1712: It's time for an artist date

When did you last have an artist date? Now artist dates were coined by Julia Cameron and you might know them from her famous book The Artist's Way.

In it she shares two tools for artists to really live our best creative lives, morning pages and artist dates.

Now I have beef with morning pages that I will not get into here because I really want to focus on artist dates and they're really about filling up your creative cup.

But before I go into them, I want to be really clear that we are using the word artist really liberally because I know so many of us creatives struggle with the identity of being an artist.

So if you are having that internal debate or your dream sitter is going off on one, let's call them creative dates.

So the idea of this artist date or creative date is simply about intentionally making time to fill your creative well.

It is about setting time aside for inspiration and it can pretty much look like anything.

It can look like watching a documentary or going to a museum.

It can also look like going to B&Q or Home Depot and mixing and matching and playing with all of the paint sample cards.

It can also look like curling up on your sofa with a really good book, getting scissors and some glue and doing a collage, doing some colouring while listening to an audiobook or getting out a creative kit or project that you bought a while ago and giving it a go.

The idea is simply to make time for your creativity.

It's about feeding it and the marker of success is simply coming away having shown up for it.

It is not about having some brilliant idea even though you may and it isn't about filling up your entire creative cup.

If you can add a few drops then that is wonderful.

So as you're listening to this right now I invite you quite literally to get your calendar out or your diary unless you're driving of course.

or doing something where you literally can't be sensible and put it into your diary.

Remember that you don't need hours, it does not have to be this luxurious, indulgent or expensive thing.

It can even just be 20 minutes but challenge yourself to guard it with the same importance as a doctor's appointment.

I truly believe creativity is more important than ever in whatever form that takes.

And also in many ways, life has never felt so busy.

So we're rebelling.

We're taking back our creative time and doing something for us.

So go put it in your diary, guard it fiercely and enjoy it.