It Can Get Really Windy Down There

  Cowboy Chic

14 x 18 oil on canvas

Changing habits is not for the faint of heart. I think it all boils down to how bad do you want it,. Do you have complete clarity that you want what you want? Make sense? Clear as mud, isn't it? 

As I am craving more time for the business side of art, I had the realization I needed to find more time in my day.  I will not sacrifice the painting time, noooooooo, that's not negotiable. So that left the other parts of the day. After observing myself and my habits for the last couple of weeks, I found one huge time waster. Drum roll please.....the black hole of the computer, huge time suck. I bet you can hear the swirling sound of the wind as you are sucked in.

Now spending time on the computer can be very beneficial. You can learn things. You can learn about some great marketing tools. You can find websites to post your art on.  You can find groups that share your interests. You can learn what Mary Sue did yesterday. You can see pictures of your class from your high school days. You can be entertained by watching strange videos of dogs dancing. You can find.....See how it just gets windier and windier?

My tips for not allowing the computer to suck you down into the black hole are: 1) Don't get on your computer first thing in the morning. Do all the other things first  2) then set a time limit for computer tasks.  15 minutes for checking and responding to email, 15 minutes for surfing and Facebook, etc. I know that computer surfing can be a great procrastination tool, yes, I would rather be watching the dogs dancing then writing an artist statement, but then I  think back to how bad do I want what I want.