The truth about calories for performers has long been overshadowed by the myths – these dangerous ideas include thinking you need to cut calories in order to be “healthy”, or to have the “ideal body type” If you’ve ever thought this, you are certainly not alone. This myth has been circulated in popular culture for […]
As performers, it can be hard to define the difference between being busy and productive. “Busy” is often the first thing we say when someone asks us how we are doing, or what we have been up to. It has almost become an expected response–something we don’t even question. Performers thrive on hustle culture, where […]
Many of us are not taught how to set healthy boundaries growing up, and it can feel impossible, confusing and downright scary to do so. When I work with high-achieving clients, one question I get asked most often is, “how do I set healthy boundaries?” High achievers, in particular, have a hard time setting and […]
As a Virgo, I crave structure – I love creating to-do lists, action steps, routines and habits. It helps me to feel safe and is great for keeping track of where I am in relation to where I want to be. But sometimes, my endless to-do lists leave me feeling drained and overwhelmed, and I […]
Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.
The current worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has devastated our industry and you are feeling the pain. These are tough times but also present us with a unique opportunity we probable never thought we would have: time on our hands. Whether you are enduring a self-imposed quarantine, under a stay-at-home order or just idle from the lack of work, there are productive things we all can do to get the most from this highly unanticipated vacation. Except for the first item, these are in no particular order.
Making to do lists can feel really nice. You finally sit down to organize all that needs to get done and you’re filled with a sense of pride and hopefulness that you’ll finally tackle all these looming To-Dos. You may even start to dig right in and accomplish a bunch! Oh wait…it’s time to go to that brunch you forgot about. You’ll come back to the list another time.
While our work is about working towards professional goals and understanding industry standards, at the outset we always spend a great deal of time trying to understand how that happens from a time management, structural perspective. To start with, simply identifying how many hours a week you have to dedicate to your work can be very revealing.
One interesting challenge with the work we have created is trying to connect it to an artist’s mind, heart and subsequent future. Artists carry the weight of the world on their shoulders as we look to explore so many stories through humor, pain, love, Plays, Songs, Paintings, and the list goes on and on.
Imagine you were a baker and had a shop that depended on large catering orders to keep your business afloat. If a big order comes in, fantastic but what happens if 6 months go by and you’re only left with the day to day selling coffee and muffins? You wouldn’t close up shop until the next big order came in. That’s risky and probably impossible. You’d make the most of that downtime to dream and plan on how to turn “Suzie’s Bake Shop” into the only catering option in town.
Let’s talk about the bane of my existence when it comes to not being able to effectively work through action items: Loose threads! They’re the worst. Loose threads are like that extra 8 – 10 lbs that you CAN’T get rid of (or seemingly so). But before we talk about the danger of incomplete action items and how to address them, let’s identify exactly what a “loose thread” is.
Creative entrepreneurs are cursed with the supposed “blessing” of unstructured time. That doesn’t necessarily mean we have lots of free time, just lots of time being used in lots of different ways. While most of us understand the process of starting and completing our art, it’s harder to understand the limits as it pertains to our businesses. It can feel like the work will never end. One of the more effective ways to combat your ever growing list of varied action items set against our fairly unstructured time is to set office hours.
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