How to cultivate a consistent creative habit
Cultivating a Painting Habit: A gentle guide to making creativity a natural part of your life
Successfully forming any new habit - and making it stick - isn’t just about willpower.
It’s about finding a way to add another beat to the rhythm of your life.
Building a consistent painting habit can transform not only your own creative practice, but how you experience your daily life.
If you don't get have a consistent creative habit, most likely your artmaking sessions happen when you feel inspired, or when you have a gap in your schedule which feels big enough to warrant getting your paints out.
But the truth is, inspiration waxes and wanes like the moon and our schedules easily get disrupted or filled with other seemingly more pressing matters. So keeping going with drawing and painting becomes an effort. Then the guilt creeps in, and doing that thing you really want to do suddenly doesn't feel so fun.
When you have a creative habit though, it's this which keeps propelling you forward and pulling you back to your paints.
It's habit which makes more brushstrokes appear on your paper. Then when things get busy, it doesn't feel so much of an effort to keep going. You've already made your habit an automatic part of your life, and you can pick up your brushes again without thinking.
And if things get really busy and you pause for a while - a habit can bring you back to creating much sooner, because making art has become such a natural part of your life that is feels weirder not to create than to just put something on your paper.
This short guide offers some pointers on how to try to form a new creative habit gently and sustainably.
1. Start small (really small)
You don’t need to commit to an hour a day. In fact, it’s better if you don’t. Big intentions can trigger resistance, especially when life gets busy.
Instead, commit to a tiny step each day: one brushstroke, a small colour test, or two minutes of play with water and pigment. A single sentence in your art journal. The smaller the step, the more likely it will become a part of your rhythm.
Try this: Keep your sketchbook out. Add one brushstroke before you check your phone in the morning.
2. Link it to something you already do
New habits stick more easily when they’re 'anchored' to existing routines. Like taking your vitamins after brushing your teeth. This is called habit stacking, and it’s one of the most powerful tools for creating lasting change.
e.g.: “After I make my coffee, I’ll paint for five minutes.”
or: “When I sit down at my desk, I’ll write a sentence in my art journal.”
It doesn’t need to be perfect - it just needs to happen.
3. Understand how habits work
Science suggests it takes between 21 and 66 days to form a new habit, depending on the person and the habit itself.
The most important thing to seek isn't perfection - it's repetition.
Missing a day doesn’t reset your habit-building progress to zero. The tune will keep playing, even if a beat is missed. Even if a few beats are missed. But the key is to return.
Your brain begins to associate painting with pleasure, calm, feeling proud of yourself, expression - whatever you experience when you show up. Eventually, painting becomes a normal part of your life, and a day feels odd when you haven't made your tiny commitment.
Helpful reframe: “I’m not failing if I miss a day. I’m still building the habit each time I return.”
4. Focus on the process, not the result
Let your daily painting practice be about exploration. Not every brushstroke has to lead to a masterpiece. Some days you’ll paint something you love. Other days, not so much. Both are valuable.
Mantra: “Every mark I make teaches me something.”
Releasing outcome expectations frees up joy, curiosity, and your natural creative energy.
5. Recognise the power of 'keystone habits'
Painting regularly can become what researchers call a keystone habit - one small, regular shift in your life that sparks a chain reaction of other positive changes. It can be like a domino effect. For example:
- One brushstroke leads to another, and another, and eventually a full painting.
- You become more perceptive to colour and light in your surroundings.
- You feel more relaxed or mindful throughout the day.
- You carve out creative time - and begin protecting it.
- You feel more you.
One brushstroke a day might sound a small commitment - but it’s the kind of small that grows strong roots and branches.
6. Celebrate your small, consistent efforts
When you're cultivating a new habit, it can give you a boost to track your progress and see that you're making a regular effort. A small check mark on your calendar or a simple note can be enough. This is about acknowledging yourself.
You’re showing up. You’re making an effort to create a positive change. That matters.
Try this: Each time you finish painting, say: “Well done, me.” It’s not silly. It’s training your brain to value the act of creating.
Final reflection:
Creating a painting habit is less about discipline and more about gentle devotion.
Not a devotion to rules or routine - but to yourself. Your creativity. Your sense of wonder. Your way of being in the world.
So without pressure, begin where you are. Trust that small, joyful steps can lead to big, beautiful changes.
And when in doubt? Just make one brushstroke.