Three Cheers for Productivity Tips for Working Artists

It's one thing to read about productivity
​it's another thing to actually do the work- let's get to work! 

So often times when I get together with my artists friends we love to share tips and information that can help each other grow our art skills and art business. 

Today I'll share 3 tips to help stay on track.

Tip #1: The Big Daily 3 for productivity and focus. I've been reading (or actually listening to)  the book by Michael Hyatt. called Free to Focus.  

The idea is to focus and write down three of the most important tasks that need to get done today. Often times my to-do list seems so overwhelming and  even though I check off a bunch of things that day, at the end of the day I'm still  feeling like I really didn't accomplish much.

Why is that? 

Getting clarity on what needs to get done to complete a goal or a larger project requires time to stop and really reflect on the work at hand not just jump in and start doing.

I've been working on a Focus Planner that maps out my goals and projects for the year and the quarter, or next three months. From there I plan my month, week and then day.

I do love to plan but often times I'll set up this wonderful plan for the week, try to pile in way to many tasks on it and then when I get a day or two into in I then fall behind and end up giving up.

I love this idea of getting just 3 things done. Does it mean only three things for the day. No. It just means get the most important three done and you will feel like you've accomplished something.

Tip #2: Write it Down - All of it!
This tip comes from Alyson Stanfield from the Art Biz Coach. She calls it brain dump. Writing down everything you have to do onto a piece of paper or in a notebook releases it from your memory. Then from there you can organizing these things for what works with your goals and what you need to put on hold.

Tip #3: Color Code - 
For artists, it may sound elementary to pull out your colored pencils and color code your planner but it's actually the easiest way to quickly see at a glance what needs to get done. Here's the trick in the front of your planner design a color key - where each color represents a different task. For example: I color code all my art making time/painting as yellow, photographing my artwork as a yellow-green task and social media posting as a red-violet.  I do write in my task but on top of the task I will use the correct colored pencil to shade in the box. 

I hope these tip helps. Leave a comment below if you've hear or tried this system before, I would love to hear what works for you. 

I'm looking to explore this idea more and create a helpful tutorial around this concept to help artists get organized. 

keep creating -

​Linda