Taming the RSS Feed (December EMG Zine)

I love learning and I'm always eager to improve the way that I do things. This is probably a good thing considering my core field is technology! However like a lot of people I am often time poor. Some of it is through disorganisation and bad time management (hey, I never said I was perfect!), but other times there are just so many competing tasks that things fall off the wagon.

I’ve found that if I really want to do something, I have to build it into my daily routines – make it like brushing my teeth or making the bed. And if I make it something that doesn’t take much time at all, it’s easy to move around if necessary, but more importantly is easy to fit in. One such thing I’ve found increasingly useful has been spending 10-20 minutes each day flicking through my RSS feeds.

Art supplies for the part time painter (EMG Zine November)

Don't have time to go to the art shop? What can you get from your every day supermarket/ grocery store, newsagency or shops that you regularly visit that you can use as tools? Many of you are probably already using these or have heard of the techniques described, but I thought I'd collect a 'shopping list' of supplies!

Of course you are not going to find artist quality paints, or sable paint brushes, but there are plenty of things that you can add to your artist toolbox that are cheap, available from general shops, and can extend out your toolset or allow you to experiment, particularly if you don't have time (or money) to visit the art shop.

Time Boxing the part time painter

I find it hard splitting my focus sometimes. I get so many competing tasks, so many different groups of people wanting different things from me, that there are days that I feel I'm not doing any work effectively.

Time Boxing is a technique that has been around for a while, probably has different names, but is most often referred to in the software development sphere. I thought I'd talk about it as it's a very simple but effective technique that can be applied to anything that you need to manage - particularly when you're shifting your mindset significantly.

How to prioritise competing tasks

In a previous column, I briefly mentioned working smarter, not harder. One of the things that I find difficult to manage at times is what to do first. You get so many things on your plate, you only have so many hours in the day, yet you are expected to complete everything NOW! When you have conflicting commitments and you can’t really drop them, how do you work out what to do first, and what to push to the bottom of the list?

First and foremost, have some way of keeping track of everything you have to do. There’s nothing worse than finding an email you forgot to answer... a year or two later. I’m guilty of that, in fact I know I’ve got a couple of way overdue tasks on my list! This is my way of working things out.

• Paid work should always come first! If you are a professional, you need to treat your paying customers like gold. They are your bread and butter. Being slow is ok, as long as you keep communications open and tell them you’re going to be slow. But never take money and renege on your contract or sale. It’s going to be hell on your reputation, and nothing travels faster than bad news!
• If you have two tasks of equal importance and one’s been in your in-tray longer, that’s the one that probably deserves your attention first. However, if it’s hanging around for ages – like months - maybe you should reconsider doing that task at all.
• The job that pays more bills is the one with the highest priority. Being an artist is important to me, but my day job pays all the niggly things like my mortgage and for food– so I’m not going to screw up that because I was up all hours painting! (Says the girl up til midnight painting on a ‘school night’ *ahem*).
• If a task seems too hard or you know that you are never going to get to it, you are entitled to boot it out the door. Don’t keep it on the list, there is seriously no point.
• If a task looks like it’s going to suck the life out of you and take forever, see if you can break it down into smaller tasks. An hour of sketching is a little more manageable than having to draw 50 line art pieces.
• Stuff you’ve bartered for should be treated the same as paid work. No one hates another artist who receives a trade and reneges on their promise. It’s just not cool. Don’t do it.
• Do fun tasks after you’ve done the ‘work’ stuff. Use it as a proverbial carrot (or in my case chocolate). If you do all the fun stuff first, you’re only left with boring, tedious things that will seem to take forever and ever and ever and.... so try and organise your tasks using this theory.
• Do 5 minute jobs NOW! Don’t procrastinate. Knock them over and get them out of the way.
• Be able to live with your decisions. Recognise that in order to do things well, you have to focus on one thing at a time!

And above all, learn to live with the fact that there are only so many hours in the day, only so much work one poor little trooper can do before they keel over, and that you are not in fact a superhero that can do 12 things at the one time. It just isn’t possible! As much as we would like it to be!

If you are interested in tools to help organise yourself a bit better, here’s a previous post I made on creating and using todo lists
http://parttimepainter.blogspot.com/2008/03/organisation-1-todo-lists-and-part-time.html

What should you do when you need to take a break (EMG Zine May)

Working two careers can be exhausting. Sometimes you just need to step away from one to keep your sanity. It might be that your day job has taken over your life and you barely have time to cook dinner, let alone paint. It could be that you are a full time artist, and you find yourself doing more business and marketing tasks than painting and you need time to create new products. There could be family commitments, illness or injury.

Whatever the reason, how should you go about the process of cutting back on some of your commitments?

I've had to do this several times as my work peaks and recedes. Some months can be very cruisy, while others I have maybe an hour to myself all day. I still keep on working both jobs, however the balance is definitely skewed towards the day job at the moment!

So where to start?
1. Identify the 'dead wood' you can trim from your life
2. Ease back on commitments you can't get rid of, or don't want to drop i.e.simplify your life!
3. Work smarter

What should you look at getting rid of first?

• Things you hate. You know the tasks I'm talking about. They are the ones that you drag your heels on, avoid answering emails to, put in the 'too hard' basket. They suck the creativity right out of you. They bore you. They feel like work. If you're doing work like this, and have very little time to call your own, you will burn out.
• Things that don't make any money or you are doing for free. If you can't do the job, someone else can. And if it's free, unless you are doing it for your own reasons it is unimportant. If it was truly important, they'd be paying you!
• Things that are not cost or time effective. If you spend 10 hours making something, then sell it for a few dollars, then you are selling yourself short ... especially if your time is limited. Your time is a valuable commodity!
  

How to ease back on commitments and not disappear entirely

• Maintain an online presence somehow. Whether you use a blog, twitter, facebook, or mailing list, make sure you don't disappear of the face of the earth for 6 months at a time
• Finish the things that you've started or reschedule them. It's bad business to turn around on a client and say 'that painting I'm halfway through, well can't do it' if you really can still finish it. Reputation is still king when it comes to business.
• Prepare people for the change or give them alternate contact points. If you're closing down your shops, try and give people warning, or at least tell them you can still ship products, and give them a contact point.
• Try and ease back on things, one thing at a time rather than all in one hit. Sometimes this is unavoidable, but if things are gradually getting more and more hectic, you can try and start cutting back one thing at a time
  

How to work smarter?

This is for another column, but essentially it comes down to:

• Know thyself. Know your limitations, habits and strengths and work to them
• Learn to say 'NO' and to prioritise your tasks
• Value your time and energy
• Try not to over commit!

The Lazy Artist (EMG Zine January)

Originally posted : EMG Zine January Issue



I know that purchasing more hours in the day is not really achievable, nor is getting rid of the day job, but to coin a phrase my boss uses all the time -- we want to work smarter, not harder! This is where learning to be a 'lazy' person can help you get more stuff done (like painting!), and in less time. Here are some ideas to help you become a 'lazy artist' and increase your time for painting!

Automate stuff

Anything that you can set up in five minutes, and that takes less than a click to cancel is great. You can:

• set up direct billing for website hosting/ domain names/ art site subscriptions
• subscribe to rss feeds through your mail client (rather than visiting the site daily)
• Set up automatic filters/ rules on your email inbox. Rather than having 6000 emails in your inbox, it's a lot easier to deal with 5 emails you HAVE to answer then and there
• Automate your computer gadgets including
  
• backup procedures (my external harddrive has an automatic feature, but there are loads of free tools out there. Check out http://free-backup.info/ for loads of information)
• virus scans
• defragging the hard drive

As I have my computer on a lot, I try to schedule the tasks for when I'm not likely to be working so that these processes don't interrupt my flow. Create a digital Personal Assistant with free online tools Why remember stuff when you can set up a reminder? The less you have to remember, the more free space in your brain for other important things. Well that's the theory anyway! Set up reminders for:

• paying bills (if you haven't automated them)
  doing daily chores (like remembering to hang out the load of washing you put on 2 hours ago!)
• deadlines for commissions, competitions, submission dates
• interrupting procrastination such as catching up on forums, random internet searches, playing solitaire *ahem*
• Eat/ sleep/ have a real lifeThere are loads of on (line tools to help you manage your time such as:
  Remindr -- http://remindr.info/
  Hassle me -- http://www.hassleme.co.uk/
  Remember the Milk - http://rememberthemilk.com/

With some of these sites, they can even send reminders to your PDA, Blackberry, Mobile Phone or other electronic devices.

Why reinvent the wheel - Alternatives to a website

If you don't have time to develop your own website, or are finding it difficult to get around to updating your html & FTP'ing it to a server, then maybe you could use an online gallery for updates with a link from your main page or profile to the gallery. Some Online galleries you might like to look at are:

• DeviantArt -- http://www.deviantart.com/
• Elfwood -- http://www.elfwood.com/
• Epilogue -- http://www.epilogue.net/
• GFXArt -- http://www.gfxart.com/
• Artwanted -- http://www.artwanted.com/
• Fantastic Portfolios -- http://www.fantasticportfolios.com/

Another alternative to online galleries is to redirect your website to a blog. Some blogs are capable of hosting content such as images and videos. The benefit of using a blog is that they are quick to update, many have very simple interfaces, are very customizable and are free. Of course they aren't websites, and so don't have things like storefronts, but you can link to places where you can sell.

For an overview of some of the blogging software available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weblog_software

And if you are really pressed for time, try microblogging where you are limited to about 150 words. It's quick and easy and many of the microblogs have widgets for syndicating content. Examples of these include Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/), though many places such as Facebook and MySpace have similar tools known as Status Updates.

Let someone else sell your stuff

Another way to save on time is to stop doing the manufacturing of prints yourself and get someone else to do this. You may like to explore services such as Zazzle, Cafe Press & Deviant Art Prints, or consider licensing your images for manufacturing. The main downside to this is that you have no control over quality, and your profits may be fairly slim. But it does mean all that time you spend making things could be spent on painting. Being a 'lazy artist' is not about taking shortcuts, it's about prioritizing and working out what you want to spend your precious time on. And the more time you have to paint, the better!

Zen habits - decluttering tips

I love reading the Zen Habits blog (http://zenhabits.net ). It’s one of those goldmines of ideas about simplifying your life, getting happy, and having time to breathe. This article was one I couldn’t read without sharing! 18 simple tips to de-clutter your mess and keep it that way! (Especially helpful if like me, you are not a tidy person!)

http://zenhabits.net/2008/04/18-five-minute-decluttering-tips-to-start-conquering-your-mess/#more-672

Separating the day job from the art job

I had to do my first lot of performance reviews the other day. Things were going wrong at work, I had very little time to myself, and I really had to sit down and spend a couple of hours assessing how my staff were going. My manager mentioned that she did hers at home. At this point I'm thinking 'I've been working my butt off all week, and you want me to take stuff home? I already have 'work' at home - it's called my illustration/ art business'.

Sometimes working from home (and not getting paid for it) is unavoidable. But when you're running a business from home already, sometimes the last thing you need is to bring more 'work' home. Here are some thoughts on separating the day job from the art job, in particular how to leave the day job at the 'office'.

Avoid bringing the work home in the first place

1. Schedule time for the task at work and tell everyone else to take a number in the queue.
If it's really an important task, other people should respect you enough to listen when you say 'no, I can't do that right now,' or 'I'll get to that as soon as I've done this'. Of course we all live in the real world where other people can be jerks! Everyone has an agenda, but sometimes you have to stick up for your own. Most people don't even think beyond their own tasks and deadlines, so unless you tell them you're busy they won't know. Communication is key!

2. Ask for help and use it when it is offered
At most places, there's too much work and not enough people. But unless you raise the issue of having too much work, your boss may not know. That being said, you may have the manager from hell who doesn't care, but if they are a decent human being they will try to help you out. You can do this by re-prioritising tasks, delegating work to others, swapping tasks with team mates, getting help. There is no shame in saying that you need assistance. And if someone offers a hand and they can seriously help, take them up on the offer! A boss would rather have two people doing the work and it getting done on time, rather than one person doing it, missing the deadline, and going on stress leave from the mild heart attack they suffered trying to be a superhero.

3. Work away from your desk/ away from your co-workers to get work done
Turn off the email, put the phone to voice mail, switch your mobile to silent. If you use Outlook for meeting schedules, add an outlook 'meeting' showing that you are busy. Be unavailable. Those other tasks can normally wait a few hours (of course there are exceptions to every rule!) Better yet, book a meeting room and close the door. Go out to the tea room when nobody is there. If all else fails, tell everyone to leave you alone and put on the headphones. Make a sign that says 'please come back at 2pm'. Be serious about it. The minute you answer one person, the rest of the office will forget or choose to ignore what you've asked them to do.

4. Go into work early or stay back late (on occasion)
If you need more time to do the work, then do it at work. If you're lucky you get paid overtime/ time in lieu , if not, it impresses the boss that you're still there when everyone else has gone home! I'm lucky that I have flexible hours, but I find that I often get more done in the two hours before everyone gets in, than in most of the day. The same when I've worked late. With no one there to bug you, the task can often take less time. And because you're at work, you don't have the distractions of home.

5. Get a new job
If you are finding you're working 10hrs everyday, and then bringing home another 2-3 hours of work, then you seriously need to think about whether your job is worth it, and whether you really have the energy to be split between two careers. I'm not advocating throwing in the job immediately, but it might be an idea to start looking for a new job.

70+ hours a week means that your health is probably shot, you have a serious caffeine addiction and that you have no social life. And the reality is that you really can't be productive every hour of those 70+ hours. You need to eat, to recharge the batteries, to think outside the box. If you're slugging away at work, then you don't have time for your brain or body to switch off and recuperate.

You may love your job and it's really not a chore, but when you think about those hours - that is a two person job! And there's only one of you!

If you have to bring home work from the day job...

1. Try to avoid doing work from the day job where you run your art business
You should try and separate your art business from the rest of your life, in the same way that you should separate your day job from your home life. This may be simply having everything stored in a box which you pull out when you want to paint, a separate room for painting/ packaging products, an 'area' assigned for art. In all likelihood the day job is different to your art business, so try and do your work in an area where you won't be distracted by your outstanding art business 'work'.

2. Have a breather before you start the work
When you come home from the office, there are two ways you can continue with your day job 'homework':
1. When you get home kick off the shoes, maybe have a shower, grab something to eat, have a short period of time to do something you enjoy. You can't work 15 hours straight and not expect to turn into a crazy person. Trust me, last year I did about 2 weeks straight of 12-15hour days, and fell flat on my face at the end of it. It screws with your diet, your sleeping patterns, and your social life. You need to have down time. You deserve to have down time.

2. If it's a task that will only take an hour, get home, grab something to eat, have a quick break, then dig in and get it over with. That way you have the rest of the evening free.

3. Prioritise your work
Your day job in all likelihood pays most of your bills, or is at least more reliable income than your art business (unless you're a casual, but that's another story!). If you have work that you know is coming up which is REALLY important, then let your customers and clients know that things are going to take longer than normal to process. Think about putting your commission queue on hold, sending out orders only once a week, cutting back on forum visits, going through your inbox once a day and answering emails at scheduled times.

The same thing goes for deadlines with commissions. Schedule deadlines for when you know you've got time off from work (if you can), or organise an RDO/ day off close to the deadline. Hopefully you're already finished, but if you're not, you don't have the day job to contend with.

Organisation 1: ToDo lists and the part time painter

I always have a to-do list that is a million miles long. Every time I remove one thing, another two get added in its place. I have to-do lists for my website updates, my chores, my goals, presents for myself (I like this list the best!), current projects for the medieval group I’m involved in, to-do lists for myself at work, to do lists for the people on my team (I’m their manager, I need to remember what I’ve asked them to do!), and anything else I can possibly think of.

Because of my shift from worker bee to manager at work recently, I’ve been doing a lot of shuffling of to-do lists, a bit of playing around with different techniques, a whole stack of reading, and a number of dismal failures. Why am I writing about them? Because it saves me having to remember everything that I’ve learnt! So what are the benefits of a to-do list, how do you implement them, do they work, and are there any secrets to using them effectively.

Why use a "to do" list

• It saves your brain, and your sanity! If it's written down, you don't have to 'remember' it. Imagine having seven paintings you need to get done in a month. If you are focusing on the fact you have 'seven paintings to do' you will likely start stressing about the seven colour schemes, the different poses, where do I find references, how am I going to get them done on time... and so on. A ToDo list allows you to essentially put down six of the paintings and focus on them one at a time. A whole stack of smaller tasks are much easier to deal with than 7 big tasks where you can't even think of where to start.

• You feel like you've achieved something when you cross it off the list. It may just be the act of putting a like through something, but it's kind of cathartic knowing that you don't have to deal with that task ever again (well, at least not for the next five minutes

• It acts as a record for what you've achieved. This can be a great pick-me-up when you're feeling like you've been sitting at your desk/ easel for hours and not done anything. I can tell you, working in management where you don't actually deliver anything but 'the project on time and within budget and without your team killing each other in the process', it can be a wonderful record that proves you ARE actually doing stuff!

• It improves our organisation. Just the act of sitting down, writing a list of things to do, and sorting that list helps us focus on what we need to achieve.

How to create an effective ToDo list
This is the way I try and do it. I'm not saying that it is the best way or the only way - this is simply the way that I work and what I find works for me.

1. Write down any tasks you have to complete - complete brain storm. It doesn't matter how detailed or vague the list, just do a complete brain dump of everything. N.B. If you have multiple ToDo lists, or you like to categorise them, then do this set of steps for each category.
   
   
2. Look at each task. If it's going to take longer than 2 hours, you may want to try and break it down into smaller steps. The smaller the task, the less daunting it appears and the more likely you are to actually do it!
   
   
3. Prioritise the list. This is probably the most important step. Writing a list is all well and good, but if you don't rank the tasks you might as well have a shopping list. Ranking can be as simple as:
   

* If I get time I would like to do this
* I really should do this, but if I don't, 'meh'
* I must do this, but I have a little time to do it
* If I don't do this I will have to live on 2 minute noodles for the next week/ my client will get ugly/ the deity I pray to will smite me down

Being a visual person, I like to colour code my list - red items being really important, orange ones need to get done within the week, and some other colour for the rest. I try to have only 2-3 items as 'critical' tasks as it's less stressful than seeing a page full of red items.

4. If you want, rewrite the list in order. I do this by scrubbing notes down on paper, then transferring it to a spreadsheet/ online tool/ new sheet of paper/ white board.
5. Give yourself a rough estimate of when the tasks should be completed by.

Multiple lists vs. one looooooonnnnnggggg list
Some people like fifty lists - one for the chores, one for work, one for this project, one for that project. Other people like having everything in one place. Basically everyone is different so you have to work out what is best for you. Personally, I have a few lists on the go partly because if I put them all on one piece of paper, it would probably look like Santa's toy list and go scrolling off under the table and out the door!

I have:

1. A work - currently it's specific to the project I'm managing. No doubt I'll do up a second list for general management processes. Because of security I can't use an online tool, so I carry around a paper scribble list for jotting down tasks, and then transfer these onto an excel spreadsheet which I colour code.
   
   
2. An 'art business' list. I often have a whiteboard which I scribble down tasks on, but recently I've started using an online tool which I plugin to my google homepage.
   
   
3. Another general todo list, though more often the art list is being used for adding things like 'pick up washing powder from shop' or 'return library books'.

Using a ToDo List
It is not enough just to write down a list. A todo list is just that - 'To DO'. That means you actually have to do the stuff on the list!

• Delegate - see if there are any tasks on the list that you can palm off to someone else. That load of washing, why can't the partner put it on? Typing up the minutes of the meeting, there were twelve other people at the meeting - see if one of them can do it for you (remember to return the favour at some time!). If you can afford it, think about hiring someone to mow the lawn/ clean the house/ do the bookwork/ help package your orders.
  
  
• Be realistic with your tasks. Don't set a deadline if you know you probably won't make it. That will just make you feel like a flop when you can't finish it on time. Also be aware of your habits. Organise your day around when you work best. If you are like a zombie before 10am, set that time aside for dealing with small, simple tasks from your list, and leave the really important high priority tasks to a time when you are going to be able to deal with the task effectively.
  
  
• Re-assess the list half an hour before you go home or finish up work. Think about what is most important to get done the next day. I actually highlight what I need to do the next day, every afternoon before I go home. Sometimes I'll write out those tasks onto a sticky note and fix it to my screen so there's no way I miss it.
  
  
• ToDo lists are flexible. If the boss changes her mind on what task is most important, drop things down or off the list. It's a guide only. Just because it's on the list, doesn't mean something terrible is going to happen if you deviate from the list.
  
  
• Don't procrastinate and do all the 'fun tasks first'. Do the important ones first, maybe give yourself a reward for completing the task, but never just put off the task because you don't want to deal with it. The fact is - that task is still going to be horrible, doesn't matter when you do it!
  
  
• If your current method isn't working, try something different. I've been writing ToDo lists for a long time, and it's only been in the last few weeks that they've really clicked. They've always kind of 'worked', but now that I HAVE to save my brain from complete mental meltdown, I'm finding the benefits of sticking with a system is really paying off. I still want to try some different online tools, but the general process is going to stay the same for me.
  

Available tools or Paper vs Technology
There is a plethora of tools available out there. You don't need all those fancy online tools to make a todo list, and to be honest, sometimes it's not practical to be stuck on the computer all day.Here are a few simple ideas:

• Notebook/ paper and pen/ pencil/ highlighter - simple, can be taken anywhere, but can be tedious to rewrite. Also, if you're like me, I misplace small bits of paper, so make it something you aren't likely to throw away!
  
  
• Excel spreadsheet - can be customised, comes with Microsoft office, there are already some templates out there for use
  
  
• Post-it notes - they come in a range of colours and shapes. You may simply want to use different coloured notes for different tasks and fix them into your diary, removing them when you've completed them.
  
  
• Whiteboard - great for brainstorming and quick to adjust.
  

• http://www.solutionwatch.com/450/25-to-do-lists-to-stay-productive/ - a list of online tools and their features
  

Hopefully people will find this of some use! As I mentioned several times, organisation is a personal thing - what works for one person may be useless for others. If you have any tools that you use, or other tips, please leave a comment!

Further Reading

http://todolistblog.blogspot.com/ - be inspired by other people’s to-do lists, some are works of art, some like

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_05.htm -