What’s one tweak will you make?
If you want organizing that sticks around, one of the most effective, compassionate things you can do is make small tweaks to the systems you already have. Tiny ones.
Today, I’m inviting smARTists and regular readers to share:
What’s one tweak you’d like to experiment with that would help you feel more focused or organized?
And if you’re in the smARTist program this week, you’re also welcome to share something from my presentation that you’re planning to try out.
Why are you asking this?
It is so powerful to state an intention out loud and to have respectful, encouraging witnesses. By creating a place to witness your tweaky intention, you have a better chance of making it happen.
740 days ago,
Bonnie Kelso said:
I have a small studio/office space in my home I am using. I find the business tools (computer mostly) are very distracting. I’m always wondering if there is an email I need to address or something I need to update on my website/blog, etc. I am considering making a physical division in my space to make the computer not visible to me when I am creating art to keep me less distracted by it’s presence and more focused on the creative process. Any ideas about how to do this?
740 days ago,
Jennifer Matesa said:
Thank you for an “inspired” answer to my webcast question about how much time to spend… An experiment with aiming at two birds with one stone: I plan on devoting 30 minutes three or four days per week, which I’d otherwise spend surfing the internet, to whittling down and finding places for the accumulation of files, magazines, letters, books, teaching records, and other “stuff” in my office and studio.
740 days ago,
Jennifer Matesa said:
@Bonnie… If you work with an Apple computer, there’s a free app called “Freedom” that you can install to your dock… it will disable your internet for a specified period of time… To re-enable your internet you have to reboot the computer. (I actually haven’t used it because I’ve been able to develop more discipline around internet use, but it’s in my dock as a reminder that if I backslide, I’ll have to employ it!)
740 days ago,
jennifer said:
Bonnie – It sounds like creating a physical division might be helpful. Jennifer’s suggestion of the Apple tool is also good.
If you’re worrying about email coming in, you may want to set up a system of checking it on a regular schedule – giving you complete permission to ignore it when it’s not “time”.
However, I’d also encourage you to complete the Wish Kit as that will illuminate what your *vision* is for the space and your business, not just how to fix the problems.
Jennifer – Great! Whittling down sounds fantastic! You may want to take before-and-after photos for yourself to serve as encouragement. Once you get into the middle of a project, those photos will show you how far you’ve come! The other suggestion I have is to consider defining how long you’ll experiment with the schedule you’re setting up. A week? A month? You will probably want to tweak it if it seems too intense. Good luck!
739 days ago,
Julie Thompson said:
My biggest stumbling block has always been the left-brain activity – yep, record keeping. Even keeping receipts in good order has been an unattractive task – so when you brought up the one client and her solution to “what do these receipts look/feel like to you?” that really struck a chord with me!
If I can just put together an attractive and inviting way of filing those receipts (other than the boring envelope I’ve been using) it would be a great first step. In listening to the description of the purple velvet, I immediately got an image in my head of leaves of a tree. I think that describes those receipts best for me. I can picture an attractive green leaf-print decorated box, and inside are twelve similarly decorated folders or envelopes, in different shades and different botanical patterns. I’ll need to build this, as not only would it be a pleasure to use, it would be handy and convenient because I’d want it seen.
Thank you so much, I think it will be a good first-step — we’ll see which ‘next step’ feels right from there.
739 days ago,
Sue O'Kieffe said:
The first thing I did after your presentation this morning was decide to recycle some boxes I had been saving “just in case” I could use them for shipping. What I decided was that these boxes would never really be suitable for the shipping I do, so I broke them down for the recycling center. And immediately I felt that corner lighten up. I live in a small one bedroom apt, and my abode has mostly been converted to an art studio. The dining room is shipping and receiving and accounting area. The boxes that hold my supplies for shipping, framing material, etc. take up so much room, I feel like Im always running into myself. Since I designate Mondays as my days to do tasky stuff, I think I will set aside some time on Mondays to sort thru some of the debris as well as imagine how this area could be better arranged.
Thanks for being gentle with us, Jen. I have a very vocal inner critic who chastizes me about my messy ways.
739 days ago,
jennifer said:
Julie – Excellent! I love how vivid the leaves and box sound! What a shift that is from your “boring envelopes.” Yay for trusting your intuition and creativity!
If you find that creating the box feels like a bigger project than you can do right away, you might want to chunk it down into smaller steps. For example, you might want to get the little box right away but defer decorating it until you have more time. Just a thought so you can keep the momentum going!
Sue – Wow! Yay for you for taking action right away and “letting go” of your not-so-useful boxes. Isn’t it amazing how simple steps really make the space lighter?
I love the idea of building time into your Monday ritual for clearing. Sometimes the process of making physical space allows the tasky stuff to get easier. Yay for you, Sue!
739 days ago,
Julie Drew said:
I have appreciated your insights for about a year now, I have tweaked the places where my eyes go when I am thinking, and I have made a lot of adjustments in my office space as well as my studio areas.
You are right when I do it in little “tweaks” it changes how I do things next time.
I am more project oriented so I need to schedule time the day after a show to put everything away again.
I tweaked another spot in my office- I moved a stool that was preventing me from opening a closet door all the way. I am not sure I like it where it is now, but I will give it a week trial.
738 days ago,
Jen Barbati said:
Hi Jen,
Thanks for your excellent presentation at smARTist yesterday. It was very inspiring to hear for so many reasons. Interestingly, I found myself cleaning off my computer desktop that must have had hundreds of files on top of each other. This had been bothering me for the longest time! But just forgiving myself– and getting to it for 20 minutes or so felt so good! I can find all of my files now, and it feels super. I will commit to keeping it sorted as my small tweak. Thanks again!
146 days ago,
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