Wednesday, October 13, 2010

"Multi-Crastination" The Dark Side of a Busy Creative Mind!

Let me preface this article with a little background. I am a 'Type A', multi-media multi-taskin' creative madman who is entirely unsatisfied sticking to one discipline. I do believe I could be very happy with a set of octopus arms to achieve all that I would like to. So far, knowing of no living mad doctors who can achieve this operation successfully, I have had to settle for less sleep to create more time.
I started as a graphic artist only to become a musician. I employed all of my artistic and sculptural skills for supporting my musical projects including creating posters, promo art, packaging, props, and set/stage design. For two decades I have been pouring creativity out of one vessel or another. I became involved in video production in the late 80;s and since that time have added several other skills and projects to my already full schedule of mad scientist, rock and roll
'comic bookery'                 (To use a term Tyler Weaver, (creator of "Whiz Bam Pow") likes to say.)
The other day I visited Tyler Weaver's Blog News at: The Tyler Weaver Daily and there was a mysterious audio file the emerged from out of nowhere! I couldn't even be sure that is where it came from! I was frantically closing windows to see if some strange pop up had hit me...nothing; Maybe it was only my subconscious speaking to me? In any event, I am not normally keen on auto-play files on websites wherever they come from, but this one was tastefully mixed, haunting, humorous, and the source of an epiphany in my life as a crazy multi-media artist!
It was a lecture from a soft compelling voice with gentle British accent describing the nature of procrastination.

"Procrastination is..." - It listed through a number of obvious definitions. We've all been there and can relate. But then...it got a little deeper.

Now, I know I procrastinate, but I'm also so busy most of the time that it is hard to picture myself as a "procrastinator" per se'. I mean, how can one be procrastinating if they are always busy, right?
And that is where the revelation kicked in...
I laughed when the voice said "Doing the dishes is procrastination." Because yes, I had coincidentally stepped into the kitchen to do a few dishes when I heard it;)
"Making lists is procrastinating" ...
BUT WAIT! I have to make lists to keep all these projects and their (ever-extending) schedules in order!...And on and on the list went...etc., etc.

And then it said something I can only paraphrase (as the ghostly voice has since vanished from whence it came.) It regarded starting new projects to ensure you could never finish any of the old ones still lost in the loop. FLASH! A light went on in my head. I know I DO THAT! It's not on purpose, and I definitely DO finish lots of things, but still, there is an element of truth inside the statement uttered by that disembodied voice!

There is a certain thrill to the chase when it comes to ideas. The pragmatics and logistics of starting a marketing campaign for an idea in motion, is generally not as alluring as the next "BIG THING" idea that pops into one's head. Carried to it's logical conclusion, without discipline, this can lead to creative projects left on the back burners (of a stove stored in the garage.)

Keep loving what you do and doing what you love!

What do you love to do creatively? Have you fallen into the trap of 'multi-crastinating'? When you've finished adding your comments, you can always procrastinate some more by visiting fellow 'multi-crastinator' Tyler Weaver's latest project at: http://tyler-weaver.com/WhizBamPow!.html
Let me know what you think in the comments!

And don't forget to TWEET if you are a #multicrastinator as well!
~

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