Friction Finder – Your Environment
When we can’t or don’t move forward with the things we want or need to do, our tendency might be to blame ourselves for failing (again) but there are lots of reasons why we might not be able to move into action and our environment is just one factor.
Friction Finder is a series based on a theme from The AMP Club community about identifying the points of friction which can stop you from being able to do what you want to do in your life and moving forward with your creative work.
maybe an inspiring view is part of your set up?
Your physical environment
This is your space for accessing your creativity and doing your creative work. You might well have different micro environments: a favourite chair and a guitar, a computer and a home recording vocal set up or your analogue synth rack for example. They might be buried under piles of laundry, not plugged in or maybe the room where they are has several purposes and it’s difficult to switch modes to be able use the space for creativity. You might also not have any of those things and wonder why you can’t just make stuff. Environmental set up is one of the pieces of the picture which we need in order to get us to where we want to get to.
Sometimes you can also have the perfect environment or set up and you still might not feel able to use it. This is a different kind of friction which we'll come back to later in the series, although transitions into using your space are something worth noticing here.
Cables- Reporting for duty! 🫡
Start with the outcome
When considering your environment the first thing to note is that it can be pretty difficult to "see" it in order to assess what's going on.
The first place to start is by asking yourself:
What do I want to be able to do?
The answer is personal to you but here are some examples:
"I want to be able to play my guitar and record demos easily into my DAW." or
"I want to be able to practise my live set in a performance area with my sequencer, MIDI keyboard and laptop."
Or, if that feels difficult to answer:
What am I not doing that I want to do?
When I think about working on my creativity, what do I wish I could do?
Then ask yourself:
Is the current environment set up for me to do what I want to do here?
What's working?
What's getting in the way?
not perfect but useable
Things to consider
Visibility
We often need visual reminders of what we need or want to do or the potential available to us- is your stuff giving post-it note reminder vibes?
Accessibility
Ok your set up is perfect but you have to climb under or over something to get there or it’s perfectly hidden under other stuff- what do you need to do to make it work?
Comfort/Senses
Think about lighting, temperature, chairs, sitting/ standing, stimulation levels, equipment height or set up, noise from other places and your ability to make noise comfortably which might be related to when you use the space.
Minimal Decisions
If you have to make a bunch of decisions before even starting you probably won’t- can you reduce decisions here? eg having a notebook or instrument/DAW template set up.
Transitions
If your set up is a multi functional space what’s your ritual for getting it ready for creative purposes? Or what’s the mental and emotional shift you need to make? If you know what to do and how long it takes this is one less barrier to getting started.
what do you need for your minimal viable set up?
Work with what you've already got
Sometimes we spin out and start thinking, "Oh, I need this bit of equipment" or "I need that new mic or sound treatment before I can get started" but I’m talking about:
what do you have and how can you use it RIGHT NOW?
Stop waiting for the perfect set up, get in your space and change one thing at a time. You might need to take some time to set it up, but we can break this up by:
drawing/ measuring the set up or space
making a list of equipment needed
finding one cable
plugging one cable in
downloading any software needed
moving one piece of equipment in situ
testing one instrument
drawing/ measuring the set up or space
using it- try it out, what works + what doesn’t?- adjust
Same space different set up
Just use the space, OK?
One of the biggest hurdles can simply be using the space- so once you’ve got a minimal viable set up I hear by command you to go and sit or stand in your creative space and use it to make something- just for five minutes.
GO!
