Do you love your creative job as a 3D artist, but you struggle with the organizational part that comes with it? We have some tips how you can improve that not so loved part of the job by building habits, which is one of the most useful things you can do in your life. Habits are what help you perform tasks without thinking about them, which means that you have more mental space for the things that really matter. In this post, we’ll look at building atomic habits - habits that only take a few minutes and don’t require any planning.
Make your habits obvious
The more prominent a habit is, the more likely you'll start doing it automatically. When you have to think about something in order to do it, there's a lot of room for doubt and resistance to creep in. If, instead, you can take action without having to think about it much at all, then you're much more likely to follow through on what you set out for yourself.
If you want to start painting when you wake up in the morning, you can leave all your tools ready and visible in your room.
Make your habits attractive
Fun gets done. Of course, if most good habits were fun, you’d already be doing them. But there’s still a valuable lesson here: if we combine fun stuff with not-so-fun stuff, the latter is more likely to be completed.
Combine something you love with a habit you want to build and you’ll find yourself doing it a lot more often. If you love the music of a certain musician but don’t like to establish or update a project plan, you only get to listen to you that musician when you work on the project plan.
Another way to make new habits more attractive is to leverage our social tendencies. The people around you influence you a lot more than you think. Spend more time with those who have the habits you want and you’re more likely to follow through.
Make your habits easy
“Make it so easy you can’t say no” - Leo Babauta.
When picking new habits, make them easy enough that you don't need motivation. Rather than starting with 1-hour of learning how to use a new 3D tool, start with just 15 minutes. You will gradually add more time to learn every week. When you least expect it, you will find yourself practicing your 3D tool for one hour every day.
Make your habits satisfying
To make your habits satisfying, you need to immediately reward yourself after completing your new habit.
“The ending of any experience is vital because we tend to remember it more than the other phases. You want the ending of your habit to be satisfying. The best approach is to use reinforcement, which refers to the process of using an immediate reward to increase the rate of behavior.” – James clear in ‘Atomic habits’.
Identify with your habits
As the last step, the ultimate hack is making the habits part of your identity. Even though the previous tips are essential, one of the most critical mindsets is making your habits part of your identity.
“It’s one thing to say I’m the type of person who wants this. It’s something very different to say I’m the type of person who is this. The more pride you have in a particular aspect of your identity, the more motivated you will be to maintain the habits associated with it.”
They will become not only what you do, but who you are.
We really hope these tips can help you build atomic habits, and don’t forget to be consistent with them. You can become the organized creative artist by sticking to good habits.
