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And if you didn't grow up with parents who understood how to teach their kids those habits (and didn't model them themselves), it can be tempting to think of a good work ethic as something that somebody either has, intrinsically, or they don't. Which is bullshit. Habits can be learned, but only if you know that they're habits, not magical intrinsic traits that some people are lucky enough to be blessed with by genetic accident.

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And if you didn't grow up with parents who understood how to teach their kids those habits (and didn't model them themselves), it can be tempting to think of a good work ethic as something that somebody either has, intrinsically, or they don't. Which is bullshit. Habits can be learned, but only if you know that they're habits, not magical intrinsic traits that some people are lucky enough to be blessed with by genetic accident.

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Also I think that the attribution of success to Just Plain Old Hard Work carries with it a sort of deception - leaving aside all of the other factors of environment and privilege that contribute to whether a project is successful or not, the habits necessary to regularly perform sustained focus on a difficult mental task aren't something everyone learns in childhood. I certainly didn't. School was easy for me - until it wasn't, and then I didn't know how to work for an A on a test.

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Also I think that the attribution of success to Just Plain Old Hard Work carries with it a sort of deception - leaving aside all of the other factors of environment and privilege that contribute to whether a project is successful or not, the habits necessary to regularly perform sustained focus on a difficult mental task aren't something everyone learns in childhood. I certainly didn't. School was easy for me - until it wasn't, and then I didn't know how to work for an A on a test.

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I mean it probably seems obvious to say 'four 90-minute drawing sessions with breaks in between is easier than going full tilt for six hours, and it's probably not doing you any favors to think of yourself as lazy,' but, I mean. Sometimes you gotta find the right way to contextualize it before the lesson clicks.

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I mean it probably seems obvious to say 'four 90-minute drawing sessions with breaks in between is easier than going full tilt for six hours, and it's probably not doing you any favors to think of yourself as lazy,' but, I mean. Sometimes you gotta find the right way to contextualize it before the lesson clicks.

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When I started going to the gym a few years back, they started me out on the recumbent bike for two six minute sessions, which for my sedentary ass was just fucking awful. Next day, two more minutes added to each session, then two more, until eventually I could go an hour on an elliptical without difficulty.

So I'm trying to approach drawing like that, now. Instead of trying to do a 'full workday', just do a little bit more than I did the last time. Break it up into smaller sessions.

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When I started going to the gym a few years back, they started me out on the recumbent bike for two six minute sessions, which for my sedentary ass was just fucking awful. Next day, two more minutes added to each session, then two more, until eventually I could go an hour on an elliptical without difficulty.

So I'm trying to approach drawing like that, now. Instead of trying to do a 'full workday', just do a little bit more than I did the last time. Break it up into smaller sessions.

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But, recognizing that it is taxing in that way, that the problem-solving and mental heavy lifting involved IS an exertion, actually kind of makes the procrastination an easier problem to solve.

Because then the question of 'why can my friends do this all day whereas I get wiped after a few hours' becomes one of incremental practice: distance runners aren't naturally good at running marathons, they train. They don't just start out good at going the distance, they work up to it.

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But, recognizing that it is taxing in that way, that the problem-solving and mental heavy lifting involved IS an exertion, actually kind of makes the procrastination an easier problem to solve.

Because then the question of 'why can my friends do this all day whereas I get wiped after a few hours' becomes one of incremental practice: distance runners aren't naturally good at running marathons, they train. They don't just start out good at going the distance, they work up to it.

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So there's the element of procrastination out of fear - perfection paralysis, as it's sometimes called, but I've also noticed that after spending just two or three hours drawing I'm physically exhausted. Like: the nature of the effort expended is different from just plain old work. And that's something I've only just recently started to take into account.

I've always been very envious of friends who can spend ten hours at a sitting just belting out drawings, who are always sketching the time.

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So there's the element of procrastination out of fear - perfection paralysis, as it's sometimes called, but I've also noticed that after spending just two or three hours drawing I'm physically exhausted. Like: the nature of the effort expended is different from just plain old work. And that's something I've only just recently started to take into account.

I've always been very envious of friends who can spend ten hours at a sitting just belting out drawings, who are always sketching the time.

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Procrastination on getting art done is something I struggle with and have struggled with for years, which is a big problem for me since it's supposed to be my job.

At day jobs I've had, I've never had any difficulty spending hours on whatever task was put in front of me and I'm pretty sure it's mostly because I don't attach my own sense of self-worth to the work that I produce when it's like, responding to trouble tickets.

But creative work is representative of me; I invest myself in it.

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Procrastination on getting art done is something I struggle with and have struggled with for years, which is a big problem for me since it's supposed to be my job.

At day jobs I've had, I've never had any difficulty spending hours on whatever task was put in front of me and I'm pretty sure it's mostly because I don't attach my own sense of self-worth to the work that I produce when it's like, responding to trouble tickets.

But creative work is representative of me; I invest myself in it.

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@antbear snouts are made for tootin'

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@antbear snouts are made for tootin'

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I have never, nor will I now, awoo

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I have never, nor will I now, awoo

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@colon_three I already found your soundcloud and listened to everything, it's good and I like it

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@colon_three I already found your soundcloud and listened to everything, it's good and I like it

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(At the same time though it's kind of super endearing to see all the innocent first toots show up in the public feed)

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(At the same time though it's kind of super endearing to see all the innocent first toots show up in the public feed)

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I feel like the public feed is weirdly non-obvious, like we all gotta make a few test toots and become acquainted with the UI before the horrible realization that whoa no EVERYONE can see what you're up to unless you opt to flag it non-public.

evERYONE SEES YOUR SINS, INTERLOPER

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I feel like the public feed is weirdly non-obvious, like we all gotta make a few test toots and become acquainted with the UI before the horrible realization that whoa no EVERYONE can see what you're up to unless you opt to flag it non-public.

evERYONE SEES YOUR SINS, INTERLOPER

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@RicksWriting toot like there's nobody watching

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@RicksWriting toot like there's nobody watching

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So, #introductions toot time!

Hi, I'm a weird furry and I make weird furry art, I'm learning Unity so I can make weird furry games, I go to furry cons and most of my friends are furries (but! I also hang out in the Idle Thumbs community!)

He/him, deliriously happily married to @Jell0.

I have a webcomic at dawnchapel.com and a patreon for it at patreon.com/dawnchapel, I blog at roots.works and post art to furrynetwork.com/astolpho.

Let's hang out!

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So, #introductions toot time!

Hi, I'm a weird furry and I make weird furry art, I'm learning Unity so I can make weird furry games, I go to furry cons and most of my friends are furries (but! I also hang out in the Idle Thumbs community!)

He/him, deliriously happily married to @Jell0.

I have a webcomic at dawnchapel.com and a patreon for it at patreon.com/dawnchapel, I blog at roots.works and post art to furrynetwork.com/astolpho.

Let's hang out!

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So I'll post an introduction properly tomorrow but I'm pretty excited about Mastodon after spending an hour kicking the tires. It feels like being let in on a secret!

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So I'll post an introduction properly tomorrow but I'm pretty excited about Mastodon after spending an hour kicking the tires. It feels like being let in on a secret!

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WHAT IF a toot, but: small

ᵗᵒᵒᵗ

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WHAT IF a toot, but: small

ᵗᵒᵒᵗ

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@Triplefox I'm having a dig through it now, thanks for the headsup! This looks radical.

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@Triplefox I'm having a dig through it now, thanks for the headsup! This looks radical.

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@Triplefox Thanks! Hi! I heard this was where all the cool weird gamedevs hang out.

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@Triplefox Thanks! Hi! I heard this was where all the cool weird gamedevs hang out.

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Holy dang a 500 character limit! That's a lot!

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Holy dang a 500 character limit! That's a lot!