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(1 edit) (+3)

I think with creativity you need other things to wind down every once in a while. You mention reading and playing as bad things, but actually what they do is give you a break from the work you were doing. A break that you need because you are a human being and not a machine. You can teach yourself work ethic and get things done to a certain point even when not feeling it, but at the end of the day creative work comes mostly from your mind. You need to feel well to be able to make things. Last thing you should do is cut back from sleeping or hobbies, those are the things people start from on their way to a burn out.

Try to be more forgiving towards yourself. Everyone learns at their own phase, and there is room for all of us to make things and evolve. There are examples of people who have worked tirelessly to try and achieve fortune, but have fallen short. Than there are people who seemingly don't even try and get everything. Life is unpredictable and may feel at times unfair. But if you strive to create for yourself first and foremost, because it is what you want to do, than you will get something out of it no matter what. And it will show in your work too.

I wish you all the best on your creative journey.

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Thanks for your kind words, but there is something I don't understand, if "You need to feel well to be able to make things" is true then why are there so many cases of creatives working with almost no rest and giving good results? Not that I 'hate' what you said but I want to know.

That "create for yourself first" thing is a bit complicated in my case. I think I create things that I like, my stories and the way I put/want to put them are of stuff I love very much, but for certain points and sections I have to remember that I want to have some success and some attention, so without radically changing everything or major alterations, I just have that as an extra factor, but not a dominant one. I guess I could say I'm doing things for me first, but I guess the ideal is to find a kind of balance, after all big and professional jobs are like that, aren't they?

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 why are there so many cases of creatives working with almost no rest and giving good results?

There aren't. You just know about them, because they are spectacular. You do not hear about the cases were the work amounted to nothing or was destrucive to the existing stuff.

Also, I am fairly sure, you are talking about established artists - why else would you know them. While creativity is fickle, skill is not. Once you reach a certain amount of skill, you would deliver good results, even when exhausted.

There could also be cases, where you do not distinguish between the creative work and the manual work. I think you mix up cause and effect. You believe they deliver good results because of the no rest, and not despite of it. Ever thought, that maybe some or many of those could have delivered great results, instead of mere good results, with a more healthy work schedule? We are talking game making and that includes software development. Ever debugged for days to find a slight oversight you made while being tired... ;-)

Also you should look carefully if it is not one of those cases where the creative mind just needs to be expressed or explode ;-)