Art Marketing Action from ArtBizCoach.com

Do you wish you had more time? No wonder. You have to make your art, promote your art, stay in touch with friends and family, exercise, eat right, and be there for those you love. There will never be enough hours in the day to do what you want to do.

Pam RuBert, Whine and Dine at Sushi Zen.
Art quilt, 50 x 40 inches. © The Artist
http://www.pamrubert.com

Let me say that differently for emphasis: There will never be enough time to do everything you want. Get used to the fact that things will be left undone.

You have to be able to decide what is most important to you at any given moment--keeping your long-term goals in mind at all times. This is difficult, if not impossible, to do if you are unorganized or unprepared.

The single most important thing I do for productivity is to plan my day. Sounds easy, right? Everyone has a calendar. Everyone has a task list. Everyone has ongoing or long-term projects that must be approached one step at a time. The key is to look at them all together and decide what must be done right now.

Planning my day always occurs at the end of the day prior. I do it at the end of each day because it brings me peace of mind. It's harder for me to sleep while I'm thinking about everything that must be done. Going over lists and deciding what is most important makes it very easy for me to turn out the lights and sleep like a baby.

Planning your day doesn't mean having a foggy notion that you need to run errands, do a sketch for a new piece, or spend an hour on marketing. You must be more specific than that. What, exactly, do you need to do in terms of creating art? What, exactly, do you need to do in terms of marketing? What, exactly, do you need to do to take care of yourself and family? And how will you best arrange your day so that you can fit everything in?

Productivity expert David Allen says most of us are unproductive because we don't know everything that needs to be done. We don't keep track of everything. Having vague ideas takes up brain space. When you put it on paper--everything on paper--you get it out of your head. This invites more room for creativity.

Being productive requires more than organizing. It means finding systems that work for us. My system of planning each day the night before works for me. When I let it slide, my day is almost worthless.