As you may know, I am mostly self-employed. Four days a month I put on the retail smile and work at American Gothic Antiques, and that is well and good. But especially during Winter and Early Spring the motivation to do a thing or many things has got to come from The Inner Boss.
Having not punched a real Time Card since about 1980, one must create ways in which to be aware of Time and What Gets Done. Lists and the Oven Timer seem to do the trick here - most of the time.
Lists? Oh, so many through the years. In the past they were separate pieces of paper that would get lost in purse or under the table or in The Stacks of paper stuff that wasn't lists or might be a pile of lists.... Oh, the memories of tossed out backs of envelopes with pertinent info now recycled into nothingness. Oh, the finding of little pieces of paper from 1998 from which items must yet to be crossed off. No more of that - now the things that still need to be crossed off are in small notebooks of various kinds - in semi-chronoligical order. Lots crossed, some not crossed. But now, if one is brave enough to thumb back through the pages, one is immediately aware of done/not done. Decisions can be re-decided. Priorities revised. And on those Bad Days you can simply admire the many tasks checked off when you'd thought "Oh, my life has been completely wasted." No, You DID pay those bills, you did enter those art festivals, you did "enjoy the day." Gotta love those little notebooks.
I also love my Oven Timer. It times the bread. It times the muffins. Pizzas. And me. I need structure - even during good times of Flow (just keep re-setting timer). A forced fifteen minutes of "You can only work on business stuff" is short enough to not set off business nerves, but can even lead to another 15 minutes. Sometimes an hour. Woo hoo! Most of the time the timer is set for an hour. An hour is a good-sized block in an artist's life. Enough to focus on Serious Art or Serious Cleaning the Studio. At least when the timer goes off I usually know that I didn't start washing dishes, doing laundry, or cleaning the living room. Artists get turned off the artist path Really Easily. Especially when working at home. The Timer is my Boss. Then it's a good idea for We Who Do Not Remember to note the time that has been used to good stead. In our little notebook.
It's time to make a cup of tea, fry an egg, toast some home-made bread, and then pop that little external prompt. First task: figure out the order of the tasks, projects, missions, moments to relax and enjoy. Gotta find that notebook!
Fare-thee-well,
Be Braver,
Sue
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