I was feeling completely overwhelmed yesterday. I was in a total panic.

It was my first day back to working again after the holidays. I thought that I’d be able to slide back into it, no problem, but boy was I wrong.

I sat down to work and had not a clue where to start.

Should I be painting? Should I be working on that website for a client? Should I be working on my own website? Should I be blogging? Twittering? Checking my emails? Writing emails? Researching galleries? Writing a marketing plan? Designing a newsletter?

What am I even doing with all of this anyways?!?

Whew. Time to take a breather.

I needed a plan. I wasn’t going to get anywhere without some kind of list of things that I wanted to accomplish, eventually. I mean, it’s not like I had to conquer the world by 3pm. I’m only 20. I’ve got the rest of my life for pete’s sakes.

But often times I forget that. I’m so busy trying to prove everyone wrong that I forget that I’m allowed to take time to prove everyone wrong. That it might take me a few years to build up a sustainable, successful business. The thought of that sends me into a mild panic though. I want to show them all rightnow that I am talented and successful.

“We can’t wait a few years. We’ll have failed by then!” says the fear and the panic.

So yesterday, I made “My Plan To Survive Life”.

I listed, by section, my objectives. I didn’t set a date to have them finished by. I just said that I’m going to do them.

Here’s a few examples of what I’ve got.

Scheduling

I’ve got some scheduling goals, to work towards. I’d like to paint 25 hours a week. I think that I could accomplish a fair amount of work on that schedule. Plus, it is my favourite thing to do, so spending the majority of my work week doing that seems smart. Also, I’m an emerging artist – my main priority right now should be building a strong portfolio. No portfolio – nothing to sell. I also absolutely love writing this blog, and since it’s also something creative, I’d like to do that 5 times a week.

Website for a client

I’m designing a website for a friend who has a medical consulting business. I’m really just editing a bought template, but I was feeling overwhelmed by all the things I need to do. I’m not a trained web designer, although I did build my own site, but I don’t know everything. So I was looking at the site and going, “Sweet smoking Jesus, I don’t even know where to start.”

So I made a list of all the things I need to do, step by step. I feel much better now.

My Website

I’ve got a couple ideas for my website – I’d like to put some Paypal buttons in, next to my paintings so that I can sell the prints from the same page as the painting, and not have to go off looking for them. It just seemed simpler for the viewer to do. So that’s on my list, along with a couple other ideas.

My Blog

I’d like to get around to editing the header on here, so it merges with the rest of my site better. I haven’t had a chance yet to sit down and edit the code, but at some point, I’d like it to fit in with the entire nav bar on my site.

Goals for Marketing

I need to start a newsletter, a monthly one. That’s pretty much a necessity, and I’ve been putting it off for ages because I don’t have a clue what to write and I’m pretty sure nobody would read it. Although I thought that about this blog too, and you guys are here still here! And I’d like to grow my mailing list to 250 people. Might take me a while, but it seems like a nice, solid number of people.

Goals for My Art

I want to finish 10 paintings, have another solo show and get my work into a gallery that is not in my area code. I think that’d be pretty darn sweet.

Goals for Selling

These are simple goals – sell 10 paintings, sell 10 prints, sell 10 products. Ten is a nice round, even number. I like it.

And that’s it! All my goals for right now. I don’t want to say that they’re goals for this “year” but for right now, this is what I’m aiming for. When I accomplish them, I accomplish them. But it gives me something to orient myself towards. A current mountain to climb, if you will.

Tomorrow, I’ll discuss my word for this year – if you’ve ever read Christine Kane’s blog, then you’ll know what I’m talking about. You pick a word of intention for the year, and then forget about it. Much easier than a resolution, if you ask me. I haven’t picked a word yet, I’m mulling over a few different ones. I’m hoping divine inspiration will let me know which one is right for me.

Until then, I’m off to work on my plan to survive life.