Make things happen

I seem to have an abundance of energy at the moment. I already know that I have a pretty high output but I swear I somehow managed three days worth of To Do list accomplishments in one on Easter Monday. And it wasn't frantic either - it was a very relaxed, productive day spotted with regular bouts of lolling in the sun reading 'Good Omens' or 'Everyday Zen'.

There was no anxious energy underlying my productivity. It was just pure flow.

And it's continued on this week. I've been filling my evenings with projects and tasks and ticking things off to do lists left, right and centre.

One thing I've started doing again is submitting manuscripts to agents. This is always an interesting task as most agents prefer to be the only person you've sent a manuscript to. They take six to eight weeks to get back to you, so it's a waiting game once a manuscript is submitted.

I have five completed ones and three nearly complete. This gives me a bit more to work with. I can find eight suitable agents to submit to, check the dates, and then wait. I can space submissions a week apart to give some regularity to the task. I intend to do this and intend to carry on submitting until I am picked up because ultimately, in all the things I do and dream about and dabble with I always come back to the fact that since I can remember, since I could hold a pencil and form a letter, since I could put down into words the things that filled my childhood imagination, I have known in my bones that I am a writer first, foremost and with the greatest conviction.

All this meditating I've been doing (I'm sitting for a half hour both morning and night these days) is really focusing my mind in so many new ways. I feel very energised by it but also incredibly calm. I have a clear purpose:

I do what I do to engage people in their own sense of curiosity and wonder. 

I do what I do to encourage people to try new things, to be adventurous in their choices and to see their world and their life in a bigger way.

I write, I create art, I keep this blog, I have a full-time design job - and behind all of these things my big all encompassing 'why' is engrained in my every action. I'm really looking at this sense of purpose and how it drives us. When we know our purpose we can sort out the how and the what afterwards. I'm really enjoying this way of looking at my life and my intentions and actions.

So far it's resulted in some pretty incredible practical and creative output. Long may it last...

Master list of everything ever.

Every so often I become disheartened. I'm my own toughest critic but it's something I've been working on. I'm getting better, all the time, at appreciating and celebrating my accomplishments - but every so often I'll feel a bit like I'm just not getting anywhere. I know to some people this probably sounds nuts but to anyone who is a polymath, you know what I'm talking about. 

It's the feeling of doing a lot of little things and not getting any big things done. Or feeling bogged down by a big thing and not being able to celebrate the little things.

Several years ago I discovered a book called 'Refuse to Choose'. It changed my life - seriously - because it said it was okay for me to be a polymath and that I shouldn't (even if I was capable of it) choose to do only one thing with my life. But if I was going to embrace my polymath self, I sure as heck had to come up with some tools so I wouldn't:

A) burn out

B) get overwhelmed

and

C) feel like a failure for not doing absolutely everything I want RIGHT NOW. 

One of the best tools I got from this book was my Big Binder of Everything Ever AKA an important binder for all my ideas, aspirations, inspirations, plots, plans, dreams and goals. 

One of the first things you're supposed to do with it is write down everything you want to do in your life. Like, EVERYTHING. And be specific.

Not "I want to travel" but I want to travel to Florence, Barcelona, Ireland, Antarctica, Madagascar, Peru, all three Canadian territories, Newfoundland, New York, somewhere in Greece, Berlin, Gothenburg, Neuschwanstein castle, Brussels, Prague, Korea, Phuket (again), and Halifax (again).

After writing down everything you ever want to do in your life (being specific) it's possible to see that even though it is a lot, it's not absolutely everything you could do with your life and, if you are lucky enough to grow old, you'll have plenty of time to do it all. 

On the flip side you are also asked to make a list of everything you have accomplished so far. This is a good reminder that you have lived a colourful, rich, interesting life. And it's a really good list to have when you start to feel disheartened.

So recently, when I was feeling a bit down and a bit glum and a bit oh-my-gawd-my-ePub-is-taking-ages-and-I'm-not-getting-anywhere-with-it, I took a breath, and sat down with my binder of Everything Ever to update my Everything I've Accomplished in My Life So Far list with 2013 - to see how I'm doing.

So far this year I:

Quit a toxic job, 

set up as a freelance graphic designer (Rebuilt my old website), 

got a contract as an in-house designer, 

began studying psychology at the Open University, 

studied at Central Saint Martins, 

did an advanced Illustrator training course,

finished (and passed!) my British Sign Language Course, 

completed 16 course on Lynda.com,

read 20 books, 

danced in Trafalgar Square, 

saw Jann Arden perform live, 

saw Hellen Mirren perform on stage,

saw Judy Dench perform on stage, 

did a surprise visit to Calgary, 

spent 15 days in Japan, 

abseiled at the Royal Courts of Justice, 

AND became a published author...

so far

Because I'm a polymath I can see a lot of the stuff I haven't done and let it feel a bit more important than what I have done. But I would be a total whingebag deserving a good slap if I said boo about the stuff I've not been able to get around to so far this year, because no wonder! 

This is a brilliant list to have (especially that last item on there) as a reminder that dreams do become goals do become accomplishments and that I should really not be feeling like I've not got enough done. 

To Do Lists

I really like making lists. I get a great sense of satisfaction from writing a list of everything that is bouncing around in my head, putting little squares next to each item and then ticking and crossing everything off as I finish it all.

Here's a new To Do List. It's one which is very organic. It seems like, as quickly as I tick stuff of of it, I have to add something new. It's my To Do List in preparation of my gallery show, which isn't until August. This may seem like it's a long way off but I can hardly believe it's already April, this year seems to be whizzing past so fast.

• Pay balance of rental cost for rental of gallery space
• Do more dance performances
• Get footage of dance performances which can be put together as a presentation at the show
• Write statement for dance performances
• Pick up paintings from being imaged
• Drop-off two more paintings (Forgot some...oops!)
• Get remaining un-imaged Tarot Paintings in Canada imaged
• Research cheap option for getting postcard sets of Tarot cards printed
• Get postcards of tarot cards printed
• Promote gallery showing on twitter, FB and through Blog to increase attendance
• Develop a solution to website (Ability to sell prints)
• Make a form to take orders for prints at gallery show
• Develop raffle of cool prize everyone who attends the gallery will be entered into
• Finish art description cards for all of the pieces I'll be displaying at the gallery show
• Come up with a playlist for background music during show
• Print art description cards
• Figure out how to get 17 canvases to Brick Lane

Four and a half months to get this all sorted. Time to prioritise.

To Do List

I have a lot of ideas and a lot of things I want to accomplish. As a result I tend to spread myself too thin, putting my fingers in so many pies that I find I can't reach and ultimately I end of taking my shoes and socks off so I can pop some toes in too. But then I can't walk so I don't get anywhere.

Good metaphor.

So I make To Do lists. I love my to do lists because they organise my thoughts and when a task is done I get great satisfaction from making a tick next to it and running the ink of my pen through it. There's something very satisfying about completing a task.

I've decided to focus on the above To Do list for February. This is just my creative work, mind. I have another list of domestic duties - laundry, purging my wardrobe, kitty litter - and I create a list daily for my day job.

I like that drawing up my creative To Do list has helped me work towards completing one of the items on it. And now that this blog update is done I must away to tackle the rest.