Structure & Flow

As an artist and a business person, my daily existence is a constant tug between structure and flow. Structure keeps the lights on, but flow is where the magic happens. The flow state has long been familiar territory, whereas the discipline part had to come later and is still very much under construction. When I have too little structure, I flit from project to task to project, much like a hummingbird in the height of summer, but unlike a hummingbird, my flitting is not productive. I’ve had to forcefully inject structure into my days. I have found joy in making systems and finding new and better ways to keep numbers and tiny valuable objects organized. I now have lists to keep track of all of those systems. Systems that are really just multidimensional lists themselves. If you have ever been self employed (or if you are simply an adult?), you know the wild feeling of being both deeply unsupervised and also completely and solely accountable for the consequences. Both cat and mouse all at once.

Speaking of adulthood, I’ve just this summer left the round age of 30 behind, and my new daily effort is slowing time down so I don’t blink and miss it all. My new goal is to give an hour a day to something new- - to learning the piano, an hour to learning a new language, an hour to learning a new illustration software, and hour to writing. I can do anything for an hour… right? Even suck at something? Stay tuned to see if I make any progress…