#15 Prioritize Your Creative Pursuits
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
-- Aristotle
Maybe you want to write a book, build a business, go back to school, knit a sweater, learn to Tango, but you wonder how you could possibly find time for any creative pursuits for yourself while keeping all the plates spinning in the air single-handedly? There is an ancient Chinese proverb that is very apt here: Enough shovels of earth – a mountain. Enough pails of water – a river.
The point is you can do anything in baby steps. The continued action towards a goal, be it big or small, carried out on a regular basis over time, wins results. It is also good for you. Anytime or way you can give yourself a little extra space, will help you be a better parent in the long run.
There are two fantastic books published by 99U, a website dedicated to frontier ideas in culture, creativity, and entrepreneurship. Both of these books, Manage Your Day-to-Day and Maximize Your Potential, are a series of essays that are easy to dip in and out of and have great tips about creating productive habits and routines, no matter what your circumstances are or what you're ultimately working towards. Sometimes a few nuggets of wisdom, inspiration, or ideas to try make the difference between making the mountain seem scalable and you just wanting to pitch your tent at the bottom and not even try to climb it.
Not to mention the fact that it is important for kids to see parents involved in something we are passionate about. Through that they learn to respect that time we take for ourselves and ultimately find their own passions. This is also the best way to avoid the old living through your kids trap, so often exemplified by those sideline soccer or football dads, though the syndrome can manifest in many different forms. And finally, the more you are in tune and connected with the things that make you happy, the more you can see your child for who he is and not who you want him to be or hope he might become. At the end of the day, we all just want to be seen for who we are and the most important place for that to happen is at home.