Efficiency

I'm always, always, always trying to find better ways to be more efficient. And with this economy putting a damper on spending, this has become very difficult. The less the public spends, the harder the artisan has to hustle to keep food on the table. Its nobody in particular's fault and I'm tired of finger pointing. It just is what it is and hand made goods are fighting hard to not be a thing of the past!

My friend Lee kidnapped me yesterday and we ran around doing errands and catching up. For some reason I thought that by moving closer to some of my friends, we would all see each other a lot more - but we are all so busy making, creating, designing and working, that we don't see each other much at all most of the time! But when we do, its great, and we can talk about whats working and not working in our creative lives.

Time management seems to be one of the things that hampers us the most. Sometimes we end up working til the wee hours of the morning - just to have to get up in a few hours and do it all over again. But I think that there is a lot of puttering around in all those hours that just sucks up our day. And I think that this is common for those of us who live and work in the same space. We lose track of time. We are in our own universe. We set our own stage and make our own hours and forget that there is a world out there that runs on an atomic clock somewhere that dictates how things should run hourly to the second - 24/7. It doesn't matter if you have calendars and clocks in front of you in our little worlds - alarms and bells and whistles that go off at certain times - yes, things have to be done at certain times of the day. animals have to be fed, we have to be fed, packages have to be shipped, deadlines have to be met...........................but damn it: the day gets away and then its a month later and where the hell did that month go????

I think that this is very common. Articles on how artists and the self employed think and work have been in my face recently. I think a lot of us have ADD or ADHD - call it what you will, but we don't think like the 9-5'ers, so our problems may a bit unique. But  I don't like how this has been working or not working  anymore. I would like to change this. I would like to get more done in less time and start to have part of the day just for me now and then. Fancy that.

 The nature of my beast is always going to determine how my day is spent. I have two hands only and four hands one day a week. I do the impossible job of doing things by myself and juggling way too many creative balls in the air because I simply have to. I love my life and I have a job that Ive created for myself.. I dont want my job to disappear. I need to be more productive with my time.

So the consensus with my kidnapper was that we need to set hours and treat those hours like one would a real job that you would leave the house to go to. We have to get up, shower, get dressed (perhaps even set our clothes out for the next day) prepare our lunches and plan our errands during our lunch hour just as if someone were handing us a paycheck. And maybe the clue phone has been ringing for years and I have not been picking up...........but I had to try all different ways to have my life. And now I'm trying this new self disciplined one....................and dont get me wrong - I work very, very hard!!!!!!!!!! It does take a great deal of discipline, will, strength, focus, and faith to live this kind of life...........perhaps we just need to tighten this up a bit.
New.hours will be 10am - 6pm.

Of course, I'm going to take fittings and consultations in the evenings and during the weekend when I can. Of course I'll still work late if I have to. Of course gigs and vending opportunities will affect any hours I lay out for myself............but maybe with this new mindset, more will get accomplished and we will all be happier for it!

Well, if I were to officially be starting this new schedule today, I would officially be late for work. Tomorrow is another day!
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