Tip #4: Minimum baseline

What is your minimum baseline for doing your Zero Draft this month?

When we say minimum baseline, we mean a length of time and a frequency that feel doable for you. Easy, even. If you set the bar really low, you can always do more — but set it too high from the start, and you may suffer disappointment in yourself. We’re not here for that.  

Our minimum baselines are:

Georgia has a lot going on in general, and knows that she struggles with focus, but finds social motivation really helpful. Georgia is breaking down her massive project into small pieces, and is ONLY going to work on her zero draft DURING our drawing sessions. Her goal is to complete a zero draft for one chapter of her project. If she finishes one chapter before the end of the month, she’ll work on one more.

Sam knows that he works best in the mornings, and has a full time job during the week. He is currently working on a graphic memoir project, and will be devoting two hours every morning to zero drafting on that project before he goes to work. He is choosing a time goal rather than a page/chapter goal.

In fact, drawing a Zero Draft already IS a minimum baseline. It’s drawing with the minimum of legibility, for an audience of one (you), and committing to that low standard is facilitating a more difficult goal: getting it done. 

Using this mindset of the minimum baseline is a trick for the brain. If what you choose to do seems easy, you’re right on track.

Another one that can help is to think of certain times in your day, or week, or month, as being emptied out for this purpose. We’re not looking to cram as much as possible into a small space. We’re clearing a small space of everything else so that we can enjoy this project fully. 

That’s what this is all for anyway: fun! Keep the bar low, and remember we’re here to support each other to bring the joy.

Just 3 days until we begin!

Georgia & Sam