Methods
I have been testing a method for doing personal work that both allows me to work on a variety of projects but also limits me to just three. This forces me to finish a few things before starting ten others, and it also gives me the space I need to switch gears when I’m stuck.
I’m great at starting new things. Not great at following through to the finish line. This has been a challenge I want to face this year.
The method: I keep a piece of 8.5 x 11 paper displayed prominently in my studio, I can’t miss it when I walk in the door. This paper contains two lists: one titled “Currently” with three spaces, and another titled “Wish List” with unlimited spaces. I’m only allowed to work on any of the three “Currently” projects. Anything else that my brain comes up with is relegated to “Wish List” for the time being.
Once I finish an item on the Currently list, I do not replace it until all three are complete. I must finish the ones I have written down before moving on. Finish it or quit the project completely, but no “saving it for another day.” Once I finish the three, I make a new sheet. I sit and decide which, if any, of my wish list items I actually want to work on. Often my wish list items are a whim and by the time I’m ready to commit to new projects I don’t want to do them anymore. Sitting down to write out the list gives me that moment of clarity about what I really want to be spending my time doing.
This method is working relatively well! My first sheet (I wish I had saved it!) I completed it in a few months without straying from the Currently list. Sometime halfway through my second sheet I found myself wandering into a few other projects along the way. This was just good old fashioned resistance coming up. One of these projects is an art piece that feels a little vulnerable and I had a little subconscious voice telling me that if I did not finish the project I would never have to show it to anyone and also never be rejected from show applications. After a small meander away from my list I have made my way back and am cruising along towards the finish line.
Resistance
One of my favorite forms of resistance is a good ole’ case of the “shoppy shoppies.” The urge to consume pulls me right in whenever I feel stress or anxiety. Like right before traveling I always want to buy a bunch of things because somehow that gives me the feeling that I can control all of the unknowns (such as a diverted flight).
But isn’t the whole point of travel to step out of routines, jump into unknown territory and face some new challenges? Probably, yes! But marketing has me convinced that I can buy my way out of these moments for a smooth and picturesque life.
Much like the anxiety of travel, the pending fall of an empire has me compelled to SHOP!
Things I want to buy right now, explained
Time Timer - this little gadget will obviously solve my problem of “never enough time”
Jesse Kamm jacket and pants - Oh, these will make me feel cool, which, according to Instagram, if you look cool, you are cool
ABC beads - you know, so I can express myself like a teen
New workout gear - The highest form of hope… the new gear will remove all resistance to exercise
North Face carry on luggage - did you know that if you just find the most perfect suitcase then all travel woes disappear? Toddlers sit quietly for 5 hour flights, you never forget things, all flights are on time, etc, etc.
More train tracks for my son’s wooden train set - because if I transfer my desire for consumption to my son then I’m off the hook because it’s not “for me” it’s for someone else!
In all seriousness, my existential angst is fueled by watching the systematic starvation of the people of Palestine. Instead of filling up my cart with useless items, I’ll put my money to something useful.
Michelle Pellizzon is doing a fundraiser for World Central Kitchen, one of the few groups that has been allowed to operate in Gaza. If you feed compelled to join me, please donate below and help her reach her goal of $10,000. In this moment, every dollar counts.
That’s it for this week. See you again soon!
Bekka