Because it’s Monday and I am working in the home office, I thought it might be fun to share a peek into where I work. Working on my newsletter, enrolling students into my online writing class, Free-Write Fling and prepping my upcoming Paris art trip. I love variety! What are you working in this fine Monday?
View in Instagram ⇒
productivity
Mid-Year Review with Mind Mapping
It’s June, halfway through the year. I love summer for the chance to play a bit more. But before I go into the play zone, let’s do a mid-year check-in. This doesn’t have to take long. Enjoy a glass of lemonade or tea and check in on your year so far.
Doing this kind of reflection process helps to:
- see if you are on track with your priorities
- surprise yourself with all the wonderful, unexpected things that have happened
- celebrate how much you’ve already accomplished
- prepare for the next part of the year
I love my mind maps, and here’s another way to use them as a project management tool.
In January, I did a quarterly mind map of my major projects. The focus for this map is my art and art business. I laid out the known projects for each quarter. I don’t use goals as much as a focus on projects and intention. You can see in the middle of my map is my focus for my art this year – Make and Sell Things.
Additional notes:
There’s not a lot on Q4, leaving room to grow and also to have room in case some of the earlier projects aren’t complete by the last quarter.
The 100 Day Project and subsequent show weren’t on the map at the beginning of the year. This is turning out to be one of the best things of the year, and I am glad I made room for it.
I later added a goal of $10,000 or more gross income from art sales. I thought I was halfway there, but doing this review forced me to look up the numbers. So far I’ve earned over $8,000 in art sales this year. It’s exciting to feel that I’m going to surpass my art income goal this year! This is a huge confidence booster and a good reason to do the review in itself!
When I revisited this, I added some things and relished that I seem to be on track with my art goals. Time for some coconut milk ice cream to celebrate!
A few coaching questions for you to reflect on your year to date:
- What was the focus of your year?
- What has helped you stay committed to your focus?
- What unexpected surprises happened?
- What’s your focus for the rest of the year?
Have you done your mid-year review? What did you learn from it?
Let us know in a comment below, and if this was helpful for you, please share with your friends!
Forget goals; invest in practices for creative satisfaction
How do you get everything done? Writing, art making, coaching, teaching – just a few of the roles I juggle. I’m sure you’ve got as many or more roles you play. We’re all trying to squeeze more into every day. How do I get things done?
It’s a constant adjustment process of my work flow. In fact, it’s the problem we seek to solve at Original Impulse: how do we get our best creative work done despite everything that conspires against us?
I’m always looking for the right combination to fend off distraction, OPA and decision swirl. I want to focus on things that matter to me, that challenge me, and that serve to inspire others’ creative dynamism.
So, rather than set big goals for 2015, I’m trying a new schedule. My hope is that new structure makes it easier to do what I love. Here’s what I’m experimenting with: [Read more…] about Forget goals; invest in practices for creative satisfaction
Stop Being a Victim of OPA
You’re tooling along, writing your book or making your art. The next thing you know, you’re a victim of OPA – Other People’s Agenda.
OPA shows up in the following ways:
- emails
- social media links
- requests
- phone calls
- brainstorming that has nothing to do with your focus
- opportunities
- friends and family’s ideas of who, how and what you should be
Often, OPA is disguised as opportunities. Offers for you, invitations to speak or write for others. Sounds great, right?
But these opportunities can pull us away from our own agenda. Away from the things we write, the programs we develop, the art we make. Remember, not every opportunity is your opportunity.
OPA can seem harmless enough. But as our attention gets more dissipated, our time becomes more valuable. Our ability to focus is one of the main factors that contributes to our success. I work on this all the time with my clients – how to stay focused on their agenda over the long haul.
How to fend off OPA
I’m not advising you to shut yourself in a cave and ignore the world. OPA can be incredibly enriching. Unexpected possibilities, new insights, new friends and colleagues all come from OPA.
Living at the mercy of OPA dissipates our already-scattered focus. It prevents us from doing our best work.
This is a complex issue. We don’t want to create rigid rules that shut us away from the world. We do want to maintain our focus and stay in relationship with the world.
My focus became much easier to hold when I drafted some policies around requests. These policies clarified my focus and reduced the amount of time I spent responding to OPA.
I recommend developing some boundaries so OPA doesn’t override your agenda. Some include:
- Clear agenda for the year, quarter, month, day
- Timed social media and online wandering sessions
- Focused, offline creating sessions
- Written policies to easily respond to requests
Take stock of the kinds of OPA that regularly show up in your life. For each kind of OPA, write a strategy for managing it.
What helps you avoid being a victim of OPA? Please share your thoughts below. This is a topic I think we all need help with, so your input is appreciated.
Just Keep Showing Up
Every morning, I leave the comfort of bed, make a visit to the bathroom and then take a seat on a cushion. I set a timer for 15 minutes, offer a brief prayer, and try to sit still until the timer goes off.
I’ve been doing this since November 6th, 2012. On the advice of my mentor Jonathan Fields and my friend Kristoffer Carter, I took up meditation. I can’t point to any specific results of this practice. I can’t say I’m a better, more calm person. But I can say that I keep showing up for myself, and that feels good.
Meditation instructor Susan Piver helped guide my practice. She insists that sitting meditation isn’t about quieting the mind. It’s about being with ourselves, being with our mind as it is. With compassion and attention.
This no-judgement practice has allowed me to keep showing up. The only goal: sit down and show up. Even a year into it, I haven’t applied any specific goals other than that. I don’t demand quiet. I don’t deride myself for thinking about episodes of Breaking Bad. I just show up.
The best thing about this meditation practice is that it’s become a habit. A habit is something you do almost without choosing. You just do. The relief and pleasure I feel from this routine that starts my day is great. I don’t have to decide. I don’t have to worry about missing it or forgetting it. It’s as much a part of the day as visiting the bathroom – I just do it.
What does this have to do with the creative life? This is the kind of practice I want my students and clients to cultivate. I urge them to keep showing up, without judgement, without an agenda that chokes the vitality of the work.
I’m not concerned about a good meditation session or a bad one. It’s almost as if every session is the same. The only thing that counts is that I show up.
The same is true for writing or art making. Keep showing up. Let what happens in the session have its own vitality, its own say.
I kept showing up for my novel, draft after draft. It took 12 years, but finally all my efforts culminated in something worth publishing.
How do you keep showing up for your writing or art making? How often can you leave the judge behind to simply and humbly bear witness to your creative impulses? Share your experience in a comment below of the practices that guide your creative life.
Practice with us
Starting today, I’m leading a group of writers around the world in a daily practice. We write every day for 15 minutes, using a verbal and visual prompt. This online writing class, The Devoted Writer, is one of my favorite things to lead.
It’s not too late to join this writing class. Your new writing friends are waiting to welcome you to this practice of showing up for your words.