As you now know, one the reasons I decided to take a little time off this month was to put the finishing touches to my new year-long online program for 2012 – The Creative Explorer’s Club.
One of the main aspects of this program is in response to a problem I hear from students all the time – you know, the one when you sign up for an online class and then you never have enough time to complete the lessons, or you run out of time because of other commitments, or as often happens, life just gets in the way and health and personal issues take precedence. I’ve had several questions about this issue and how my program can address this problem.
I’m no different from you and I’ve certainly used this “not enough time” excuse myself on one or two occasions. And I’ve also experienced the side effects of this issue which is generally a feeling of overwhelm, or disappointment, or stress and frustration when you can’t find time to complete or sometimes even begin the lessons. And this is so completely the opposite of what you were expecting to feel, isn’t it? I know it was for me.
My year in review
This year has challenged me in many different ways and on many different levels both personally and professionally. It was a year where I considered shutting down my website, closing my business and going off to do something else; something safe that brought in a regular pay-check without all the headaches of running a business. But I know in my heart I can’t work for a boss again because I don’t play by those rules anymore and I’d probably be fired within a week. Plus I have such a passion for what I do, both making art and teaching art, that I couldn’t give it up even if I wanted to.
So to counter the problems of dealing with the challenges in my business, I decided to spend this year learning about business things so I could make better decisions about dealing with all the business stuff and hopefully improve and develop my business in a way that worked for me. But what I learned was so much more.
What I learned
First of all I had to learn to balance my time between left-brained studies and right-brained creativity. Too much of one and too little of the other is a recipe for disaster and unless you have a plan it’s easy for things to get quickly out of control which results in nothing but confusion and stress.
So part of my business studies was to learn how to structure my time in such a way that I could make space for study, the dozens of other projects and products that I develop as part of my business, and personal time including time for creative expression which is very important to me. Balancing time in this way doesn’t come naturally for me because my inclination is to play all day with fabrics and threads and working from home offers too much of a temptation to do this. But learn I did, because the alternative wasn’t very appealing.
I was challenged
It’s taken me almost the entire year to find a process that works for me and allows me to do all that businessy stuff with confidence, as well as produce my art and designs and all the other projects I’m involved with, plus fit in personal time which includes time to make art that’s just for me – my playtime art.
During the year I tried and discarded many different processes until I came up with one that worked for me and which embraced all the different aspects of my life – business owner, textile artist, teacher, and designer. Occasionally it was a frustrating process, but slowly I began to notice that the frustrations happened less and less often, and even with so much work to get through, I was actually less stressed, more productive and had much more free time. In other words I was doing more, in less time, with better results.
How this can work for you … Continue reading →
