Ask CYOO: How do I muster up energy to create when I'm drained from my job?

Suggestions for creating art and reexamining your relationship with work

Ask CYOO is my advice column to help you move forward in your art practice. Have a question of your own? Submit it here.

Dear CYOO,

I am really struggling to make time for art. Sometimes, it's less about time and more about lacking energy. I find that my job sucks everything out of me and it's hard to muster up the energy to create, even though I really crave it. Any insights on this would be greatly appreciated!

I love that you’ve identified your challenge as an energy problem, not a time problem. You can use time to recharge your energy, and you can use your energy to direct your time. The two require different solutions, so knowing which one you’re stuck on is a great first step!

When we have a clear picture of what we want to make but are dealing with time constraints, we can make progress through incremental effort by using the min/max creative time framework. However, this framework has no use when we don’t have clear ideas of what energizes and fuels us. And if we’ve reached a point of complete burnout, we need to prioritize getting ourselves to a functioning state and worry about making art later.

Here are a few approaches you can use, depending on what calls to you most: