Peer Pressure in Art and Hobbies: Making it Work for You

Sometimes no matter what you do, you have trouble completing even the hobbies that you want to, like art. It always feels like other things need to get done first, and then afterwards, you realize that you were just procrastinating for no reason. It happens. So let’s talk about peer pressure!

Hey! My name’s Mt Kanjon and I make videos about motivational art advice, encouraging everyone to learn to draw. It’s not a skill you’re born with! I’m also working on a series on digital art skills: check it out! It’s called Digital Dabbles, and you can find it on my channel homepage.

Peer pressure? What does that have to do with getting your own hobbies done? Well! There’s a certain kind of positive peer pressure that’s easy to miss, and yet you might have encountered it by accident before. It’s one that is more indirect than most: Ever hang out with friends and find that everyone ends up just… working on things? Sometimes not even the same thing, sometimes not even the same category of things?

You might notice that you somehow got a lot of things done, in a situation that seems like it should be a huge distraction. How does it work? That’s where the peer pressure comes in. Without needing to try, you might feel like you should be working on things because… your friends are too! And they are more likely to stay focused for the same reasons. This situation creates momentum that everyone can benefit from by being close to friends and still getting things done, whether that’s work, or art, or any other kind of skill to practice.

Try this with intent! Meet up with friends. Host a work or hobbies day where you live, or go to a coffee shop or the library with others. This doesn’t mean everyone sits quietly in a room, never talking. Put on some music, ask others what they’re working on, maybe learn a little bit about it yourself. If you’re practicing art, show your friends what you’ve been trying! Maybe you’ll turn them into artists too. But you don’t have to share what you’re doing if you’d rather keep that to yourself. Everyone can still benefit from just being near each other.

Be careful of distractions! Try to catch when one person gets distracted. It won’t make things fall apart, but it’s easy to get lost in that. This applies especially if you want to try this strategy online, on a Discord voice call for example. It’s super easy to accidentally open up random websites and get lost in them. Nobody’s perfect though, try not to get frustrated when it happens. Sometimes we need breaks, and maybe that means it’s time for one.

Go for as long as people want to! Plan to do something fun afterwards if it helps: making plans to go get food or play games gives everyone something different to look forward to at the end of the day. It also helps put a time limit to your productivity, so you’ll feel just a little more pressure to get the things you want done, done.

Peer pressure can manifest in positive ways like this all the time, and it’s easy to miss it! Take advantage of it and create these situations with your friends, and have fun with it. Go turn your friends into artists!