Monday Series: Ahhhhh

There is no end to the number of to do list items, friends. For every one thing I finish, three more things are added. This is business, I guess. 

This morning, I rearranged my Trello board like the good little product manager I never was. My old boss would be proud. I now have three separate boards: 

1. Backlog Board - A big dump of items I need to do at some point in the nearish future separated into categories.
2. Active Work Board - Complete with a Ready column, a "Work on This Stuff Today" column, and a Done column. I hate myself, but this is what too many years in the tech world does to a person.
3. Ideas/Collections Board - Books I want to read, classes I want to take, shows I want to watch, etc. Stuff I don't want to forget.

Previously I was using one giant board for all three of those purposes and it was getting so unwieldy that I just wasn't using it. I had to clear out the clutter. Now, my active board isn't such a PSA for cognitive overload.

Buuuuut, it's almost 1pm and I'm just now working on the first thing on that list so organization isn't everything. I woke up later than I could have today. Whatever. I feel rested at least. Tonight will probably be another late night of work. I hate these cycles.

Complaining aside, I think that business is moving along nicely. Inktober has been hard yet rewarding; as expected. I've found a bit of a groove. I'm really enjoying watercolor. I have been trying to find a rendering style that feels both inspiring and practical for a while now. I love the energy of a cross-hatch colored pencil style but it takes forever to do well and gives me too much anxiety when I'm trying to churn through a bunch of work. Watercolor is something I've always been interested in but intimidated by. It forces me to loosen up (something I need) and let the medium make some of the decisions for me. So I unearthed some of my old watercolors and spent some time watching tutorials on youtube and I find that I'm really loving it.

Aside from the high level anxiety of having SO MUCH miscellaneous stuff to do this week (and next, and next, and next), I'm cautiously optimistic about the future of this business from an art standpoint. Within the last week, I've felt as though I have liked mostly every piece I created. In as little as 7 days, I've seen a positive turn in my relationship with art after adopting the new commitments in last week's post. This is encouraging and motivating. 

This week, I'm going to try to actively focus on my schedule again. I talk about it every week and it's always floating around in the back of my mind but I'll prioritize it this time. I think I'll pick up my guitar again to do something different with my mind before bed. I've been hyper focused on art, which is not a bad thing, but I feel it becoming an obsession—and where there is obsession, burnout often follows. I have to release some of that pressure before it's too late.

Le sigh. 1:20pm—onto the next.