Hello, fellow tinkerer 👋

In true New Year fashion, I don't know what day it is. I legit thought yesterday was Tuesday until early afternoon when I realized it was Wednesday, the day I normally send my newsletter. Oopsie.

1) Reflection:

In January 2020, I earnestly picked up a painting habit. I was entirely self-taught, with no particular artistic background. However, I found that I loved immersing myself in a creative routine and practiced painting almost daily.

Then the pandemic hit and everything went to hell. My kids' schools were closed and it took all of my energy to get through the day. I never returned to painting.

But this year, I'd like to change that. I've managed to establish really good writing habits for myself, but a lot of my writing is career-adjacent. Painting would be wholly for me.

If you're thinking about incorporating creative work into your day, block it off on your calendar. This works well for me when I'm trying to incorporate something new into my day. Even if it doesn't happen, the calendar is a visual reminder of how I'd like to spend my time.

2) Product

If habit-tracking apps keep you motivated, I like Streaks. I'm super motivated by visuals, so I add widgets to my iPhone home screen showing my progress. (Same with Duolingo — I have a widget showing my current streak of 294 days of practice.)

3) Tip

Another thing I used to do, but has fallen by the wayside as my kids have gotten older, is have dedicated creative time on Saturday afternoons. We used to spend time together coloring, painting, or even playing a game. It's a lot harder now that my kids are older and we're busier, but it really encouraged my kids to be creative within a container of time, without being too structured.

I still have a dedicated cabinet in my house (the "creativity cabinet") filled with art supplies. And my youngest kiddo is 7 — still very interested in things like coloring. Maybe she can color while I work on painting...

If you have kids, I highly recommend carving out some time for creativity. Put on some music, let everyone pick something to work on, and just do.

Want more ideas?

→ My friend Hsing Tseng wrote a blog post about writer's block and adult coloring books.

→ There's so much pressure to create goals at the start of the year, but I also recommend establishing some anti-goals.

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That's it for this issue of Tinkering! See you again in two weeks.

Cheers,
Anna

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