You’ve watched Netflix in the last week. You fell into a “YouTube hole” a couple days ago. And last night, you got sucked into a Buzzfeed binge session.
There’s no shame in this. I consume a lot of content too. But we rarely stop to consider how much we create compared to how much we consume.
In Western society, most of us are happy to just consume the art that others make. Why create your own? We watch Netflix, but never consider picking up a video camera ourselves.
For your average person, this works. No correction needed.
However, if you’re an artist, it’s worth considering how much you consume versus how much you create.
This is especially true if you have art projects that you haven’t finished or started yet.
Sure. Consuming art is important. It can lead to inspiration and motivation. But most of us are devoting too much time to consuming rather than creating.
It’s a worthy experiment to try creating more than you consume for a couple weeks.
What do you notice?
How do your thoughts change?
How does it feel?
Who knows what the answer to those questions will be. That’s up to you to find out. The only thing that I can guarantee is that more of your art will actually get made.
Banner made by @Zord189