When Being An Artist Feels Like The City: A Practice for Clarity

abeam93
Sep 30
2 min read

Updated: Oct 1

Life as an artist can feel like crossing the chaotic streets of a city: loud, unpredictable, and overwhelming. Deadlines pile up, emails get buried, and your to-do list feels like a packed subway car at rush hour. You want to move forward, but you’re stuck between someone else’s elbow and someone’s hair in your face. And yet, just like the city, there are ways to cut through the noise and find your rhythm.

Back at Berklee, I learned this the hard way. I was balancing seven classes, bartending four days a week, and working for a band. I wore my grind like a badge of honor, until internship season hit. Suddenly, my brain was a neon blur of questions: How will I pay rent? How will I pay off loans? How will I land the internship – and the dream job after? My brain wasn’t just a mess. It was Times Square.

That feeling of overwhelm is one every artist knows. Because here’s the truth: the system was never designed for a one-person team. And yet, so many of us try to do it all. But clarity is possible. During midterms, my professor George Howard gave us a practice when he could see the whole class drowning. Five minutes. That’s all it took to shift from chaos to momentum.

The Practice

Grab a piece of paper and a pen (yes, an actual pen).

Write It All Down

Set the timer for five minutes and dump every thought, the tasks, the fears, the what-ifs, onto the page. No filter. No judgment.

Circle Three Priorities

Quick Win (1-5 minutes): one task you can finish in the time it takes to grab a coffee.

Today’s Anchor: one task you can realistically finish by the end of the day.

This Week’s Momentum Builder: one bigger step you’ll move forward with this week.

Release the Rest (for now)

Everything else stays on the page. You’ve created clarity by choosing what matters now.

Being an artist means embracing chaos while carving out your own structure. This simple practice transforms overwhelm into action, creating space for your creativity to breathe and your art to take the stage.

In that moment of clarity, I started to realize: maybe we don’t need to control it all, just choose what matters. And I couldn’t help but wonder, is clarity less about doing everything, and more about daring to do the right things now?

So I'll ask you: what's the 'right thing' you're daring to choose right now? Comment below.

PS: When I’m actually in the city, I blast my headphones and stick to the outer edges of the sidewalk to get where I’m going. Sometimes the little hacks matter just as much as the big ones.

With love & grit,