I am currently employed full time (working 9-5 but wake up at 7am and get home bam6pm due to transportation). It's not a very strenuous job but by the time I get home every day I am utterly pooped. I have been trying to do my studies but if it's not the weekend I am so slowed down. I just got home not too long ago and I just want too crash... but I really need to keep practicing. I want to get 3 contour drawings done but I also want to sleep. Also gotta cook.
Are there ways you guys deal with burning out? How do you motivate yourself to get started when you really want to draw but feel too tired?
We can all share techniques and motivations here! :)
>>2367822
Honestly anon, the answer you are looking for is complicated and simple at the same time.
Let me tell you this though, motivation is nothing. It's a waste of time. You need discipline.
This isn't that hard if you have the right mindset. Why are you drawing? Really ask yourself that.
Be real with yourself and figure it out. If you want to improve asap you will have to sacrifice a lot.
This is just a small amount of it but you will have to find your own answer. Good luck.
Don't cook. Sleep less. Coffee
5hrs sleep a day hurts when you wake up, but a quick shower puts you back in action fast.
>>2367822 (OP)
Time management; knowing what you can do in a certain period of time. Like what the anon above said, motivation is unreliable, and discipline usually does the job when wanting to improve. Being motivated and disciplined though is the optimal state when you want to learn something.
Take your time. No need to rush.
>>2367867
>5hrs sleep a day hurts when you wake up, but a quick shower puts you back in action fast.
sleep deprivation adds up over time.
>>2367887
oh the kind of things sleep deprivation can do to you...
>>2367867
Don't listen to this shitter. Sleep deprivation won't get you anywhere.
Anyway, as others have said, it's about discipline and willpower, not motivation. Plan, alot time to certain things, and stick to it. If you can, spend time on the weekends to make big meals that can be frozen. You can eat these on weekdays so you don't have to spend as much time and energy on cooking. Spend less time on TV, gaming, whatever it is you flatten out and do when you get home. Choose to spend your time differently: On drawing.
Exercise! I shit you not, this will give you more energy. Your body will have to push itself past your regular 9-5 in order to keep up. The regular day will seem like nothing.
>>2367822
What do you do for work? I currently put in about 12h of work between clinical responsibilities and studying, and manage to carve out about 30min to draw every day. During surgical rotations where I have to get up at 4am and get back home by 6-7pm, that time gets relegated to sleep.
If you're physically exhausted, I'd suggest taking a quick nap (~40min) after getting home to recharge a bit. As for cooking, the most efficient way is to prepare a large amount of food all at once every week and freeze portions. Guys who weight train have been employing this strategy successfully for decades (nutrition+time+money>>meal monotony)
Other suggestions: nap on the bus/train home or draw during your commute
>>2367822
Get off the internet. Don't watch TV.
>>2367822
Get a timer and make soups. I really love setting up meals to cook while I am at work and I come home to a hot meal. Tacos are another healthy, and fast meal. Breakfast burritos, tacos, enchiladas can be made en masse and frozen for quick meals. Look at what meal preppers do for working out. There are so many great meals you can make in bulk to eat when you get home so you can draw more.
>>2367924
5hrs a day isn't sleep deprivation. But go ahead and snore away half of your day while i'm busy doing actual work in that time :^)
>>2368880
>an actual, real life idiot
Okay, friend.
Exercise, and if you live somewhere where there's no sun this time of year, take some vitamin D (and K2 if you're taking a lot). Has worked wonders for me.
Don't think of practicing as a chore or something, but rather a way to relax and unwind.
>>2368891
Enjoy dying
>>2367865
This is basically the only answer
>>2367865
why can't you just take over my brain muscles/bones and central nervous system anon?
>>2368901
Exactly anon. I used to think of art as a chore and I got "burned out" eventually because if it. It took some time but one day it made sense. That is, if I completely change my view on art and my current process that wasn't working, I could shape that process to meet my demands. I started small with my new way of thinking and then I started to need art every day eventually. It's become a fun thing again.
>>2367933
I'm currently an English teacher in South Korea. Just spent the last few months getting my life together.
I used to cool and freeze meals ahead of time back home but I have no idea what time he ingredients here are, or I go out to eat which kills a lot of time.
No one here speaks English so finding a gym is hard too. I need to work on my time-saving techniques so I can have sufficient energy. Maybe cut out alcohol until after I'm done drawing. Idk. I gotta get healthier.
>>2369260
find some local expats and milk them for food shopping advice/locations. surely boneless chicken breast is boneless chicken breast globally, but I can understand that depending on where you are, certain things could be prohibitively expensive/difficult to find.
no cost exercises: body weight workouts. running.
setting up schedules work well for efficient time use.
>>2368880
post your progress. i want to see the miracle of not getting enough sleep.
Same boat as you, brother, right down to retarded transport times.
The best advice I can give is force yourself until you can develop the habit around your work schedule. Some days though you really do just need a day off, just make up for that lost time on the weekends.
I don't know about you but my weekends are a lot more productive than they are when I'm not on a work schedule.
>>2369260
See my post >>2368760
Monoprice has a really good timer, get a crockpot, and make some soup. You just throw in veggies, beans, meat, broth and walk away for some hours. Chunks of meat as well. Roasts, chops, etc can all be cooked in a crockpot for some hours while you work.
Chicken, tacos meat, curry, etc. There are so many meals you can make in bulk.
>>2368880
6 hours is generally the minimum for a healthy night's sleep, 8 is ideal.
Getting a 4-5 hour night on occasion isn't a problem, but when you build it into your schedule it adds up. Most of your long term memory retention is done while sleeping, and you'll be able to concentrate less on what you're doing. So basically you'll be worse at studies and remember less of it.
Keep deluding yourself but you're not doing yourself any favors, and this is from one asshole who doesn't get enough sleep to another. That extra hour in bed probably does you more good at learning than an extra hour's studies.
Wake up an hour earlier.
Do your contour drawings right when you wake up.
>>2367924
Yeah, trying to run with 5 hours a day will spiral you into a real burn-out. If you were depressed and sleeping 12 hours a day, sleeping less would be good advice, but it's evident OP already struggles with his energy levels now.
I'm saying this as someone who's been through that shit and still isn't anywhere near 100%. Actual burn-out entails being unable to do anything at all whatsoever. At that point even brushing your teeth feels like a goddamn marathon.
>>2370777
I've heard several professional artists give this advice actually (iirc Bobby Chiu wrote a blog about it at some point). If you're too pooped in the evening you might as well go to bed earlier and do everything in the morning, when you're still peachy.
Easier said than done of course, personally I'm seriously no morning person. Might work for you thoughl.
>>2370531
>retarded transport times
I have 4-5hrs of commute per day, and I adopted a polyphasic sleep schedule for the past 5 yrs. I picked up drawing in the last 2 yrs. I don't draw every day, on average 3-4 days per work week.
0730
>wake up, check 4chan for feedback on last night's drawing
0800
>get on bus, sleep
1000
>arrive at work, check 4chan, meetings, emails, check 4chan
1200
>long ass lunch to maintain work sanity
1330
>meetings, 4chan, emails, write 2 lines of code, 4chan
1800
>get on bus, check 4chan, sleep
2030
>shopping for food, hygiene, cook dinner, clean up
2130
>eat, watch movies, TV, 4chan, decompress
2300
>start drawing, incorporate any feedback from last night, copy drawings, check 4chan
2630
>post drawings
2700
>sleep
>>2370536
>healthy sleep
I used to stay up till 2900 (5am same day), but some anon said that he got seizures from sleep deprivation so I dialed it back to 2700 (3am).
The only issue with a polyphasic sleep schedule, is that if I ever miss a bus nap, I feel like I just pulled an all nighter.
