I heard a new phrase recently: “the cobbler’s children have no shoes.” It’s a proverb that means professionals often neglect their own needs or don’t apply their expertise to their own business. It’s something that I think very much applies to many creatives.

I have met countless artists, makers and creatives over the years who spend so much of their time and energy creating for their clients and their business, that they don’t have the time or capacity to create for themselves.

If you can relate to that, please know that you’re not alone. It’s a really hard balance to strike between creating for others and creating for yourself, but I don’t believe it has to be all or nothing either way. It is possible to make time for your own creativity when you run a creative business.

I’m going to offer some tips as to how you can do that:

Start with self-compassion

The first thing I would love for you to do, is to give yourself a big dose of compassion.

I think there is an incredibly unhelpful attitude in our society that we just need to “try harder” if we want to make time for our own creativity. Many people focus on working out priorities, or blocking time, or just being more rigid about your own creative time. I think these are quite fixed viewpoints that perpetuate guilt and shame, and come with a reasonable amount of privilege.

You might already be trying your hardest, or have caregiving responsibilities to factor in, or be living in a disabled or chronically ill body. Trying harder is rarely the answer.

Instead, as a first step give yourself a big dose of compassion.

Acknowledge that it’s hard and accept yourself as you are. It’s ok if you’ve not been finding time for your own creativity. You can want to change that and still show yourself love and kindness through the process. It’s also good to acknowledge the ways that you are creating already. Don’t undervalue this.

I’d love for you to try an exercise with me too, which will help show yourself a bit more compassion and understanding.

Grab a pen & paper, and do the following:

Write down all the ways you’re creating in your work.Do you make art or designs for clients? Do you write blog posts, newsletters or Substack posts? Do you create a podcast? Do you do weekly, monthly or quarterly planning? Generate ideas? Create new offerings?
Write down all the ways you’re already creating in your everyday life.Do you have children to entertain? Do you cook? Organise the home? Decorate? Bake? Plan trips and days out? We all create every day, we just don’t always acknowledge it.

I imagine you have a decent list there - perhaps it’s surprised you. We can be quick to judge ourselves or beat ourselves up for what we think we’re not doing, or what we haven’t accomplished, but when you recognise what you are already doing it can help take the pressure off ourselves.

You are already doing so much and creating every single day, and so it’s important to remember this. You are not behind, and you are not failing.

However, you probably still (quite understandably) want to carve out some more time for your own creativity. Making time for your own creativity is important. It not only gives us a sense of personal achievement and fulfilment, it can open up new directions in our work too. The rest of this post offers some suggestions for this.

Make it easy for yourself

Sometimes the effort of getting your creative materials out is a barrier in and of itself, so anything you can do to make creating as easy as possible for yourself will help. For example keep a small selection of creative materials in your day bag, have a small creative box/basket/bag you can easily get down off a shelf or make a small creative space in your home where you can leave equipment or materials out.

I always carry around a notebook, a sketchbook and a pencil case with a few art supplies in my day bag - this means I can easily write or draw at any time, anywhere, whenever the urge takes me. I also have a small fold-up basket which my sister-in-law made for me, which means I can easily carry around a small knitting or crochet project if I want to.

What could do to make your creative projects easy to carry around or access?

A small selection of art materials to make it easier to find time to create: image shows two black sketchbooks, a pencil case with pencils & pens and a small tin of colourful wax pastels on a table — *I always keep a sketchbook and some pens, pencils and wax pastels in my day bag so I can create anywhere, any time.*

Protect your creative time

When you have limited time or capacity, sometimes you need to make an extra effort to protect some creative time for yourself. For example I’ve known people to block off time in their calendar at the start of their workday so they spend time creating for themself before they do any work for other people, and I try to keep my Fridays free of client work so that I can spend time on more creative or restful activities. Someone I know once even negotiated childcare with her partner so that she might spend a weekend away writing.

How you protect time for your creativity will depend on how your working week is set up, what other commitments you have to account for, and how you like to plan/make things happen. You might need to draw on the help of someone else to get some protected time for creating if you have caregiving responsibilities, so if this is something that matters to you it might be worth considering who you need to talk to.

Think about your life and work at the moment and ask yourself “what if this was possible?” What would it look like to have some protected time for creativity in your life? What would need to happen and who might you need to ask for support?

Sometimes what seems impossible at first turns out to be absolutely possible.

Slow down

When we consciously slow our mind and our body down, time can also seem to slow down. If you find yourself lost in a flurry of time speeding past, try taking a few moments to pause and be present with yourself in the moment. It seems counter-intuitive, but slowing down can actually open up more time for us, simply because your perspective and awareness shifts.

By slowing down and calming your mind, it’s also easier to see things a bit more clearly and make conscious, aligned decisions. You might find that by slowing down you are able to see where you can fit in moments of creativity for yourself.

Taking just a minute to focus on your breath, or pausing and being still next time you make a cup of tea can be enough. Small moments of stillness can make big changes in our lives and on our creativity.

Start with 5 minutes of creative time

Sometimes just the thought of the time we need to spend being creative can be offputting. If you think you need to devote an hour or more in order to spend time on your creativity, it can be easy to convince ourselves we don’t have time (or we can genuinely struggle to find that time).

Starting with just 5 minutes is a great way to find time for your own creativity for two reasons:

Firstly, 5 minutes on its own can genuinely be enough to make a difference, especially if you do it often. Creativity thrives when it’s challenged, and giving it a short time limit is a challenge. You may also be surprised by what you create, in fact a few of my favourite illustrations I did in just 5 minutes.
Secondly, 5 minutes of time feels like a much more manageable place to start. If you begin with 5 minutes, you might even find that it turns into 10, 20, 30 minutes or even longer. By taking the pressure off, we can almost trick our busy minds into making time for creativity - and once we’re actually in it we can discover that perhaps we can actually make room for a little more.

If you want to get yourself used to taking just 5 minutes a day for yourself and your creativity, try my 7 Days of Creative Calm and get an email every day for a week with a short 5 minute creative prompt or reflection.

Greetings card with an illustrated rainbow on the front — The watercolour rainbow on the front of one of the greetings cards I sell only took me 5 minutes to do - proof that 5 minutes can be plenty of time to create something lovely!

Follow your creative energy

Creative energy doesn’t stay the same, it ebbs and flows, making different kinds of creativity easier and harder at different times. Some days I’m full of ideas that need to be captured, some days itch to write or draw and other times I want to do something simple and mindless. I like to call this my creative seasons, as I’ve noticed 4 distinct phases my creativity moves through which mirror the 4 seasons of nature: spring (birthing new ideas), summer (creating things), autumn (reflecting) and winter (resting).

When you notice the different phases your creativity and allow yourself to move with them rather than pushing against them, creativity on the whole becomes easier. You learn to recognise the best time to carry out different kinds of creative activities, and in a way this can save you time too. Finding time for your creativity isn’t just about clock and diary management, it’s also about knowing when the best time is for you to be creative.

Learning to recognise your own creative energy and creative seasons goes a long way toward that - you can read more about recognising your creative seasons here.

Seek out accountability

Having community, connection and accountability can be a significant factor in keeping us creating for ourselves. It’s easy to get distracted by other things or simply feel unmotivated when we’re by ourselves, but by putting yourself in a situation where you need to show up with other people who are also being creative it can keep you on track.

You could find an art class or craft group in your local area to go to, find some online creative sessions to go to or find an accountability buddy to check in with. Many people offer co-creating spaces through Substack or Patreon memberships nowadays, so it’s possible to find a group that fits with a time that suits you.

Here’s a few I know about:

I run monthly Creative Play sessions on Fridays at 10-11am GMT. They’re free with an option to donate. View my upcoming Creative Play Sessions and book here.
Monkey Mintaka runs live drawing sessions through her Patreon membership: www.patreon.com/monkeymintaka
Jane Willis runs free reflective writing groups on Mondays at 1-2pm GMT: www.janewillis.co.uk/reflective-co-writing
Oceane Meftah runs monthly “draw together” sessions through her paid Substack: oceanemeftah.substack.com

And there are many more around - try a Google search, check your local noticeboards or search Eventbrite if you’re not sure where to start.

Join The Play Space!

The Play Space is my new group programme running over the summer, which is all about supporting you to make time for your creativity. I’ll guide you to make a weekly plan for creative play in a way that works with your capacity, and will be right there cheering you on and keeping you accountable in a private Slack community.

Over 6 weeks I’ll guide you to build a gentle, sustainable and above all joyful practice of creative play into your everyday, so you can: