Life’s been a bit of a whirlwind lately. I feel like since 2012 started, I’ve been go-go-go. I’ve had commitments several nights a week and appointments, meetings, doctor checkins, etc. I’m going to CHA this weekend and then have in-laws visiting next weekend and then it’s David’s birthday. And to top it all, work’s also at an all-time high pace.
Ordinarily, this would be enough to stress me out and make me want to curl up and cry. But alas, it’s one of the things I’ve been working on for 2012. So I think it’s just good luck that all this chaos is coming my way early in the year to test my resolve and commitment.
When you live as structured a life as I do and you have as many goals and tasks each day as I do, curveballs or one-off changes aren’t easy to handle. Last year, I noticed that when such things occurred, I didn’t do a good job of reacting to them and recovering from them. My goal this year was to be better about it.
To accomplish this, one of the things I did was to create a more flexible schedule. I changed my goals so instead of sketching daily, I told myself I would do it 4 times a week. Same with art journaling and several of my other daily tasks. The goal was to take the pressure off such that if I had to skip one day, I was still meeting the goals I set for myself. The only thing I do each day is my exercise, everything else was more flexible.
As it turned out, I have been sketching daily but making only 1-2 art journal pages a week. If that. I’ve learned over time that creative ventures have an ebb and flow so I am choosing to let it go where it flourishes more at the moment. And sketching is the fun part for me, for now.
Last night, as I sat in class, we talked about how there are theories that consider Willpower to be a muscle. And just like any muscle, you can wear it out, so then you need to rest and rebuild and while you’re doing that, it’s not as strong. This led our teacher to say “Pay attention to where your willpower goes each day.” And that’s the part that really resonated with me. The trouble with setting so many goals, restrictions, plans in my day is that I have to use willpower for each of them. And then as the day wears down, so does my muscle.
So now I pay attention to where my willpower goes. I set my goals accordingly. I prioritize. Things that “must” get done that day and things that would be nice to do. I leave room for last minute changes (because with two kids, a job and a hubby those are not as rare as I might like to think) and I regularly let go. I also know that eventually things do calm down. So I fit in whatever I can into the nooks and crannies of my day and take time to be grateful for them.
Even as I’ve become more flexible, I still have a lot of structure to my days and I still have my non-negotiables (more on this some other time). But as I learn more and more about willpower, I am learning to grow, adjust and leave room for rest. The trick is being able to take the curveballs with grace.
And to be better with adding more flexibility to my life, one of the habits I will add to my morning routine is this idea of prioritizing my willpower. So I can make sure to savor this rare resource and use it well.
One of the frequent comments I get here is about how I do it all. Where do I find the time? How do I manage? How can I possibly have time to do everything?
The answer is simple, of course.
I don’t.
The list of things I don’t do is way longer than the list of things I do each day. When people read my blog, they assume I do everything they do plus the things I do. Just like we assume a writer’s published book is how he writes or a blogger we admire has only the life she blogs about. We fill in the blanks. But we don’t fill them in accurately. Sometimes we assume the best, other times we assume the worst. We are rarely ever assuming the truth. I can even say we never do.
But what I was thinking about today isn’t even about how we are inaccurate so much of the time. It’s about quantity. I don’t think that doing so “MUCH” is an achievement by itself. Quantity is time consuming but not hard to produce. What’s harder is quality. And I don’t mean quality like creating an artistic masterpiece. I mean the quality something adds to your life.
There are some activities that lift your spirit up so much that doing them truly makes your day better. Not in the same way as checking off a to-do list item. For example, I exercise every morning. I do it as soon as I wake up, while it’s dark out and before I’ve checked my mail. It’s not an activity that lights me up. It doesn’t make me happy when I think of doing it and definitely doesn’t make me happy while I do it and often times not even after. I am just grateful it’s done. I am committed to doing it because I know it’s beneficial to my heart and body and health. But that’s it.
Then there’s the sketching. I often start my sketch while the kids are still at home and then finish it after I’ve dropped them off at school. Those 20-30 minutes spent on a page are some of my favorites in the day. When I am sketching, I don’t worry about the passage of time, I don’t feel frustrated. Most of the time, I don’t think at all. I just sit there and get into the joy of it. I feel like my sketches need a lot of work. There are many others whom I admire and wish I could be like. I yearn for more talent, better eye, clearer understanding of perspective, etc. etc. But despite not being anywhere near where I wish I were talent-wise, I still adore my sketching time. It’s an activity that definitely lights up my day.
There are other activities that add value to my life. Like the journaling helps me get organized and helps me sort out my head. This is exercise for my brain and soul just like the treadmill is for my body and heart. I need them both. But they don’t make me lose track of time the way sketching does.
So when thinking about how to spend your time, I say don’t worry about HOW MUCH you’re doing but worry about WHAT you’re doing. Are you taking care of your soul, brain, heart, and body? Are you doing things that light you up? Even if it’s one single thing. Even if it’s just for 15 minutes a day.
Sometimes we pile so much on our todo list that the whole days goes by without a moment of light. Without a moment of pure joy. When I watch my little son and see how many times a day he laughs all by himself, I find myself wishing for the same. I want to laugh with joy too. I want to do something that makes me so happy. This is not a race. And if it were, I think the ones who win are not the ones who do it all.
It’s the ones who do what gives them the most joy.
So look at how you spend your time. Look at your 2012 list. (I’m sure you have one.) Pick one thing that you know will give you joy. Don’t worry about all the others. Just do that one. Today. Right now. Do it for 10 minutes.
I promise you will be glad you did.
Like last year, after I thought about my word and my plans for 2012, I began to think more and more about what the word and the priorities meant. Since I tend to be self-reflective during this time of year, this is very long and mostly for my benefit (I like having a record of my plans and my thoughts) so feel free to skip. I won’t be offended.
By the way, this is influenced by Chris’s annual review article. I’ve read this before and have always liked the idea. I’m a technical person at heart and all these specific goals, measurable steps, etc. are right up my alley. Since I have my list of 9 priorities this year, I thought it would be a good exercise to see if I could come up with 3-5 goals for each.
So here we go:
Goals for Each Priority
Family
1. Read to David daily with a focus on longer, more involved books. (We will incorporate these into David’s Book of Good Memories)
2. Take photo of full-family and write updates weekly (Project Weekly Diary).
3. Write a weekly diary of us and daily gratitudes for me and David (Project Weekly Diary) and the gratitudes are on the left column of the blog.
4. Continue our family night where we all play games or watch movies together (Scheduled for Sunday nights)
5. Create letter-focused spreads and art with Nathaniel each week (Project Letters with Nathaniel)
6. Create at least one crafty spread a week with David about things that made him happy that week (Project David’s Book of Good Memories.)
7. Volunteer in both David and Nathaniel’s schools at least twice each semester. (I know this doesn’t seem like a lot but it’s the minimum I hope to do.)
8. Schedule minimum bimonthly date nights with Jake
Health (Project Healthy For Life)
1. Continue running daily, work your way up to 5K a day
2. Find a trainer so I can add basic weight-training and strength exercises weekly
3. Track the food I eat each day. (not fun!)
4. Continue using the fitbit daily with a goal of 10,000 steps a day
5. Get minimum 7hours of sleep every night and 8 on the weekends
6. Eat at least one serving of vegetables and protein daily
7. Start a meditation practice
Work
I don’t share much about work on my blog and I won’t here either but I promise you I have 5 specific goals for work for 2012.
Art
1. Sketch minimum four times a week (Project Weekly Sketching)
2. Art journal weekly using hand-lettering at least half the time (Project Weekly Art Journal)
3. Take at least three art classes
4. Experiment with at least three mediums
5. Try sketching using different sizes. (Really big+really small)
6. Focus on and hone one specific sketch style. (or two or three!)
7. Experiment with collage once a week (Project Journey into Collage)
Storytelling
1. Continue to create for my design teams (Maya Road, My Mind’s Eye, Write.Click.Scrapbook)
2. Create at least four pages (2-spreads) in my book (The Savor Project)
3. Design a class around different ways of storytelling
4. Aim to do 1-2 guest design spots or classes (that I teach) this year
Reading
1. Read a book a week (Project A Book a Week)
2. Read daily to David (longer, more involved books) (Project Reading with David)
3. Regularly attend both book clubs
Self-Reflection
1. Write at least three long thought/idea oriented blog posts a week
2. Journal five days a week
3. Take at least two self-reflection-focused classes this year (already signed up for Body Restoration)
4. Do the exercises in A Minute for Me, daily
Learning
1. Take two classes locally
2. Take four online classes this year
3. Learn to drive on the freeway
4. Learn to ride a bike
5. Learn to collage
Community (This is a particularly hard one for me.)
1. Go out to breakfast/lunch once a week
2. Invite guests over for dinner at least once a month
3. Extend an invitation to someone new once a week
4. Leave comments on blogs I read once a week
5. Respond to comments on my blog + return emails within 48 hours
There we go. As more creep up over the year, I will likely come here and add/alter as needed.
Schedule for Blog
I’ve also come up with a tentative schedule for my blog for 2012:
Mondays – Weekly Layout
Tuesdays – Weekly Sketching
Wednesdays – A Book a Week + The Savor Project
Thursdays – Weekly Art Journal
Fridays – Journey into Collage
Saturdays – Weekly Diary
Sundays – David’s Book of Good Memories(including Reading with David) and Letters with Nathaniel (we will alternate this each week)
I will also aim to post self-reflection/thought posts four nights a week. Likely Monday through Thursday.
And I haven’t decided whether I will continue the monthly newsletter or not just yet.
Thoughts to Cultivate
Last year, I created major focus areas I wanted to have throughout the year. Things that I want to come back to again and again. Some of these I will repeat for this year since I still would like to keep them forefront on my mind. And others are new for this year. These will likely show up in my art journals + self-reflection but I also want to have them here for reference.
1. Let go of worry This is definitely the biggest issue for me. I worry constantly and I worry about the smallest things as well as the big ones. Even though I know worry is a wasted emotion I still can’t help myself. I want to continue work on this very actively during 2012. I didn’t keep a god box last year but I plan to start on it this year. I also want to create worry lists from week to week (I mention the idea in number seven of this post.). I want to be very mindful about what and who makes me worry more and create tangible solutions to each.
2. Slow down and be aware I tend to be an over-achiever which is great but because I am so task-oriented and accomplishment-focused, I often rush through things. I am focused on the end and I don’t enjoy the journey. I don’t slow down. I don’t take my time, explore, learn, grow as much as I could. So my plan this year is to slow down considerably. Take my time drawing. Take my time reading and thinking. If some things don’t get done, that’s ok. I think that much more growth happens when we slow down and approach things mindfully. Since my word for this year is savor, this is something I plan to pay extra-attention to. One change I made from last year was to aim to reduce some of my daily tasks. My goal is to do 4 sketches a week and 4 art journal pages a week instead of doing 7 of each. This way I get a few days off and if I want to I can complete a sketch over two days.
3. Do not yell This one is self-explanatory. I absolutely hate hearing other people yell. And yet I do it more often than I’d like. This year, it’s a non-negotiable. It will not happen. It’s not a 5-10% thing. It’s all or nothing and the goal is nothing. People I love deserve my respect. (This is word for word from last year. I wish I could say I adhered to it. But, no. So for 2012, I want to be more resolute. Stronger. Kinder. Quieter.)
4. Be patient This one sort of goes along with 2 and 3. I need to practice more patience. I don’t need to rush through everything. I have young children. They are good good children. They are kind and generous and sweet. They deserve my patience. So does my husband. And me, too, I deserve being patient with myself. This, too, aligns perfectly with the savor theme.
5. Embrace joy I wrote about choosing joy before. Savoring is all about seeking the marrow of life. I want to seek joy. I want to quit worrying and embrace life and joy and bring forth good things in my life. Joy again and again. This would be so magical if I could do this. Just the idea makes me feel good.
7. Reach out I want to focus on building community more this year. Not necessarily a big one but one that makes me feel more a part of something bigger. I want my kids to grow and cultivate friendships and I want to set an example by doing the same. I am often too lazy or scared to do it. Time to let that go. This also means taking more trips, traveling, and in general getting out of the house more.
8. Be brave and self-compassionate I want to be braver this year. Try new things. Take chances. In all areas of my life. With art, with reaching out, with work, with daily life. And I can only do that if I practice more self-compassion. I want to be an example to my kids that we practice courage regularly. It’s not inherent. I want to show that sometimes we fail but we get up and try again. I want to move away completely from anything that encourages shame-words. I want to practice kindness and patience with myself. I want to show that failure is a part of life and so is showing compassion to oneself.
And there we are. I am sure more will come up. But these are some of what’s on my mind.
Here’s to hoping 2012 is fantastic for all of us!
Even though they say knowing is half the battle, sometimes it feels like awareness is more frustrating than not knowing. If I don’t know something I can blame a third party. I can live my life in blissful ignorance. I can avoid the issue. I can step around it. I can duck the pain because being aware can be very painful. It can sting. It can make you feel small. It can make you feel exhausted. Like the battle’s too big for you to even begin trying to fight it. Like you can never win anyway so you might as well duck under the pillow and not listen to the voices in your head.
But, of course, we all know that when there’s an elephant in the room, it takes all the space there is.
That’s how awareness works for me. Once I know, I can’t un-know. My brain constantly shows me examples of how I repeat that weakness or bad behavior. Sometimes I even see it coming and still can’t stop it. Because knowing myself doesn’t always mean I can stop myself from making bad choices or decisions.
But still.
As frustrating and frightening and defeating as it might feel, I am a huge fan of awareness.
I believe in making choices consciously. I am grateful for the power of having options. I like to know the cards I am holding so I can decide if I want to rearrange them, let one go, or even let them all go.
I’ve been teaching this class on time. And when you start to look at where your time goes, the instinct to self-reprimand is strong. Just like when you’re gaining weight and you sit down to write all the things you actually eat, you often feel ashamed of how much you do indeed lie to yourself all day long. It’s not the eating. It’s how you *think* you’re eating so much less (or differently) than you actually are. It’s how you spend three times as much time on the computer as you think you do. It’s how you can see that you certainly have 30 minutes to spare to exercise each day.
Truth can feel painful.
But it also gives you the power to run your own life. I can’t remember where I read it but I remember an article about newborn babies and how even they prefer to have the choice to make their own decisions. How important it is to have options and to feel like we’re in control (even at that young age.) So knowing where your time goes gives you the option to change it. It puts the reins back in your hands. The reason it feels overwhelming is because “With great power comes great responsibility.”
But the thing is, whether we like to face it or not, we are responsible for our lives. We’re responsible for what we eat, what we do, how we talk, the words we say, the actions we take. And the way we spend our minutes. We already have all this responsibility whether we like it or not. The great gift of awareness is that it gives you a clear view into how things actually are. So you can make your decisions with 20/20 vision.
Would you rather go at it blind?
I’ve decided to embrace the gift of awareness. Bring it on. It’s part of growing up and owning who you are. Living in your story. Making the choices and standing by them. Good or bad. I prefer to see things clearly and make all my choices with acute awareness.
I only wish it was as simple to have a clear picture of how things are in all areas of my life.
Ok, I know I’ve been promising that I would share my notebooks with you for a few weeks, so here it is finally.
Last year, I read this post by Karen which prompted me to get my own journal. (she’s since written more about it and her post is excellent.) I decided to use a squared Moleskine because I love squared paper.
I had some plans for the notebook but my process and what I put in it has evolved and progressed throughout the year. So it’s a constantly-evolving process.
After using my first one for a few weeks, I decided the black was too depressing so I started painting them. I never do a good job but I still love them. So here’s the outside of my second book:
It gets a lot of use and goes everywhere with me, so it gets banged up quite a bit.
The first page has the calendar:
The second page has my personal statement from the Soul Restoration 2 class and then my first todo list page:
I make the todo list pages every Sunday, for the week ahead and then add, cross off, change them throughout the week.
My todo list pages have lists: must-do (for things that have to get done that week), nice-to-do (things I’d like to get done but it’s ok if they don’t), write (ideas for blog posts I might want to write), create (layouts, projects coming up due), blog (art, layouts, books, etc that I’ve already completed that are waiting for me to put up on the blog.)
I then put a piece of paper for each week that has my daily tasks on it. Everyday, I cross them out. As of now, the daily tasks I do are: exercise, sketching, journaling, reading to David, art journaling, collage book (new project for 2012), and blogging thoughts at night. At some point, I had more and I might have different ones in a few weeks. I create these on the computer and print them out a few weeks’ worth at a time. I then tape one for each week.
The page in the photo above is colored with pencils but i don’t do that anymore. It was an experiment and I didn’t like it.
I then use the same book to journal in the mornings.
Most days, I only write one page. Sometimes it’s more but one page is my minimum. This is literally the next page in the notebook. I also sketch in the same book right after this page:
when I first switched to watercolors, I started to glue down my paper:
but now I do it on a paper and then slip it in a 4×6 adhesive slip just like Karen mentions in her post. I then glue my art journal page right next to it.
This means my art journal pages are the same size as the Moleskine 5.125×8.25 but I am ok with that (at least for now.)
I put everything in this one little book. Here’s a double-spread of todo lists:
the mind maps I made in Karen’s class:
the visual board I made there, too:
the love list, or any other homework I had in her class. In all the classes I had this year that involved journaling or writing thoughts down:
Here’s my current journal:
It’s much much bulkier than that now and I am only 3 weeks in. I took this photo when I was almost done with number two:
The blue is the first one, then red. Yellow is the one I am on now and green will be my last one for 2011 (assuming the yellow one doesn’t take me to the end of the year.)
I’ve come to love and rely on my notebook. I carry it with me everywhere. I doodle, sketch, write, and keep my lists in it. My kids love looking through it and never read my journaling. I keep the journaling pages facing each other and never put art or todo lists on the facing pages. And I don’t mind that they are all together.
There you go. Now you know how all about my notebook. This is definitely my happiest way to get and stay organized. I love and adore my books and swear by the process. Let me know if you have any questions and I am absolutely happy to answer.
By the way, I will do my best to catch up on all the comments in the next two days. Thank you for your patience with me.
Yesterday, I received a really nice email about how much I get done and some questions about any tips I might have so I thought it might be a good idea to share some of my thoughts and ideas with all of you. Please know that this is what works for me and your mileage might vary.
First of all, there are many many many things I don’t get done. Many! I don’t cook or clean or do most of the household chores many people do. My kids do not have after-school activities and rarely go on playdates. My days are pretty similar to each other and allow for consistency. Even though I work at home, I have quite a demanding full-time job so I don’t commit to anything during work-hours. My kids know and understand that even though I am around, during the day my job takes priority and most of the time they are respectful of that and play independently. But I also get to spend a lot of time with my kids during the day.
One of the things I have is a relatively strict and consistent schedule. This changes with each school year and during the summer. But here’s my schedule at the moment:
5:30-6:00am – wake up and immediately exercise (I check email while I exercise)
6:00-6:30am – done with exercise, shower, write in journal
6:30-7:00am – start sketching
7:00-7:25am – prepare lunches, breakfast, wake up kids, read to David while he eats
7:25-7:45am – continue sketching
7:45am-8:30am – drive kids to school
8:30-9:00am – finish sketching, take photo of sketch
9am-5:30pm – work, eat lunch, walk to pickup Nathaniel from school, make lunch for him, etc.
5:30-6:30pm – kids bedtime routine and write blog post
6:30-7:30pm – write in weeklong art journal then start daily art journal page (sometimes David reads to me while I do art.)
7:30-8:00 or so – kids are down, finish off art journal page. if I have a layout due, I work on that instead of art journal page
8:00-10:00pm – hang out with hubby, read book, do a layout, watch TV whatever. This is extra time for me to do whatever I want.
10pm – go to bed.
Some of these change a bit. Like sometimes the blogging takes longer or I finish the sketch more quickly, etc. But I always exercise first thing and I rarely ever go to bed past 10. I often sleep around 9:30 to try to get a full 8 hours of sleep. I wake up at least once a night and take David to the bathroom. I am not a morning person. I changed my schedule because I found that most nights I am too tired to motivate myself. By the end of the day I feel worn out and I am more likely to sit in front of the TV rather than sketch. Whereas if I woke up early, while it was unpleasant, there was no one to bother me or to worry about. I could do my stuff, start my day on the right foot and by the time the household woke up I felt like I already did a few wonderful things for myself that day.
so there you have it. On the weekends, it’s pretty similar except I wake up around 7am and go to bed around 11. Instead of working, I will do more art, layouts, and hang out with my family.
Since I was asked for some tips, here is what I came up with that works for me. They are not in order:
1. Set a schedule: I find that having something scheduled for a particular time always works for me. I am not a roll-with-it kind of girl so having something on my schedule makes it more real and tangible and often means I get it done. It also gives my activity validation and value.
2. Schedule short bursts of time: I try to not have any activity that needs more than 30 mins. My exercise is 20 minutes, journaling is around 20 mins and reading to David is the same. The sketching takes a bit longer but I break it up so I draw for 20 mins and color for 20 mins and write for 10 mins so I can do them throughout the day if needed. I reserve time consuming activities for the end of the day so I don’t feel like I used up a lot of my day and have to stress. I feel trying to find a 30-minute slot in your day feels a lot less overwhelming than finding a 2-hour slot. If you take 15 minutes a day to do art journaling, it’s still MUCH better than no time. And 15 minutes a day adds up to almost 2 hours a week. Whereas if you don’t let yourself do it unless you have a 2-hour block, you might not art journal for weeks. There are many things you can do in a 15minute slot, if this is stressing you out, let me know and I’ll make a post with ideas.
3. Batch up a few activities to do during your “you time:” I do most of my personal goals during two slots in the day. 5:30am-7:30am and 6:30pm-8pm. That’s 3.5 hours during which I don’t have work and my kids are sleeping. I specifically wake up before my kids wake up to use some quiet time to get my personal goals done. I am NOT a morning person but I know that starting my day like this is incredibly peaceful for me so I do it. Most of us have some down time during the day. Maybe it’s your lunch hour. Try to divide the hour into two 30 minute slots and do two things. You can read for 30minutes and art journal for 30 minutes. You can eat while you read. I find that doing a few things in a row helps me more than doing one thing for a long period.
4. Eat the frog: The concept of eating the frog means doing an important to-do list item that you’re dreading. For me, this is the exercise. I dread it and it’s the most important thing I do for myself everyday. So I get up and I do it first thing. This means if the rest of my day goes downhill and my schedule goes out the window, I still did the most important thing. I do it well before work hours and well before my kids wake up so the chances of something interfering with it are low. Eating the frog means I start my day with a big win.
5. Just do it: Stop making excuses. Stop saying you don’t have the time. I have never ever met someone who doesn’t have 15 free minutes in their day. You can draw 15 minutes a day or read or art journal or learn something new a bit at a time. When you just sit and do it, you suddenly discover you have a lot more time than you think you do. If you get in the habit of not making excuses, you end up getting more done and that motivates you to do even more. It’s a positive cycle to be in so you just have to kickstart it by sitting at a table and doing something for 15 minutes.
6. Make the Time: Similarly to the previous one. There will never be time in your day unless you make it. Look for the holes. Wake up earlier. Go to bed later. Eat lunch in half the time. Clean a little bit less. Whatever it takes. If what you want to do is important to you, create the time. Steal it away from something else. You matter and what you want to do matters so create time however you need to.
7. Talk to your family/friends: If you have friends or family, husband, kids who depend on you, talk to them. Tell them why it’s important for you to take this time for yourself. Why it matters. My kids know that even if they wake up before 7am, it’s mommy’s quiet time and they play quietly on their own while I do my journaling or sketching. Seeing me value this time for myself shows them that it matters to me so they learn to respect it, too. Respect and value starts with you. If you’re always willing to postpone activities that bring you joy so someone else can have what they want, you’re telling them your personal joy doesn’t matter as much. I think there needs to be a balance and mutual respect. Some kids are too young to understand but most aren’t. In my opinion, of course.
8. Find What motivates you: I am motivated by schedules. I rarely feel in the mood to do something. Inertia is very strong for me. So Getting up to sit at my table and starting the activity motivates me more than anything else. So I just do it cause my schedule says I have to. And once I start I am in the zone and enjoy it. But getting started only happens because it’s on my schedule. Classes motivate me, too. I am a good student and take homework seriously. So I take a lot of classes because I know it helps me journal and do art. For some people it’s having a buddy. An exercise buddy, an art buddy etc. For others it’s having a personal, quiet space. Or really loud music. Whatever it is for you, figure it out and use it to your advantage. Another thing that helps me is being prepared. I generally have an idea of my sketch subject the night before so when I sit to sketch, I am not looking for ideas. I don’t do this for art journaling or layouts but I do it regularly for sketching.
9. Track Progress: For me, this does wonders. I track my exercise with the nike+ and fitbit. I track my sketches and art journaling by posting them here weekly. I have daily tasks lists with all my recurring activities so I make sure to cross them off each day. Seeing progress really helps me so I do it. I track books that David and I read, too. And we both love looking at the little book full of all the cards we made with each book we read. It’s very rewarding and I recommend it.
10. Create Rewards and Celebrate: This may sound touchy-feely but rewards are a big part of self-motivation. I reward my exercise by buying a piece of clothing each month. I buy art supplies or sign up for online classes regularly. I use income from my classes or designer work to buy supplies or classes so I am rewarding myself for working hard and keeping an art practice. Take the time to celebrate and congratulate yourself. Being disciplined is hard. But truly worthwhile.
Well this is really really long, I hope it’s helpful. Remember that it’s just what works for me. I prioritize these things over other things because this is what matters to me. Find out what matters to you. And if art journaling doesn’t matter enough to you to create time over it, do not chastise yourself. I think a big part of this is owning up to what you like and what you don’t. Earlier this month, I had allotted 15 minutes of my day to writing a book. But I quickly realized I never enjoyed that time and even though I would love having written a book, I didn’t like actually writing it. So I walked away from it. During this you-time, don’t try to do what you think you should. Do only the things you love and things that truly make you feel good.
Remember that your time is super-precious and runs out each and every day. So use it however it makes you feel most fulfilled.
I’m a big fan of the Nike motto: Just Do It. If some of you have taken Melody’s Soul Restoration class, she has a similar concept which she calls: “She Did It Anyway.”
Here’s what I learned about life. We’re always too busy. There’s always a lot going on and there’s always a good excuse not to do that thing you’ve been putting off. There are some cases when the thing you’re putting off is unpleasant so as long as the consequences aren’t damaging, I can understand putting those things off.
But then there are the other things. Those we know we will love to do. Those that we really dream about. Those that might be tough but will have huge rewards. The thing is your life is made up of your ordinary days. So if you can’t find a moment to fit this new activity into your “every” day, you will never do it. Your life will never have that added joy because you’re constantly putting things off and waiting for the “right” time.
In general, I am very good about starting things. I am very organized. I make a plan and I get started. For example when I finally decided to start sketching (as opposed to whining about wanting to do it) I created a Pinterest board and collected several sketches I liked so I had a pool to choose from and I sketched one of them every day. Same for art journaling in my weeklong book. I made a collection of ideas and just did one each time.
Where I tend to get stuck sometimes is getting to the next level. Since I am a big planner, sometimes changing the plan is a big deal for me and I get stuck. For the last few weeks, I’ve been feeling like my sketching was getting stale. It was getting boring to copy more of the same sketcher’s work and I couldn’t find anything else I liked. I, briefly, tried to sketch my photos but that got old quickly, too.
I knew that I wanted to switch to watercolors. But I had so many stories around why I couldn’t. I make all my sketches in my daily book (I will write a post about this notebook) and it has thin squared pages. They can’t take watercolors. I also felt like I could never sketch without the grid I’d come to depend on (I bought grid paper cause I like it, not with sketching in mind.) so much. I also didn’t think I could come up with ideas of my own. I pondered for weeks and weeks. I looked at others’ work and felt frustrated. I tried to talk myself out of it. Told myself colored pencils were just fine, etc etc. This went on for weeks. Until last Saturday I finally decided enough was enough. I drove to the art store and bought a watercolor pad that was recommended to me (more about this on another post, too.) I kept telling myself not to over-think it. I had one idea for a sketch. So I cut the paper, and just sketched it.
As soon as I started, I forgot about the lack of grids, I dove right in and sketched and wrote and didn’t worry that I had no other ideas. I hadn’t planned a long list. I just did it. And then the sketch was finished and I loved it and glued it to my notebook and a new process was born. Two days later, I managed to come up with more ideas. I don’t have a long list but I am not worried. I know it will come. And if it doesn’t, I will adjust.
Just to show that this is not specific to art, the same thing happened for exercise. For the last month, I’d been worried about what happens when I hit the one-year mark. Do I keep going with the same system of walking for 2 miles and running for 1? Did I want to continue with 5K a day? I knew that I wanted to increase the running. I wanted to see if I could switch to only running for 2 miles. But I was really scared. I could barely make the 1 mile run, I didn’t think I could do 2. I also didn’t think I could start the exercise by just running. It sounds irrational but I was really worried. I kept whining and whining to myself.
And then on Saturday, which was my one year date. I just did it. I figured it was a Saturday and I was well rested and I could just give it a try. And it worked! Of course it worked. But then I worried that come Monday morning I wouldn’t be able to do it since during the week I exercise at 5:30am and there was no way I had enough energy for a 2-mile run at that time of the day.
But this morning I got up and did it anyway:
I didn’t think. I didn’t worry. I just did it. I know for some people 10:40 minute miles are slow but for me this is a miracle. And tomorrow, I will do the same. And the next day and the next day. I even have a plan on how to slowly get to running 3 miles a day.
One of the reasons I am good at getting things done is because I have relatively rigid routines around things I care about. So when the time comes to switch things up or take them to the next level, it can really mess me up. I can make a lot of silly excuses not to do it. Just like someone who never gets started to begin with.
But there’s magic in doing it anyway.
There’s magic in telling that voice to shut up. In having faith that the plan will reveal itself. In trying. In throwing yourself at it fully. Because that’s when the magic happens. You give it your all and the universe shows up to do its half.
It always does.
What about you? Do you have something in mind? If there’s something you’re waiting to start or take to the next level, this is my gentle push to encourage you. Make today your day. I cannot tell you how happy I felt all weekend for finally taking these two activities to the next level. I wish the same for you.
So take a cue from Nike and Just Do It!
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projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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