ART WORK FLOW

It’s been pretty interesting being a full-time artist this past month+. One of my goals was to figure out my workflow and try to be the most productive possible. As a Sales Engineer, I had pretty much full control of my schedule and to be most effective and efficient, I was always planning the next weeks ahead. That being said, I’m learning how different creative work is than the work I had been doing before.

One of the things that I did at my job was time blocking. Whether it was menial tedious tasks that needed to be done or taking a client out for lunch and the associated travel time it was all planned for.

Now that I’ve tried that with my creative work I’ve found some challenges keeping to those practices for a couple of reasons. 1.) I have so many projects, ideas, and education that I want to do that it’s been hard prioritizing what I want to do and how long to do it. 2.) for some reason, The 1–2 hours blocks that I used to set don’t seem like enough especially as I reach a point where I’m really “in the zone” and once I get in that “zone” I don’t really want to get out of it until it naturally subsides. 3.) I kinda have ADD anyway so something might pop in my head and I might just decide to focus on that for a while and a lot of the time something cool comes out of it.

Anyway, I think it was easier for time blocking for my last job because I didn’t really want to do everything that needed to be done which motivated me to get in, get out, and get on with the next task, while in this case, I want to do everything all the time.

That all being said, I’m working on it. I’m learning. Last week was super productive and I felt pretty good by the end of the week but the week before that, I had gotten sick and was not productive at all. But I’m not being too hard on myself because what’s the point of beating myself up. Will that make me more productive? I don’t think so… I’m also not letting my guard down and I’m still trying to be conscious of my own tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses.

Anyway, this post won’t be as long as others. Short and to the point but If you’re reading this, thank you, and try not to be too hard on yourself as far as always being productive. The long game is mental health and I’m still figuring it out personally but stressing, negative self talk, overwork, burnout etc. is real and doesn’t play out long term. Life is a Marathon.

Anyway, if you struggle with these things, it might be good to join a group/support system (obviously therapy is a good option if you can) but there are also some cool mental health accounts out there that can be helpful. There’s one called Metalust that just had a meeting on the topic of productivity and burnout. Positive podcasts or music can also be helpful for me.

Okay, have a great week. It’s 420, so toke up if you’re into it. Stay positive. You’re the shit.