to the point where now I miss drawing\u00a0and even feel something of a sense of guilt on the days I can’t fit it in.<\/p>\n

\"Stacked,

Stacked, detail<\/strong> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a92017 Elizabeth Fram \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 If you compare this to the last shot from last week’s post, you’ll see the predicted changes I couldn’t resist.<\/p><\/div>\n

If you are trying to make regular time for a new element in\u00a0your creative practice, check out Ingrid Sundberg’s video<\/a>, a step-by-step outline about building an early morning writing habit. While Sundberg’s recommendations are geared toward writing, her method is very similar to what was recommended to me for committing to daily drawing, and can easily be adjusted to fit whatever habit you\u00a0may want to develop.\u00a0Both approaches coincide with the core of what Charles Duhigg suggests in The Power of Habit<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Is there something that you’ve been wanting to build\u00a0into a new habit? If so, take advantage of the change in\u00a0season and give it a shot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After weeks of chill and rain and oogling\u00a0other folks’ pictures on Instagram of gardens and trees that have long since come to life, the leaves are finally filling in and spots of color are beginning to bloom on our hill. I think it’s safe to say that, almost five full months into 2017, spring has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[510,46,513,508,509,512,511],"class_list":["post-3069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-process","tag-charles-duhigg","tag-drawing","tag-efficiency","tag-habit","tag-ingrid-sundberg","tag-seasonal-changes","tag-the-power-of-habit"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5kO5z-Nv","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3069"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3086,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3069\/revisions\/3086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}