Stop Waiting

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As 2018 draws to a close, like many people, I am reviewing the past year and thinking of what I want to accomplish in the New Year. I don’t really call them “resolutions” but I do set goals and this is a good time to review and tweak them.

For 2019, I resolve to STOP WAITING. “Waiting” is different than procrastination.  I think procrastination is not doing something either because you don’t want to, or you don’t feel like it yet. Waiting, on the other hand, is like not taking responsibility for your inertia. It is “I can’t do x yet because someone else hasn’t done y“, where y is something you think is outside your control. It’s a victim stance. I do this a lot and I hate it. Examples:

  • I can’t sell my art because my programmer hasn’t built my online shop yet.
  • I can’t post pictures of my artwork on my website because my friend hasn’t come over to take good photos yet.
  • I can’t write a blog post because I’m waiting for my website to be redesigned.
  • I can’t put together an art show because I’m waiting for someone else to do it.
  • I can’t book a gig because my band mates haven’t given me their schedules yet.
  • I can’t exercise because my workout partner is busy today.

All of these are examples of playing the victim by “waiting” until someone else does their part so you can go on with your life. I do not know why, but I do this. And I recognize it.

In addition, I will stop “waiting” until the time is right.  You know, “waiting” until I finally have the perfect thing to write about or the perfect finished artwork to share.  The perfect thing and the perfect time is This and Now.  So, for now, I will post a painting I am still working on in my studio. It isn’t perfect and it isn’t finished. I plan to finish it this week and get it ready to show in February.  It will be for sale then.

Truth is a function of time.  I think Einstein said that.  I digress.  But think about that.

Anyway, Here’s to 2019 being a year of DOING, not waiting. Let’s live our truth in 2019.

If you build it, they will come.

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Or, at least you will have built it, have something to show for it, and a place to show it off.

Like a home builder pouring a foundation and setting up a frame, I spent the past 7 days putting together my website, setting up my social media accounts and organizing notes of goals, how-to, reminders, ideas.

This post will be of interest to you if you are someone trying to get set up for an organized creative business life. I will document some of the steps I have taken so I can help others who are overwhelmed with the beginning, like I was.  I have a great friend who had been through all this herself and has shared her experience with me.  I had no idea how to get started and I was spinning my wheels and procrastinating.  I would like to help others as my friend helped me.  Pay it forward.  Community, people!

Here is what I have done, so far:

  • I signed up with WordPress.com for a website. I drew out sort of an “org chart” of how I want to lay out my site. Next, I picked a template and started dropping in images of my artwork, music performance photos, videos of me playing music (I embedded these from YouTube.) I, then, added an “About” page, some of my original lyrics sheets, a list of cover songs I play and some events where people can come see me perform – either art or music -and show support.
  • I signed up for new Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter accounts, all called CarsonArtMusic, like my website. I still have some work to do on these to maximize their usefulness, like “tags”, “hashtags”, and links, but I will work on that next week.
  • I ordered business cards.
  • I got a DropBox account to make it easier to share photos, videos and other files with friends and between all my devices.
    • Note: be careful and diligent about how you name your files. Be consistent and descriptive.
  • I installed Chrome and Evernote on my computer and iPad to make it easy to capture notes and ideas. I have a file for “Third Party Providers” where I have stashed information like “how to bulk resize photos”, “how to transfer lots of big files to someone for free”, “where did I order my business cards”, etc.
    • These are:
        • bulkresizephotos.com
        • wetransfer.com
        • moo.com

In addition to all of this, I have now written 2 blog posts, and I have completed 2 paintings this week! It feels good to get this much done in one week. Many thanks to my friend, Kathy, at kathymuir.com for all the support and help.

“In a creative, life there is no difference between work and play.” -James Michener