What are you willing to give up?
Wednesday 13 November 2024, 20:02 by Elvira Smit | 1,499 views | 0 commentsThis article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.
There are 24 hours in my day. I spend them on all sorts of things. But if I want to get good at something, I need to use those hours more consciously. So the question is: what am I willing to give up so I can spend time on, in my case, photography?
Priority time
You don't have time, you make time. Call it priority time. I consciously chose to write two articles about photography every two weeks.
And not just that: I reserved a block of time for it each week, on Sunday morning. Because I know I usually don't have anything particularly important to do on Sunday morning. If I use that time to do something worthwhile, I fill a gap without having to give up much.
At first, it was quite a change. The writing was difficult, I had no inspiration, well, the usual excuses. But it had to be done, I had made an appointment with myself. When I had managed to do it, I felt satisfied. Sometimes I even got responses.
In the long term, something even more valuable emerged. My knowledge of photography increased. I studied other people's work, working on projects and so on. By writing about it, I force myself to structure my thoughts, do research and share the knowledge I have gained.
What are you willing to give upWhat part of your week or month are you willing to give up for what you actually love doing most?
Do you want to watch a Netflix series now, or work on your photo project? Making a choice takes energy. So reserve those blocks of time and get to work on your project, idea or perhaps even photo book.
Few people do that. Because it feels as though we have so much time. Tomorrow comes after today. And then the day after tomorrow.
You can always start that project next week.
Right?
But weeks add up to months, years, decades. And in the meantime, you can join in conversations about all the Netflix series, but your answer to the question 'And how is your photo project going?' remains the same. You're working on it. Sort of.
The philosopher Seneca summed it up nicely:
We act like mortals in all that we fear, and we act like immortals in all that we desire
So what are you going to work on today?
About the author
Ik heb een eigen fotografieblog, Kronkeling. Daar schrijf ik om de week twee artikelen. Over hoe je je blik kunt scherpen, je creativiteit kunt aanwakkeren, en over fotografen die mij inspireren. Geen technische zaken, wél over hoe je leert kijken. En dat blijkt nog een hele klus. Een mooi startpunt zijn de Kronkeltips, die vind je hier.
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Would you like to take better photos and keep up with what is happening in photography? Photofacts publishes articles that teach you something about photography — from a product announcement to a practical shooting tip or a look at a website. Photofacts covers photography every day and is a hobby project of Elja Trum's that got out of hand. The articles are written by a team of volunteer authors. If you would enjoy writing one or more articles for Photofacts, do get in touch.More about PhotofactsPhotofacts is made possible in part by
