This is about time management for artists. Wait – don’t run away! Because it’s also about deciding what matters to you. And how you’re going to get it done and feel good about it. Managing energy, managing expectations, managing distraction – they’re all part of managing your time.
For many artists, even the words “time management” sound restrictive. They sound so corporate, so un-creative, so lacking in any understanding of what you as an artist really do. BusinessDictionary.com says that time management is systematic, priority-based structuring of time allocation and distribution among competing demands. Maybe it’s the idea of systematic that puts you off. What about the artist’s life is systematic? And time allocation and distribution – artists by nature are imaginative. How imaginative is that?
Or maybe it’s those famous books on time management. They have titles like:
- The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Stephen R Covey)
- Eat That Frog (Brian Tracy)
- Getting Things Done (David Allen)
- The 4-hour Workweek (Tim Ferris)
- The 5 A.M. Miracle: Dominate Your Day Before Breakfast (Jeff Sanders).
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The ideas in them might be useful for a busy executive, but you don’t see how they could have much to say about the life of a working artist.
And yet, sometimes you feel overwhelmed. There’s so much to do. You ask yourself if you’re really creating as much as you could. If your art career might get more traction if you had more time to work on it. If there’s a way to feel less at the end of the day like you didn’t do what you wanted. And more like the productive and fulfilled artist you set out to be.
If you ask yourself questions like these, you definitely aren’t alone. Managing multiple expectations, structuring your daily life so it supports regular art time, and feeling satisfied with your choices are ongoing struggles for many artists.
The good news? You can use your creative brain to figure all this out. You can ask different questions, questions that will help you be your best artist self without so much struggle.
But remember, there are no wrong answers to any of these questions. There are only you and your special circumstance. Which are right by definition. You aren’t a problem to be solved. You are your greatest resource.
Getting started with Time Management
So you’d like to feel more directed and productive. Like you know what you’re going to do next. More like an artist and less like a juggler. If so, these are the questions that come before anything else.
What do you want?
What’s important?
What’s important enough so you can commit to it?
If you don’t know what’s important, how do you know whether to do it or not?
You can also ask yourself: Do I have goals? If so, what are they? If not, should I develop some? If I don’t want to quantify what I want, how will I know when I’ve achieved it? What do I want to change?
Remember, there are no wrong answers. What’s right for you is right. But you’re more likely to know what’s right for you if you ask the questions.
For example, this is what I want: Almost daily time for the work that matters most to me. Enough money so I don’t have to think about it. Recognition. Connection. Possibility.
Tara Swiger, artist and marketing coach for crafters, wants this: “Having fun. Having space and time for creativity. Writing. Watering my enthusiasm. Following the moment.” (You’ll hear more about Tara later.)
Artist, performer, Happiness Catalyst, and Creativity Instigator Melissa Dinwiddie, already familiar to many of you, wants “Control over how I spend my time, feeling content and happy with my life, and making a positive impact on the world.”
Your list of wants might not look like any of these. Just remember that when you know what you want, you have a much better chance of knowing whether you’ve got it or not.
Questions About Time Management
We each have all the time there is. We get 24 hours in every day. In 24 hours, we sleep, eat, and spend time with our spouse, friends, children, dog. We commute to our day job or are involved with our community. Sometimes we go to the bank or the dentist or on vacation or get groceries. Somewhere in there we also make our art and try to get people to pay attention to it.
How much time do you have for the artist part of your life? No, really, how much time do you have? Do you have half a day every day, one day a week, Saturday afternoon, between 5:00 and 6:00 after work, between 5:30 and 6:30 in the morning, 15 minutes a day? Are you using that time as well as you can?
Out of what is important to you, what will you do in the time you have?
What really matters?
Enough time
Of course, you don’t have enough time! Who does? You have your art-making, your family commitments, the rest of your life.
But then again, do you really not have enough time? Or is it that you have lots of time and you aren’t using it for what’s important to you? Is your time taken with things that used to be matter but don’t so much now? Are you busy doing things you don’t really want to do? Are you clear on what’s important? How can you do less of what you don’t want and more of what you do?
Saying no
Sometimes we need to do less in order to do more. So you can have more time with what you do want, do you need to say no to what you don’t want? Or do you need to say no to some things you do want, so you can do more of what you want most?
What can you say no to? What can you delegate? What can someone else do? What can you just stop doing?
Many artists are hard-wired for communication, connection and contributing. It’s hard to say no. Remember that every project you commit to means there’s something else that won’t happen. Time isn’t elastic. Your interests change. Other people can do more than you think they can. How will you make more time for what matters?
Structure
Now that you know what you want, how much time you have, how to make choices and how to say no, all that’s left is to fit it together.
What structure works for you? Are you most creative in the morning? Does that mean you’ll need to get up earlier to fit in some art before your job? Do you work best in small steps with a timer and lots of breaks? Do you need to get the paperwork and marketing out of the way first so it doesn’t distract you from your real purpose? Or is any time you spend on social media before 4:00 p.m. just a distraction and an excuse to procrastinate?
Using me as an example again, I have sleep issues and therefore problems waking up in the morning. This is lifelong and probably not going to change. But my work day goes best if I can be in the studio by 10:00 a.m. So I need to manage bedtime and morning in ways that serve me and my art, not hinder us.
My work day also goes best if I don’t need to change directions mentally to meet people until I’m ready to stop painting for the day. So I don’t do morning appointments or lunch dates unless they’re scheduled on designated non-studio days. Like many artists, I have other kinds of work besides painting, both for income and for connection. Where possible, these get into the calendar after 2:30 in the afternoon, so my current painting gets a good few hours’ attention before anything else does.
And sometimes, despite my best intentions, the entire plan falls apart. That’s what tomorrow is made for – beginning again.
As you work out your best schedule, you may need to try different approaches. But really try them. Don’t think that one or two failures means it won’t work. Failure is really only a chance to learn.
How much is enough?
Because wanting to manage your time better is usually about wanting to get the best out of that time, how will you know when you’ve done enough? How will you feel satisfied at the end of your artist day?
Personal growth pioneer Jennifer Louden has written about this more usefully than practically anyone. I think her Conditions of Enoughness should be required reading for everyone who hears what Louden calls the Hounds of More, More, More. Conditions of Enoughness uses four steps to create a boundary or container around anything. The four steps are:
- Name what is enough in simple facts
- Include a time element. For how long…How often…By when….
- Ensure these conditions are dependent on ONLY YOU on an AVERAGE day. Not a superhuman day.
- Declare you are satisfied when your conditions are met—even if you don’t feel
Why? As Louden says, research shows that this is what allows us to build and sustain our momentum. You will get in the habit of trusting yourself and your own judgment, and you will then be more likely to trust your management of time.
Celebrating
The last important question: How will you celebrate? Because celebrating your accomplishments will also get you in the habit of trusting your own judgment. Stop for a minute. Recognize what you’ve done.
Then tomorrow, you’ll have another 24 hours. Just think of everything you will achieve.
Other resources
Every subject has experts. Here are some of the best on time management for artists.
Melissa Dinwiddie, artist, performer, Happiness Catalyst, and Creativity Instigator has written and recorded multiple articles and podcasts on the subject. One of her best is Time Management Is a Lie – Here’s the Truth (and You’re Not Going to Like It… But It Could Change Your Life). “If you don’t say no to some things, whether temporarily or permanently, you will absolutely, positively never get a handle on your time-crunch chaos.”
Cairene MacDonald, artist, writer and teacher, whose Atelier of Time offers generous and helpful learning opportunities through her School of the Fourth Dimension. “Time is not a force to be managed, but a dimension to be shaped.”
Mark McGuinness, creativity and motivation coach and author of Time Management for Creative People, a free e-book. “You’re an expert at getting things done…The trouble is, you’re not getting much done that has an impact.”
Springboard for the Arts, producer of Time Management for Artists. “When I read Stephen Covey’s book, it was just like every inch of every day is scheduled. It’s like not going to happen, not gonna work.”
Tara Swiger, marketing expert and podcast host. “You do not need to get better at ‘managing your time.’ You need to take action.”
About the author:
Laureen Marchand
Laureen Marchand is an award-winning artist who paints, mentors other artists, and writes from her studio, exploring art-making, ideas, and the walks she takes through the open space near her home to sort it all out. Living just north of the Montana border in one of Canada’s most remote and beautiful regions, she makes realistic-looking oil paintings that consider how we perceive beauty and what we think beauty is. Laureen has exhibited regionally, nationally and internationally in more than two dozen solo and two-person exhibitions as well as over 40 group shows. Her paintings are held in many public and private collections and have been represented in exhibition catalogues and reviewed in newspapers and magazines. She has been artist in residence at the Leighton Colony/Banff Centre for the Arts, the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Ireland, and the Ragdale Foundation in Illinois, among others.
What a fabulous article, Laureen! And what an honor to find myself mentioned — twice! Thank you. 🙂
Keep sharing your wisdom. The world needs it.
Thanks for your kind words and encouragement Melissa. You and your coaching had so much to do with getting me out of my own stuck place about 5 years ago!
Thank you Laureen your subject reminded me how I was finding a time for painting and creating place to do my art work when I don’t have enough place at home . Tell now I do the same to find time and place to work no matters where I am .
Laila
Awadlaila0043.pixels.com.
Laila Awad Jamaleldin – Fine Art America
Laila, great you have found a process that works for you!
Really good insights about managing your creative time and protecting it – I find letting others know you have blocked out that time for yourself gets them to respect your need to devote time to accomplish your goals. Make your creative time a priority not what’s left over at the end of the day…else it slips away. Great blog on an ongoing challenge.
Yes to all of this, Nancy! Thanks.
Excellent points made here – thank you. I have been assisted a lot in this direction by reading ‘The Problems of Work’ by L. Ron Hubbard – I recommend it.
Gill, glad you found it useful! I’ll definitely check out the book.
Thank you Laureen for this excellent article on time management for artists. You touch upon all of the essential points in a way that is heartwarming and totally easy for artists to access. Although, I am a successful painter for many years, your reminder of saying NO was something I really needed to hear today! I used to tell my students that being an artist is just as important as any other career. Would a Doctor, Lawyer or Business woman stop what they were doing to do……whatever, have a long phone call, help someone move, etc. We have the right to choose our working time as professionals and say no to those who may not understand that this is our professional career time. Thanks so much! Sincerely, Laara WilliamSen, International professional painter, Vancouver area, B.C., Canada
Laara, this is perfect. Yes, sometimes people think that because we work for ourselves, we aren’t really working. Then the next step after we remind them is to remind ourselves 🙂
As an artist I struggle with time management as well. When to paint, when to do the administrative work, when to do my personal stuff in my life. And everything she writes about resonates deeply with me. I think as an artist it is very important to create a structure because the idea of I can create art “anytime” can turn into “never” because it’s not scheduled into the day.
Especially if an artist is serious about creating and selling work then structure and time management are very important.
Sosha, I love the word “structure”. Structure can be so supportive to our art practice – like a good mattress is supportive for sleep. Though the support and the practice are a lot more active when it’s art than when it’s sleeping!
Great subject great article. And so true.
Thanks John! 🙂
There’s also Morning Miracle by Hal Elrod. I’ve been trying to use his method for the past year and have had great success. I also just started The Artist Way by Julia Cameron but am finding the three pages of morning pages a little daunting.
Good to get new resources! I find anything in the morning daunting but am always glad to hear about what works for others 🙂
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Hi Laureen,
I really like your method that uses a series of questions to know and understand better ourselves.
I agree and I do many of the things you wrote. They’ve become an habit in my life, a life-style.
Said that, I really don’t like to use the word “management” and “schedule” talking about art, artist, and artist’s life.
That words remember me too much business companies, managers’s life, business men and business women… and I really don’t like all that.
I’m writing this comment now, but I haven’t scheduled it. I like to comment your post, and it’s also a way to make you know that I exist, I’m an artist, it’s also a way to promote myself, and promoting is one of my priorities. But is it my first priority just now? Maybe it isn’t, but I don’t know where the “success” comes from.
I give me the freedom to being surpriced by life. Art is the reign of freedom.
At the and of my day I’m never satisfied, because I still have many things to do. I’ll do them tomorrow.
At the end of the day I ask to myself: “Do you feel full of energy again? Do you want to do tomorrow what you have not done today?”. If my answer is “yes”, a deep yes… well, I could say I’m satisfied.
Elisa, sorry I missed your comment before. I don’t think it matters what terms we call it – as long as what we call it works for us!
Great article on time management–thanks so much for your thoughts on this subject. Late last year, I realized that if my art was going to be made, then I was the one who needed to take control of the hours in my day. Now, my art making time is first thing in the wee hours of the morning. This means I had to retrain myself to go to bed earlier, but exchanging mindless tv watching in the evening for drawing and painting in the morning has been so worthwhile! I’m going to check out Jennifer Louden, as I struggle to accept that my limited early morning time is “enough” for this time and place in my life. Love the reminder that each day is a new start!
Marjie, it sounds like you have already made a lot of changes to support your art-making. Way to go! Yes, I think Jennifer Louden’s Conditions of Enoughness are so wise.
…and for us artists who are ADHD, this is all a fanciful dream. I remember my art institute years, feeling that I found a place where,it seemed, everyone was like me. I graduated, became a Design Director for 20 years, and finally hit the wall, because I hated time management,politics, and especially salespeople ;]. I say this to emphasize the importance of knowing what your skill set is. Keeping my studio clean is a daunting task. Prioritizing what to keep, what to toss, you get the picture. So many of us creatives are ADHD, and willpower and tenacity doesn’t cut it. So, I’ll try to paint when I can, if I remember not to forget my supplies or where my wallet is or, hey did you notice paints were on sale?
Sorry Tony, but I think abdicating your power by saying “ADHD!” is a cop out. Artists come in all shapes and sizes. Some are good at organizing. Some are not. Time management is a skill, and everyone struggles to learn it, not just artists. Painting when you feel like it is a surefire way to fail. Set a time. Treat it like a job. No excuses.
Tony, I think what it’s all about isn’t some corporate ideal of time management. Instead, we deal with real life. What do you want? What’s important? What’s important enough so you can commit to it? What can be changed? We all manage our capacities, our abilities, our levels of will and want. That’s the same for all artists. And I think that if you could manage the job of Director of Design at an art institute for 20 years, the fact that you hit the wall on politics doesn’t mean you hit the wall on your life as an artist. Does your skill set in that situation forever have to define your skill set in this one? I have trouble finding my wallet, keeping my studio clean, and keeping up with art supplies and I don’t have ADHD. I’m just human. And an artist who really wants what I know is a better life than if I don’t manage it.
Struggling with this very concept today. It’s Friday and I’m exhausted. There is so much to do when you are a one-man show. Thanks for the tips. I’m going to work on this so that my jewelry design takes the front seat. The rest is going to have to take a number!
Kelly, I love this. How about one of those little take-a-number machines they used to have in bakeries and suchlike – where you pull off the paper tag? Think I’ll get one for myself!
Hi Laureen – great article! I’ve got one of those “corporate” jobs and this is all true in my space too. It’s important to recognize what our strengths and weaknesses are and put structure in place to help us where we need it. For instance, I can happily stay in the research / learning mode far too long before taking action. However, I’m personally very motivated by external deadlines – so sometimes I have to do things that create deadlines. 😉 This year I’ve been trying to put into practice the ideas in “The One Thing” (by Gary Keller & Jay Papasan). It’s a fabulous book for anyone struggling with managing time and being purposefully productive (not just busy).
Sondra, thanks for your appreciation! And for this new-to-me resource. Great that you know what helps you be productive. [Sometimes I think God made deadlines so artists would get their work done :-)]
Thank you! That was great. Glad to know this is a typical problem; although I don’t wish it on anyone. Please excuse me while I go use this time to work on marketing. ?
Leslie, isn’t that just it? Typical and nonetheless such a nuisance 🙂
This was a good article on structuring your life around your art. I think one of the largest issues I have is the 8 hours to the day job, 2 hours of commuting and the other things that take priority over my art (mental and physical health). Even knowing how to prioritize I still struggle to have enough time to make and market my art.
John, thanks for your thoughtful comments. I think this is an issue that so many artists struggle with. Something I often ask the artists I work with as a mentor is, “How much time do you really have for your art?” Not how much time do you wish you had, or how much time would you have if you could change the world, or how much time do you think you’re supposed to have. Just, what is really there? If you have one hour every other Saturday, that is what you have. What can you do with that? Rather than thinking that one day there will be no struggle and until then we won’t do anything, what happens if we structure the time we have now?
Also, I wonder if there’s anything you can do about that commute. It sounds killer.
Good luck!
Wonderful article Laureen! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you Denny! Very much appreciated.
Great article!! very helpful! Thank you 🙂
Antigone, thank you!
Yes to time management. I have multiple goals and multiple notebooks, leading to daily crisis of which notebook, and where did I write that down. I am finally deciding on a project management program. Going to try Evernote first, then Azendoo which is used by the Evernote employees (hey it might get glitchy using your own software if an update goes askew). I realize that most of my goals need to be organized and planned several years out and no physical planner is going to cut it (how many pages back was that note?) Excited to make progress in lineal thinking by keeping everything tidy in one app!