So I'm having a pretty tough time right now balancing working on portfolio pieces (to try to get a job in the entertainment art industry) and working my day job. I work in a pretty stressful position at a local hospital from 9 - 6 Monday through Friday, so when I get home around 630 I'm pretty wiped out, and have a hard time getting stuff done. I work on art all weekend, but that's also when I have to get all of my normal living stuff done too, so I'm finding my output is pretty limited. Anyone have any ideas how to increase output and balance work and art?
Wake up earlier, cut down time wasters, drink more coffey. If you need to keep your job to support yourself, theres really no other way around. Once you're good enough to work as an artist you'll be able to reclaim your life again.
I'm in very similar position. I work 12h a day, 9 to 9 and what I found is time isn't a problem. The hardest part for me is to get motivated. Let's face it. When you're all wiped out and sleepy after all day, it's pretty fuckin' hard to force yourself to work on your craft. But I'm passionate about art and it's fun to me. So I have no problems with finding time to paint, spend time with my girlfriend see my family and friends once a while.
So yeah. In my opinion it's a mindset issue you have here. Once you overcome this, you'll find ways to find more time to paint. Wish you luck mate <3
I remembered when i was working full time as a house painter, 7-4 everyday, then paint when i came home, just to feel some what normal, then hang out with the wife. well that was years ago.
IM WORKING part time, thats pretty awesome, as a barista, they get very flexible work hours, some days i work 6, or 8 hours. and you can choose WHEN to get up. So i go to work at 5;30. then get home at 2. eat and then draw.
Work til midnight, sketch at work, look up art on breaks, ramalooke has right with coffee, if you dont like that you cna drink green or black tea, in large amounts, it dosnt make you to wired. .. hum, well look into other job if possible, to get more hours for art. or share rent with someone else. so you dont have to work so much. THIS is jsut things so you can get better faster i guess. but you should get pretty good if you just get time to draw after work.
If you need a skype bud, while drawing im online, after 4 pm, californian time. my skype- pigeatingsquid
(09-09-2013, 10:41 PM)ramalooke Wrote: Wake up earlier, cut down time wasters, drink more coffey. If you need to keep your job to support yourself, theres really no other way around. Once you're good enough to work as an artist you'll be able to reclaim your life again.
I'm in very similar position. I work 12h a day, 9 to 9 and what I found is time isn't a problem. The hardest part for me is to get motivated. Let's face it. When you're all wiped out and sleepy after all day, it's pretty fuckin' hard to force yourself to work on your craft. But I'm passionate about art and it's fun to me. So I have no problems with finding time to paint, spend time with my girlfriend see my family and friends once a while.
So yeah. In my opinion it's a mindset issue you have here. Once you overcome this, you'll find ways to find more time to paint. Wish you luck mate <3
Wow! I had figured you were already working in art! I've been arround your sketchbook and it's kick-ass!
About the main topic, it all comes down to one's body and mind. Not everybody gets the same amount of stress after a day of hard work. There's people with so much energy, it's hard to believe there's so much difference, but I think if you're really commited, you'll get there soon, if not, just draw once a day some hours (at least 4, it's really not much) You'll get there eventually.
I've heard many great artists say the same, it is just a matter of being constant and patient.
1. Identify stressors. This is the most important step of all, as identifying the things that stress you out in your life is the first step towards eliminating them. Take 10 minutes to think about what stresses you out during the day. What weekly occurrences stress you out? What people, activities, things cause stress in your life? Make a Top 10 list, and see which of them can be eliminated, and start to weed them out. For those that can’t, find ways to make them less stressful.
2. Eliminate unnecessary commitments. We all have many commitments in our life, starting with work but also including commitments related to kids, our spouses, things to do at home, other family, civic, side work, religious, hobbies, online activities and more. Consider each of them, the amount of stress they provide, and the value you get out of them. Edit brutally, and take steps today to remove the ones that stress you out the most.
3. Procrastination. We all do this, of course. But allowing stuff to pile up will stress us out. Find ways to take care of stuff now (form a Do It Now habit) and keep your inbox and desk clear.
4. Disorganization. We’re all disorganized to some extent. Even if we’ve organized something, and created a great system for keeping it that way, things tend to move towards chaos over time. But disorganization stresses us out, in terms of visual clutter, and in making it difficult to find stuff we need. Take time to get things in your life organized, starting with your desk and the papers in your home, and moving on to other areas.
5. Late. Being late always stresses us out. We have to rush to get ready, rush to get there, and stress out the whole time about looking bad and being late. Learn the habit of being early, and this stress disappears. Make a conscious effort to start getting ready earlier, and to leave earlier. This also makes driving less stressful. Time yourself to see how long it actually takes to get ready, and how long it actually takes to get somewhere. You’ve probably been underestimating these times. Once you know these times, you can plan backwards so that you show up 10 minutes early each time. It’s a good feeling.
6. Controlling. We are not the Master of this Universe. I know we sometimes wish we were, but acting as if we are is a sure way to get stressed out. Trying to control situations and people cannot work, and only serves to increase our anxiety when it doesn’t work. Learn to let go, and accept the way that other people do things, and accept what happens in different situations. The only thing you can control is yourself — work on that before you consider trying to control the world. Also learn to separate yourself from tasks and to delegate them. Learning to let go of our need to control others and the situations around us is a major step towards eliminating stress.
7. Multitasking. Having multiple tasks going on at the same time might seem productive, but in actuality it slows us down from actually focusing on a task and completing it — and it stresses us out in the meantime. Learn to single-task.
8. Eliminate energy drains. If you’ve analyzed your life (in Step 1) and found things that stress you out, you might have also noticed things that drain your energy. Certain things in our life just cause us to be more exhausted than others, with less value. Identify them, and cut them out. You’ll have much more energy and much less stress. Happiness ensues.
9. Avoid difficult people. You know who they are. If you take a minute to think about it, you can identify all the people in your life — bosses, coworkers, customers, friends, family, etc. — who make your life more difficult. Now, you could confront them and do battle with them, but that will most certainly be difficult. Just cut them out of your life.
10. Simplify life. Simplifying, of course, is a major theme of Zen Habits. Simplify your routines, your commitments, your information intake, your cluttered rooms, the mass of stuff going on in your life … and have less stress as a result. Start with Edit Your Life and then look through the other simplicity articles.
11. Unschedule. Create more open periods of time in your life. It’s not necessary to schedule every minute of our lives. Learn to avoid meetings, keep wide open blocks of time where we either work on our important tasks or batch process the smaller ones. When someone asks to schedule a meeting, first try to get it done through email or phone … if that doesn’t work, avoid having it scheduled. Ask them to call you and see if you’re free at that time. You will love having an open schedule.
12. Slow down. Instead of rushing through life, learn to take things slow. Enjoy your food, enjoy the people around you, enjoy nature. This step alone can save tons of stress.
13. Help others. It may sound contradictory to add more tasks to your life by trying to help other people (you’ve got enough to do), but if you were to add anything to your life, this should be it. Helping others, whether volunteering for a charity organization or just making an effort to be compassionate towards people you meet, not only gives you a very good feeling, it somehow lowers your stress level. Of course, this doesn’t work if you try to control others, or help others in a very rushed and frenetic way — learn to take it easy, enjoy yourself, and let things happen, as you work to make the lives of others better.
14. Relax throughout the day. It’s important to take mini-breaks during your work day. Stop what you’re doing, massage your shoulders and neck and head and hands and arms, get up and stretch, walk around, drink some water. Go outside and appreciate the fresh air and the beautiful sky. Talk to someone you like. Life doesn’t have to be all about productivity. You should also avoid using online activity too much as your de-stressing activity — get away from the computer to relax.
15. Quit work. This one’s drastic, and probably too drastic for most. But in most likelihood, your work is your absolute biggest stressor. Getting out of your 9-to-5, automating your income, and finding something you truly love to do, that you’re passionate about, will create a positive life and much less stressful one at that. Give it a little thought before dismissing it — there might be possibilities here you haven’t considered.
16. Simplify your to-do list. I’ve written about this before, but attempting to do everything on your long to-do list will definitely stress you out. Learn to simplify your to-do list down to the few essential tasks, and you will enjoy the process much more.
17. Exercise. This is common advice for stress relief, and that’s because it works … but it’s also a stress prevention method. Exercising helps relieve the stress buildup, it gives you some quiet time to contemplate and relax, and just as importantly, it makes you more fit. A fitter person is better equipped to handle stress. Another important factor: being unhealthy can be a major stressor (especially once you have to go to the hospital), and exercise can help prevent that.
18. Eat healthy. This goes hand-in-hand with exercise as a stress prevention method, of course. Become healthier and a major source of stress will disappear. Also, I’ve found that greasy food, for me, puts me in a worse mood and can contribute to stress levels immediately.
19. Be grateful. This might not be as obvious as some of the others, but developing an attitude of gratitude (I sound like a preacher with that rhyme!) is a way of thinking positive, eliminating negative thinking from your life, and thereby reducing stress. Learn to be grateful for what you have, for the people in your life, and see it as a gift. With this sort of outlook on life, stress will go down and happiness will go up. That’s a winning formula.
20. Zen-like environment. Take time to declutter your desk (as mentioned above) and even once you do that, continually edit your desk and working space, and the things in your home, until you’ve created a simple, peaceful, Zen-like environment. It will be much less stressful to work in an environment like that than a more cluttered and distracting one.
