Organization can be a real challenge for each of us. It is even more of a challenge for everyday creative people who have lots of ideas, dreams, goals, responsibilities and just plain things going on; and who may also be a little suspicious of organization.
But as suspicious as we may be of organization, every creator needs a filing system and to-do lists and all the other practical aspects of organization. It isn’t of life-and-death importance that the house be clean or that you remember everybody’s birthday. But it is vital to your creative life that the chaos of ideas that start to flood your brain when you open up to your own creativity have a place to be sorted and saved. If you won’t save those good ideas, who will? If you don’t give them that chance, too many good ideas get lost and the chaos of disorganization may even prevent you from getting any work accomplished.
“It is vital to your creative life that the chaos of ideas that start to flood your brain when you open up to your own creativity have a place to be sorted and saved.”
~ Eric Maisel
Many of us feel depressed, defeated and incapable of creating for just this reason: that the swirl of ideas inside our head keeps swirling with no place to go. But something as simple as organization can turn that around. For example, investing in large erasable boards might be an excellent starting point. Old-fashioned as compared to all the electronic ways of organizing life nowadays, erasable boards allow you to really see what needs to be done and allow you to jot down ideas in a way in which those ideas remain available to you.
You will need to find your own personal style for staying organized. The main point is to remember how many things require organization! There are the most obvious ones: organizing your inventory of paintings, staying in contact with galleries and collectors, knowing deadlines for shows and competitions, and so on. Then there are the much less obvious ones: organizing your ideas, having a way for themes to grow, organizing the imaginative and intellectual side of things. That’s a lot of organizing, but it is absolutely required of us as working artists who want to success and who want to grow. Do not scorn organization!
What organizational methods work for you? Share with your fellow artists in the comment section below!
