As artists, we overestimate what we can do in a day or week but massively underestimate what we can achieve in a year or a decade. And those two things are related.  

When we spend our days and weeks running around in the hustle of our 'have tos', and our never-ending to-do lists, we push back the things we think can wait until later. Usually, it's the small things that don't feel urgent. But it's these non-urgent acts that are often the ones that pay off over the decades.

Things like our studio time, health, reaching out to new collaborators, planning, writing about our work or keeping our relationships strong can feel like they can wait until later because they don't always see immediate returns.  However, they’re investments. The time we spend on them comes back, with interest.

When we invest in ten minutes a day or even a few hours a week in our art, we become better at our craft.  Conversely, if we practise telling ourselves we can’t, aren’t good enough or don't have time, those thoughts build incrementally, slowly but surely becoming more deeply ingrained and damaging our creative output.

For example, if I miss studio time this week because there are more important things on the list, I'll be fine, but over decades, I'll not.

The question then we have to ask ourselves is: What small incremental things should we regularly invest in for the kind of interest we want to accumulate?  

A small thing, repeated, is not a small thing.

Studio Notes

If you’d like to create more art, my bi-monthly email, Studio Notes is packed with strategies for your creativity, gives you a peek into the studio and delivers encouragement and lessons to make time for and develop your Art.