Fish(er) Tales

“Three o’clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do.” - Jean-Paul Sartre

Doing too much, bad or no planning, ambiguous goals, constantly putting out fires, being a perfectionist, procrastinating, forgetting to say no, being disorganized, and having a serious lack of knowledge about your tools are the primary ways we all waste time.

You can only do so much. Don’t cram your schedule too tightly. A loaded calendar is destructive to creative pursuits. Rather, balance between your commitments and some open, flexible time to nurture your creativity in ways that are fruitful.

Today’s software makes it oh-so-easy to tweak your art infinitesimally in the pursuit of perfection. Artists throughout history have had to do their best work with the limited resources they have on hand. And one of those resources is time. Instead of going for the perfect piece, allot some time to your art and do your best work within those constraints.

Procrastination is both fear and laziness. Many people put off tasks for fear they won’t turn out as expected. News flash: it rarely turn out exactly as expected. To some that’s a journey worth taking; to others it’s a nightmare to avoid. Identify your fear and then work to overcome it. Other procrastinators are just plain lazy. They’d rather be doing something else (or nothing at all). Overcoming this phase frees up time for other more fun undertakings.

Don’t be an idea factory. Be a factory that does things. In the book, Making Ideas Happen, author Scott Belsky cites these formulas:

• 100 x 0 = 0  – Having a great idea, but taking no action on it results in nothing
• 50 x 2 = 100 – Having a workable idea, and taking action on it creates something tangible.

You should have a “bias for action” as Belsky suggests, and I tend to agree. What do you think?