Last year was a big one for me. I've done more things to expand my reach than I can count which means I said yes to almost every opportunity that came my way, so long as I could manage it while maintaining my sanity. Now that I know what is possible, I want to enter into this new year more prepared so that I'm being proactive instead of reactive. I'm writing this for myself in order to exude these vibes into the universe - perhaps they'll resonate with you too.
1. Be more organized.
I'm very on-the-fly with things because I've actually never been in a place where my artwork was my main source of income. Now that the scale is starting to tip, I think it's time I put all my skills to work in service of my art practice instead of just dragging everything along as I go. This means being better at tracking my expenses, my project timelines, and incoming payments, and ... it's a lot! But always a work in progress, and if this goal is accomplished then the rest will fall into place as well.
2. Be less responsive.
This one is tough. I tend to respond at the drop of a hat because I'm pretty bad with boundaries and work/life balance. I don't like when emails or messages pile up, but I also want to protect my future self by reigning it in a bit. I don't need to be connected 24/7. And I can wait a day or two to respond to an email.
3. ... But somehow stay the same amount of social.
This is where the real tricky part is. Being responsive and social goes hand in hand with being relevant and fostering a sense of intimacy and maintain top of mind priority with clients, vendors, and partners. I care a lot about how I treat people and make them feel, so I want to be in touch with my community and peers as much as possible.
4. Schedule times of rest.
OOF. Don't we all know this? We're live in a weird world where we're always half working - this goes hand in hand with the responsive thing. In 2020 I want to do better in terms of scheduling solid breaks and vacations to recharge and re-inspire my practice.
5. Spend more time creating artwork free of commercial pressure.
This is probably the most challenging item. Obviously I need to pay my bills, support myself with this thing. But there's such a delicate balance between production and creation. I don't want to slip into a sole production mode, just churning out the same pieces in different color variations for the rest of time. I want to continue to evolve and grow, and conquer new goals and break into new markets every year. Not sure how EXACTLY that'll happen, but... I have to make it happen.
I previously had continued this list with 5 more specific line items and then I realized that they were actually just extensions of the ones above. Cross your fingers for me!