Time for Everything?

On one of the lists I belong to, someone was worried because she wasn't getting enough studio time. Between working and studying and the rest of life, she was a bit overwhelmed. She felt as if everyone else could do everything and was frustrated because she couldn't. And she felt that her work was suffering because she didn't think that she could get lots done in small increments of time.

I have some small experience with a excessive demands on my time and have found a couple of different ways to cope. And I thought I'd share them.

1. Learn to say 'no'. Sometimes you can do this nicely. Sometimes not. But you have to do it. And mean it. And stick to it.
2. Allow yourself not to be perfect. Be reasonable and let yourself off the hook sometimes. Your 'pretty good' is usually better than someone else's 'excellent'.
3. Don't worry about 'developing a body of work'. Just do the work. Work smaller. Work faster. Work intuitively. Work randomly. Just work.
4. Focus on extended studio time later. Right now, just focus on studio time. 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there can add up to serious studio time.
5. What some of us see as regular life, others may see as 'doing it all'. Change the way that you think about something and you will feel differently about it. Positive thoughts result in positive feelings.

Now, if I could just practice a bit more of what I preach ...