Dad and I (conte, and pastel drawing), Copyright © Attaining Creativity 2008  

Today has been a productive day, in the sense that even though I don’t have a “timeline” for the day, I have been utterly productive and timely in my productions.

I am attempting to set weekly goals, and dedicate days to certain tasks. My hope is that by grouping tasks, I’ll see movement and also be able to focus on creating one day, producing another, selling another day, etc. etc. The outline for this blog was started during my lunch break, which I enjoyed on my back deck, surrounded by the grape vine that is growing beyond control as we finally hit the summer heat. It is inspiring to see this vine simply reach for the sun, reaching for life, attempting to grow and reach and just be so lively! I’ll follow its lead and keep reaching for my goals. Actually, this grape vine has been inspiring me for months. I have seen it change from dry wood to a vine that is taking over the deck chair, a leafless plant that now carries budding grapes (perfect for snacking but not wine). It is also a perfect reminder of the seasons – come fall, this vine will have fruit that will finally have reached its peak. The tiny seeds that began their life in March will reach full maturity in October – and I’m thinking maybe my attaining creativity will reach some form of maturity come October. It’s a nice little story I’ve created here.

On another note, my attempt in this blog is to combine the psychological and business elements of someone who is attempting the journey to attaining creativity. It is not just as simple as following business rules and seeing success come your way. The spirit and dedication are also elements necessary for this journey. The psychological aspect is that there are days when I’m down (when trying to leave a voicemail turns into a 60-minute drama because the wrong phone number is listed on a website) and then there are days when I put on my “good” shoes (symbolically) and just tackle the day and end up talking to the cheeriest person on a Monday morning that leaves me with a smile all day long.

Part of this journey is also realizing that the longer I let myself feel beaten, the less I produce or create or enjoy my life. So I may be somber for an hour, frustrated. If so, I give myself time outs – work in the garden, play with the cat, whatever – and then I hit the studio again and create and research where I can sell, etc., etc. If you are working for yourself, perhaps hidden away in your studio, how do you deal with slump or somber days?

Alongside that realization, that I can simply choose to be somber for just 15 minutes and then go on simply with my tasks, I was hoping to provide a link – but it seems like the show’s website I was attempting to link to is skimpy! So to paraphrase: Going into business, or starting the journey to attaining one’s creativity does not have to be hard. Let me continue. The business idea does not have to be rocket science, the start-up fund does not have to be in the millions, and I don’t have to be a genius. If you boil it down to doing something you love, everyday, doing what you love is easy. It’s putting in the effort and time that will be hard (but worthwhile), but the idea itself is simple. You can start a business with $100 and network with your 5 friends to make a go of it.

Another way of looking at it is that I can make going into business difficult (I can butt my head talking with people who don’t understand me or are not providing me with answers to simple questions) or I can go into business and follow the paths that are simple (dealing with people who are attentive and are so good at their jobs that for a split second I think of going back to the “real” career world). I do have a choice in my success and if I wanted to be frustrated every day, I would have stayed put in my cubicle.

If I can share just one thing I have learned in the last couple of months is that once I set my mind to a particular task (for now, let’s say selling in weekly craft markets), I have been bombarded with e-mails from people I don’t even know or have come across articles giving me tips on how to sell at craft markets, or any type of insurance I might need, or names of managers for craft markets. Sure, the difficult part has been following up on all this new information. But I have had so many different solutions become available, that it actually has been fun! Sometimes it is just as simple as putting a thought out there and seeing what comes back. I am usually surprised and wonderfully happy with ALL that comes back.

My challenge to you: do you follow on a business path that has been marked with disaster (unresponsive vendors, delays in customer service, etc.) and hope that in the end things will turn out okay or do you turn your back on negativity (it’s their loss, not yours) and opt to follow the business paths that lead you to helpfulness and attentiveness and stress-free success?  

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 9:52 pm and is filed under Attaining creativity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Dad and I (conte, and pastel drawing), Copyright © Attaining Creativity 2008  

Today has been a productive day, in the sense that even though I don’t have a “timeline” for the day, I have been utterly productive and timely in my productions.

I am attempting to set weekly goals, and dedicate days to certain tasks. My hope is that by grouping tasks, I’ll see movement and also be able to focus on creating one day, producing another, selling another day, etc. etc. The outline for this blog was started during my lunch break, which I enjoyed on my back deck, surrounded by the grape vine that is growing beyond control as we finally hit the summer heat. It is inspiring to see this vine simply reach for the sun, reaching for life, attempting to grow and reach and just be so lively! I’ll follow its lead and keep reaching for my goals. Actually, this grape vine has been inspiring me for months. I have seen it change from dry wood to a vine that is taking over the deck chair, a leafless plant that now carries budding grapes (perfect for snacking but not wine). It is also a perfect reminder of the seasons – come fall, this vine will have fruit that will finally have reached its peak. The tiny seeds that began their life in March will reach full maturity in October – and I’m thinking maybe my attaining creativity will reach some form of maturity come October. It’s a nice little story I’ve created here.

On another note, my attempt in this blog is to combine the psychological and business elements of someone who is attempting the journey to attaining creativity. It is not just as simple as following business rules and seeing success come your way. The spirit and dedication are also elements necessary for this journey. The psychological aspect is that there are days when I’m down (when trying to leave a voicemail turns into a 60-minute drama because the wrong phone number is listed on a website) and then there are days when I put on my “good” shoes (symbolically) and just tackle the day and end up talking to the cheeriest person on a Monday morning that leaves me with a smile all day long.

Part of this journey is also realizing that the longer I let myself feel beaten, the less I produce or create or enjoy my life. So I may be somber for an hour, frustrated. If so, I give myself time outs – work in the garden, play with the cat, whatever – and then I hit the studio again and create and research where I can sell, etc., etc. If you are working for yourself, perhaps hidden away in your studio, how do you deal with slump or somber days?

Alongside that realization, that I can simply choose to be somber for just 15 minutes and then go on simply with my tasks, I was hoping to provide a link – but it seems like the show’s website I was attempting to link to is skimpy! So to paraphrase: Going into business, or starting the journey to attaining one’s creativity does not have to be hard. Let me continue. The business idea does not have to be rocket science, the start-up fund does not have to be in the millions, and I don’t have to be a genius. If you boil it down to doing something you love, everyday, doing what you love is easy. It’s putting in the effort and time that will be hard (but worthwhile), but the idea itself is simple. You can start a business with $100 and network with your 5 friends to make a go of it.

Another way of looking at it is that I can make going into business difficult (I can butt my head talking with people who don’t understand me or are not providing me with answers to simple questions) or I can go into business and follow the paths that are simple (dealing with people who are attentive and are so good at their jobs that for a split second I think of going back to the “real” career world). I do have a choice in my success and if I wanted to be frustrated every day, I would have stayed put in my cubicle.

If I can share just one thing I have learned in the last couple of months is that once I set my mind to a particular task (for now, let’s say selling in weekly craft markets), I have been bombarded with e-mails from people I don’t even know or have come across articles giving me tips on how to sell at craft markets, or any type of insurance I might need, or names of managers for craft markets. Sure, the difficult part has been following up on all this new information. But I have had so many different solutions become available, that it actually has been fun! Sometimes it is just as simple as putting a thought out there and seeing what comes back. I am usually surprised and wonderfully happy with ALL that comes back.

My challenge to you: do you follow on a business path that has been marked with disaster (unresponsive vendors, delays in customer service, etc.) and hope that in the end things will turn out okay or do you turn your back on negativity (it’s their loss, not yours) and opt to follow the business paths that lead you to helpfulness and attentiveness and stress-free success?  

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 9:52 pm and is filed under Attaining creativity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.