Have you ever noticed that on days when you're traveling or have other appointments, that you feel very little confusion over what you ought to do for the day? All I know is that as a professional artist, I deal daily with organizing my tasks – fighting between what I ought to do and what I want to do, and the million tiny menial tasks that need to be done in order to maintain the home, car and all the other things we own.

My husband and I have a second home – which I love dearly, but it devours time – at least 1 day a week to preparing and packing for the weekend. But you know all about how frustrating it is to try to work at home or studio and get everything else in life done, so let me move on to being specific.

As an artist, I am my own boss. I manage my business and all the details that go with it – framing, preparing canvases, buying supplies, marketing, treasurer (finances), etc. All of these things must be done, and yet not one of them produces paintings. Now it may seem obvious, but without lots of great paintings, all of these other tasks are useless. Here's the point, and this is huge. The major part of my daily hours must be spent in making my product (my paintings) to have a thriving business.

But so many things get in the way. However, some of those things that steal my time away can be eliminated or moved to time slots that free up plenty of time for painting. So, for now, I'm not going to worry about the non-art business related things – like buying mums for the front yard or even cleaning the house or going to the dump. Today, I am going to focus on my art career tasks only – because these things are extremely important to my success.

Number One: try my best to cut down on unnecessary habits that cut into my precious working hours. We all have a time of day or evening when we are able to focus on our work. Mine is 'right now' – about 9 a.m. Until 2 p.m. It's 10 o-clock in the morning. I just took my morning walk, and you wouldn't believe all the 'ideas' that popped into my mind... priming my mind for non-painting. Thoughts about an addition for our cabin, working in the yard, writing this blog, and the list goes on.

Now when I get back to the studio, am I primed for work? Nope... .and I have no boss standing over my shoulder who's going to make me work. As my own boss, I need to get very good at being, well... bossy with myself. By the way, my work time is divided between writing for an art magazine and painting. Right now, the article stuff must be done – I have a deadline, but the paintings... will anyone reprimand me for not having paintings ready for a show? Probably not. Here's where I must get tough with myself because even though I don't feel any penalties right away for putting off painting, the ultimate truth is that I will not succeed as an artist. Putting off what one must do to succeed grows under the surface, barely noticed – until one day you realize that the years have flown and you've missed the boat.

I highly recommend a book: Coach Yourself to Success by Talane Meidaner. 101 tips from a personal coach for reaching your goals at work and in life.

My next blog – which I'll begin today is a list of all my time-stealers. Things I like to do – and are ok to do, but not during the most productive time of my day.

Sincerely,

Lori