Rest, Recharge, Repeat: The Secret Sauce to Long-Term Artistry!

Staying motivated as an artist is a tricky beast, isn’t it? We kick things off by diving into the nitty-gritty of what it really takes to keep that creative fire burning, especially when life decides to throw us a curveball—hello, Netflix binge! I’ll spill some secrets on how to build a lasting relationship with your art, share personal stories (yes, even my artistic slumps), and toss in some gold nuggets of wisdom to help you find your rhythm and reconnect with why you started in the first place. Think of this as your friendly nudge to cultivate habits that stick, celebrate the little wins, and maybe even find a creative community that gets your vibe. So grab your sketchbook or whatever floats your artistic boat, and let’s get to it!

Starting a creative journey is exciting — but staying motivated for the long haul? That’s where many artists struggle. In this episode of The New Artist’s Compass on the Create Art Podcast, we dive into practical, proven ways to keep your creative fire burning even when inspiration runs low, life gets busy, or self-doubt creeps in.

Whether you’re a painter, writer, musician, or creative entrepreneur, this episode will help you:

✅ Build habits that sustain creativity over months and years

✅ Break through slumps with small, intentional actions

✅ Find motivation when external validation is missing

✅ Learn how to celebrate progress (not just perfection)

✅ Reconnect with your original “why” when you feel stuck

🎧 Listen now and reignite your commitment to your craft. Your creativity deserves more than short bursts of inspiration — it deserves a sustainable, joyful practice.

1. Find Your "Why" and Keep It Visible

• Write down why you create art — post it in your workspace.
• Revisit your "why" during creative slumps to reset your focus.
• Share your "why" with your community for accountability.

2. Build Consistent Creative Habits

• Schedule art time like you would a doctor’s appointment — non-negotiable.
• Start small (15 minutes) and build up as it becomes part of your life.
• Use rituals — music, tea, candles — to cue your brain it’s "art time."

3. Celebrate Small Wins

• Track your progress — sketchbooks, photos, or a journal.
• Reward yourself for showing up, not just for finishing big projects.
• Reflect monthly on how far you’ve come — keeps motivation fresh.

4. Find Your Creative Community

• Join online or local artist groups for feedback and encouragement.
• Share works-in-progress — connection fuels motivation.
• Teach or mentor others — it reignites your own spark.

5. Give Yourself Permission to Rest

• Rest isn’t quitting — it’s recharging.
• Take intentional breaks so you don’t burn out.
• Use downtime for passive inspiration — books, museums, conversations.

Topics covered in this series

Sharing Your Work Online for the First Time

Dealing With Criticism and Rejection

Finding (or Building) an Artistic Community

Collaboration as a Creative Catalyst

Staying Motivated Long-Term

Art Challenges & Social Media Trends

Mental Health & Creativity

Art Challenges & Social Media Trends

Setting Up a Creative Workspace

Creative Constraints & Prompts

Measuring Growth as an Artist

Why Do You Create?

When to Call Yourself an Artist

Lessons From a Year of Creating

Setting Creative Goals Without Killing the Joy

Takeaways:

• Getting started with just one sketch can lead to a creative avalanche, trust me, I know the feels!
• Life happens,...

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
It started with a sketch, justone sketch, then two, then a whole
week of daily practice, andyou felt unstoppable.
But somewhere between weekthree and month three, life happened.
Work deadlines piled up,Netflix looked a little too good,

(00:21):
and suddenly that sketchbookhasn't been opened in days, maybe
years.
Does that sound familiar?
Well, you're not alone.
Staying motivated long term isone of the hardest parts of being
an artist.
But here's the thing.
Creativity isn't just aboutbursts of inspiration.

(00:42):
It's about building arelationship with your art that lasts.

(01:11):
Hello, friends.
This is Timothy Keem o',Brien, your head instigator for Create
Art podcast, where I bring myover 30 years of experience in the
arts and education world tohelp you tame your critic and create
more than you consume.
Now, in today's episode of theNew Artist Compass, which is the

(01:31):
series that I'm running rightnow in 2025, we're going to talk
about what it really takes tokeep showing up, not just for a couple
of weeks, but for the long haul.
I'm going to share strategies,mindset shifts, and some personal
stories, and, yes, even mycreative slumps to help you find
your rhythm and keep your firelit and stay connected to why you

(01:56):
started that journey in thefirst place.
All right, so some of you maynot think making a podcast is a artistic
endeavor, and that'sunderstandable because you're like,
well, you know, you're usingtechnology, you're using this and

(02:20):
that, the other thing.
But making a podcast is a lotlike making art.
My first point here to provethat is finding your why and keeping
it visible.
In podcasting, we talk aboutfinding your why, know why you're
doing the podcast, and I knowwhy I'm doing this podcast.

(02:42):
Absolutely, I know why.
But why are you doing art?
Why are you painting ordancing or creating sculpture?
What do you get out of it, andwhat does your audience get out of
it?
So I know with this podcast,you get a lot out of this.
You get to hear the wisdom ofother artists.

(03:05):
You get to hear, you know, mythoughts and my takes on art, and
you get encouragement.
You get that, you know, I'mthe head instigator, so I, you know,
give you a nice, gentle nudgehere and there.
So finding out your why is thefirst thing you need to be doing.

(03:25):
And then write it down.
Write down why you create artand post it to your workspace.
I can tell you that I have,and I apologize, I had to step away
from the microphone for just asecond there, but I have a card right

(03:46):
here in my hand.
If you're watching on YouTube,you can see me hold this card.
I'm not going to show youwhat's on the back of this card.
It's basically a memorial fora soldier that I knew and that used
to listen to this podcast.
Unfortunately, he passed away,but I am doing my show for men and

(04:06):
women in that kind of aposition because I'm prior military
as well.
So I always have that rightoff camera here looking at me.
And that's the person that Italk to all the time.
Yes, I'm talking to you, but Italked to that person over there
as well.
So I'm doing this show for himand for you.

(04:29):
So that's what I'm doing with my.
Why.
The other thing you need to dois you need to revisit that.
Maybe your art has changed.
Maybe whatever you're doing is evolving.
So revisit that.
Why go back to it?
Are you fulfilling what youstarted off to do?

(04:50):
No.
Maybe you found something newto take, a new direction to take
your art in.
So revisit that from time totime, and then make sure that you're
sharing that with youraudience, whoever that be.
Whether people coming to ashow for a dance, music, sculpture,

(05:13):
cooking, you know, that's art, too.
But share with people why?
That's why I shared it with you.
So that way you know why I'mdoing this show, what motivates me
to do this show.
So make sure you're sharingit, and that will help a audience
to keep you accountable.
Maybe that's what you need isan accountability partner.

(05:36):
I know when I don't do theshow for a while, people like, tap
me on the shoulder and go,hey, Tim, when's the next episode
coming out?
But, you know, sometimes lifedoes get in the way, and knowing
that that happens, it's okay.
We deal with it and then wemove on.
So make sure you're sharingthat with your audience.

(06:03):
All right, My next thing foryou is to build consistent creative
habits.
If you're in the habit ofdoing it already, fantastic.
But if you haven't set up thattime, maybe it's once a week, maybe
it's once a month.
Whatever that time is, buildthat into your schedule.

(06:26):
You know, schedule like you'regoing to a doctor's appointment.
I know that doesn't sound verycreative, but make it a meeting on
your calendar.
A meeting for yourself.
Protect that time.
Don't let anything interruptthat time.
Maybe it has to be super duperearly in the morning, maybe it's
late at night.
I do the recordings for theseon Sundays, Sunday mornings, when,

(06:50):
you know, my kids are asleepor they're just waking up.
My wife takes care of the kidson Sunday mornings because she knows
that that's my time to do my art.
So make sure you're schedulingthat out.
And, hey, maybe it's 15minutes, that's okay.
If it's 15 minutes, maybe, youknow, later on, you build it up.

(07:11):
Okay, so the next week, I'm intwo months, I'm gonna crank that
15 minutes up to a half hourin two months after that, I'm gonna
crank it up to 45 minutes.
Two months after that, I'mgonna crank it up to an hour.
It's kind of like working out.
You know, you start off small,and then you add on to it.
So that way it is interestingand entertaining for yourself.

(07:35):
So, you know, always evolvingthat time.
Making that time longer is agreat thing to do.
Another thing you can do is touse rituals.
So, you know, maybe you lighta candle or you drink some tea or
play some music in thebackground, and that's your cue to
your brain, hey, this is thetime I'm going to create something.

(07:59):
Doesn't matter what it is.
Or maybe I'm working on aproject, and it needs a few times,
you know, a few iterations.
Maybe it needs a few of these15 minutes, you know, strung together
over a few weeks to do that.
Whatever that is for you, setthat ritual up.
So that way everybody in thehouse knows, hey, at this time, I'm

(08:20):
going to be doing some creating.
I need some quiet.
Or, you know, may, if you haveaccess to a studio.
There you go.
You make it homey.
You make it your studio.
You know, throw on somecandles, throw some incense on, throw
some music in the background,but make that ritual, protect that
ritual, just like you'reprotecting that time to practice

(08:43):
your art.
At the very worst, you'repracticing the very best.
You're creating something neweach and every time you set up these
blocks of time.
All right, my third point hereis to celebrate the small wins.

(09:04):
How do you do that?
Well, you can track yourprogress, you know, with sketchbooks,
photos, journaling, writing,whatever you have, track that progress.
And let's say you're a writerand you want to write, I don't know,
50,000 words in a month, likeNational Novel Writing Month, which

(09:25):
is coming up in November this year.
Again, track that.
That'll motivate you to keep going.
Now, maybe you're, you know,Again, you're a novelist, and, you
know, you don't want to do itin a month.
Maybe you're like, I just wantto get 100 pages in this month.
Fine.

(09:45):
Treat it like a challenge.
Treat it like, you know,National Novel Writing Month.
The great thing with that andNational Poetry Writing Month is
that you track it yourself.
Now, in years past, when I didNational Novel Writing Month, they
had a little tracker on there,so that way you could see how close
you're getting to your goal atthe end of it.

(10:06):
And many years, I was like,I'm almost there.
I'm almost there.
And that's what pushed me tocontinue to write.
You don't need somebody elsetracking it.
You can track it yourself.
Now, once you've set up thetracking, you can reward yourself
at certain goal posts that you have.
You know, hey, I got 100 pagesdone today, all right?

(10:30):
I'm gonna get some Ben andJerry's ice cream, or I'm gonna go
out to the coffee shop andorder two espressos.
Whatever it is, make sure youreward yourself so that way you want
to keep coming back andshowing up for your art.
And part of your tracking.
You know, my.

(10:50):
My first point in here is,with the tracking, is to reflect
monthly on how far you've come.
So set it up.
Maybe, you know, do your 15minutes every week for a month.
Well, take a picture of, youknow, what you did at the end of
the first 15 minutes and thenat the last 15 minutes of the month,

(11:14):
and then see how far you've come.
You know, maybe it's apicture, maybe it's a graph, whatever
it is.
But once you see how faryou've come in that month, you're
going to want to keep oncoming back each and every month
to see how far you can go with it.
So you're kind of gamifying itfor yourself.

(11:35):
You kind of, you know, like,we all have our smartphones, and
we all have our little gameson our smartphones, and it tracks
how far we are.
And even some smartphones, youcan track how long you've been on
that game.
You know, for me, it'sprobably been too long.
But set up that monthly checkin with yourself to go, how far have
I come?

(11:56):
And after each session, youknow, record it.
How far have you come?
You know, what did youaccomplish that day?
Put it in a journal, put it ina sketchbook, whatever it is, but
track that for yourself.
That way you're going to beable to look back and go, hmm, I
started off here at level one.

(12:17):
Now I'm up here, level 20, andthis feels really good.
And it'll help you appreciatehow far you've come and it'll motivate
you to keep on going because,yeah, you're at level 20, but there's
infinite amount of levels.
So let's get up into thosehigher numbers, shall we?

(12:42):
Okay, my fourth point is tofind that creative community.
We live in a wonderful agewhere you can find anything just
about online and you can finda lot of local artist communities
as well.
So why don't you join up withthem and, you know, get that feedback,
get that encouragement.

(13:02):
You're already doing it rightnow by listening to this podcast
and I'm providing you withthis encouragement with these takes
that I have on art.
So you've already done that step.
Great.
Good for you.
Excellent.
Now go out there and find thelocal community of artists that maybe

(13:23):
it's not you're a novelist,but there's a bunch of poets out
there.
Fine, Join up with them.
Learn how to do what they're doing.
Take from them and give to them.
And always be generous withthese new groups.
Give more than you receive isusually the best way to go about
it because that will attractmore people towards you.

(13:45):
And feel free to share yourworks in progress.
Maybe somebody there is goingto have some critique.
And we've talked aboutcritique and we've talked about criticism
and feedback.
Those folks, they can providethe feedback.
They've probably already gonethere and bought the T shirt and
they can tell you about thelocal community and what sells and

(14:07):
what doesn't sell.
And if that's kind of whatyour mindset is, you know, for monetary
wise, what you can get out ofit, great, that's fine.
I'm not going to poo poo youfor that.
I mean, you're an artist.
In my estimation, you're an artist.
So if you make some money offof it or if you are pursuing ways
to make money off of it byjoining that local community, you

(14:31):
can get that intel that youneed and you can get that feedback
that you need from others whoare already selling in your community
and who've already developed acustomer base.
And they can tell you whatit's like, what people are looking
for.
So use that intel.
Another thing you can do isyou can teach and mentor others.
I do that right now with you.

(14:53):
You know, like I said, I'vegot over 30 years of experience in
art.
This is how I pay it back.
You know, there's a lot ofartists that inspired me.
Some.
Most of them were dead, butsome of them were alive.
And I took what they weresaying and what they were doing,
and I've applied it to myself.

(15:14):
Do that for other people,mentor other people, teach other
people.
A lot of times you can go intoyour local library and teach the
process that you learned howto make your art.
And you can do it for in afree space or, you know, a greatly
reduced space.
You know, you may not be ableto sell your stuff there, so check
with your local library, butmaybe that's where you start developing

(15:38):
an audience.
Go to the coffee shops, go tothe places where your people hang
out in your community that buyart that you're selling and start
small and then grow, grow,grow, and take pictures of it when
you start, record it down whenyou start.
That way you can go, yeah, westarted off with five people and

(15:59):
then we blew up.
And now I've got a hundredpeople following me or a thousand
people following me and buyingmy art.
But you started way over herewith like maybe one, two or five
people coming to a meetup andlook at how far it has grown.
So make sure that you'regiving back to the community.
Giving.

(16:19):
Being that person thatinspired you.
Now, my last point may becounterintuitive from what I've been
discussing in this episode,but it's vital.
Give yourself permission to rest.

(16:44):
Creating art takes a lot outof you.
Takes a lot out of me.
When I do these episodes, Iwill just veg out and watch some
pbs.
I just recently found thismorning one of my favorite shows
on PBS was Check, Please.
Out of Chicago.
Well, I found out that there's dc.

(17:05):
Check, please.
There's Philly.
Check, please.
You know, all these otherplaces have picked that show up.
So I'll watch that for about ahalf hour or 22 minutes, whatever
it is, maybe an episode or two.
And then I'll tackle the restof my day on Sundays.
And that's what I do.
I give myself time to restbecause it takes a lot out of me.

(17:28):
You know, rest isn't quitting,it's recharging.
So make sure you're rechargingyour batteries, whatever that is.
Maybe, you know, you sit onthe couch, open up a book, throw
on some jazz.
That's probably what I'm goingto be doing after I'm done with this
episode as well, because Ienjoy reading and I enjoy listening
to jazz on the.
On the turntable there.

(17:50):
It's not quitting, it's recharging.
I give you permission to do ittake intentional breaks so you don't
burn out?
We've heard so many stories,We've seen so many stories of people
burning out.
We've talked about it on theshow where people have just, you
know, burned out after a whilebecause they didn't give themselves
a break.
I've burned out because Ididn't give myself breaks all the

(18:11):
time.
Take the breaks that you needand recharge.
And you know what?
I just, you know, I kind oftold you before, I, you know, I'll
listen to some music, I'llread a book and take that downtime,
that quote unquote downtimefor passive inspiration.
Read a book, listen to somemusic, do some museums, have some

(18:37):
conversations with people.
Next.
Well, by the time this comesout, one of the things that I'm going
to be doing is I'm going to apodcast conference in North Carolina
for a weekend.
So I'm going to take that time.
I'm actually writing upanother show.
And at the conference, I'mgoing to take my little mini laptop
and start working on a script for.

(19:00):
For another show.
But I'm, you know, takingthat, you know, I'm able to take
the time, you know, in thedaytime to be with other people that
do podcasting.
And then in the evening, wheneveryone is, you know, going to the
bar or something like that,I'm going to be sitting on my little
laptop and rocking awayanother show.

(19:22):
So sometimes that's what youneed to do.
Other times, you need to goout to the bar with the folks that
are there at the conferencewith you and enjoy yourself and just
have a good time and getinspired by other people's stories,
whatever that is.
Give yourself permission to rest.
It's.
I used to go by the old adageof, you know, I'll get enough sleep

(19:45):
when I'm dead.
Well, guess what?
You will get enough sleep whenyou're dead.
I don't want to die anytime soon.
I've got a lot to give.
I've got a lot to give.
My kids, my wife.
I've got a lot to give you.
So don't go by that old adage,I'll get enough sleep when I'm dead.

(20:07):
Take that rest.
I give you permission.
If you need permission to dothat, I give you permission.
So you can take that rest ifyou need to.
All right, that's the show.
Thank you so much forlistening and for being here, for

(20:28):
taking time out of your day.
I know I. I need to get backto my day, but now it's Your turn.
I want to hear how you staymotivated long term.
You can shoot me a message ortag me on social media with your
favorite trick for pushingthrough the tough days.
You can email me, Timothy,create art podcast.com and let me

(20:49):
know what you're doing.
I tell you what, let's build atoolbox together that helps every
new artist out there keepgoing, even when motivation feels
miles away.
And hey, if today's episodegot you thinking, share it with another
artist who may need thatlittle spark as well.
Now, speaking about sharingthings, I run another podcast called

(21:11):
Find a Podcast About.
You can find that at Find aPodcast about xyz.
And that's where I help mylisteners there.
Outsmart the algorithm andfind the next binge worthy podcast.
Check it out.
You might find your nextfavorite podcast to listen to.
Besides this one, of course.
The other thing that I've donein 2025 here is started up my own

(21:35):
business and it's called TKBPodcast Studio.
You can find it at TKB PodcastStudio.com and that's where I help
my clients lead through thenoise with quiet professionalism.
So if you're thinking aboutstarting up a podcast, think about
reaching out to me@tkb podcaststudio.com all right, that's all

(22:00):
I have for you today.
Again, thank you so much forjoining me here today.
Now go out there, tame thatinner critic.
Create more than you consume.
Do it for the long term.
Do it with me for the long term.
Go out there, make some artfor somebody you love.
Yourself.
Until next time, Sam.