Your real life is NOW

Procrastination is one of my hardest habits to break. I thought that I was unique with my challenges, but I found out this week that I'm not.

See, I almost always have the idea that, as soon as I get caught up (or finish enough stuff that I can cut back on my current, insanely busy schedule), I'll have time to reorganize and live a healthier, happier, simpler life.

But, as soon as I'm nearing the end of some massive, time-munching projects, I launch (or agree to) a bunch more. I roll right into another stress-filled to-do list.

It almost always ends up the same: I approach my deadlines with a bunch of half-done projects that I rush to completion, with less than satisfactory results. I also bail from the random tasks and projects that I can't possibly fit into my schedule. I end up feeling dissatisfied, and sometimes embarrassed by the work I've done, but I still launch into my next to-do list as if I have all the time and resources in the world. I don't seem to learn, no matter what I say to the contrary.

I'm making some harsh decisions right now, closing out a bunch of projects (and not replacing them) so that I have time, energy, focus and resources to do well with the projects that I'm keeping.

This has been inspired by a Business Week article by Marshall Goldsmit: Dogged by a Daydream. He's talking about his experiences in the field of leadership, but the lessons apply to artists as well. Go read it.

Happy Yule!

Happy Yule... or whichever holiday/s you celebrate this month, if any. It's a glorious time of year to relax, enjoy the season, and reconnect with friends and family. It's also an ideal time to set goals to make the new year your very best.

Early in 2008, I'll start making daily art cards. (I haven't started, yet.) I hope you'll join the fun!

Also, I've admired Seth Godin for a long time. Now, he has a free report, Money For Nothing (and your clicks for free) [PDF]. If you're representing yourself or your business online, it's worth reading.

I'm reorganizing my online time, to reduce how much time I'm at the keyboard each day. I'm using iGoogle as my homepage, using RSS feeds and gadgets as much as I can, and a few links where RSS isn't practical. I've created several tabs, such as "art," "business," "spirituality," "fun," and so on, so that I can just click through them and see the latest from the websites I most enjoy. (This is a good reason to have at least one blog--or something with RSS--at your website.)

Need to catch up? Triple your productivity.

The holidays can be busy. It's easy to fall behind on projects. When you're ready to catch up, this blog entry offers some good advice: Triple Your Productivity Tomorrow. (I'm posting this as a reminder to myself. I'm catching up after Christmas.)