Work

The Swap

Garth Beyer

For some, finding/making time to work on their art is impractical. The hassle of time management, task management, and people management is too complicated and, in itself, time-consuming. Nearly counterintuitive.

That is why I often suggest that they swap something they do regularly to work on their muse. The reading sessions at night can be put on a halt for a week. Karaoke night, family scrabble, lunch dates; they can all be post-pined for a week or two.

Finding time to work on your art is difficult. Swapping it with one of your weekly (or, hopefully, daily) habits is much easier to do.

Before you know it, you’ll be able to do both.

 

Stay Positive & Time Will Find You

Garth E. Beyer

Can You Do It Better

Garth Beyer

Of course you can, there is always room for improvement. But, I’ll admit, you will get to that point when you don’t want to put in the effort. Maybe it’s because you won’t get acknowledged for your effort, you don’t get paid enough, or you’re stretching the expectations of your job further than your boss may want you to.

I am in full support of finding and executing more ways to do what you have to do better. When you get to that point where you don’t want to (or do not have the freedom to) do any better, that’s when you stay just ahead of the game and work on your muse.

You don’t need to quit your job to fulfill your goals as an artist. Nor do you need to work your way all the way to the top of your current job to be able to support yourself as an artist.

If 4 is the best. Put 3 toward your job and 1 toward your muse. You don’t need a 4-0 or 0-4 ratio.

 

Stay Positive & Don’t Tell Me There’s No Way… You Can Do Better Than That

Garth E. Beyer

Landmarks

Garth Beyer

In the 21st century, we’re more about creating landmarks than we are letting anything of old become one. Good or bad is still to be determined.

Worth mentioning, “a major landmark” has become a buzzword in the business of progress. The overuse has earned itself a lesser meaning.

The following photos are of four real landmarks set in the rural settings of Blackburn, Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale districts of East Lancashire, England.

Panopticons

Artists of all kinds are leaving landmarks for the mass to see. The best part about the 21st century landmarks is that few of the creators sit around gazing at their own work. They are off creating more.

To the 21st century-ers, works of art have become known as landmarks simply by being placed around the world for all to see. Sure, earning recognition, but most of the time artists do so for the pure enjoyment of sharing one’s work rather than credibility, reward, or merit.

Personally, my favorite part about creating a landmark is the moment when you think to yourself onto the next one.

 

Stay Positive & What’s Your Latest Landmark?

Garth E. Beyer… better yet, what’s your next?

Why These Are The Best Years The World Has Ever Seen

Garth Beyer

Not even a hundred years ago, everything was work. Food on the table. People relied on each other. You got what you made. Blood, sweat, and tears.

Then we hit the industrial revolution, and as a result, work became less of a worry. What took our attention is all the free time we had. What would we watch on television? What would we listen to on the radio? What activities and groups would we now participate in?

Then the post-industrial revolution happened. This revolution is lead by this current generation. This revolution can be summed up like this:

everything that had become free time, has now become design.

 

Interesting concept... - ImgurAnd if your mind goes to robots designing everything, I would argue that. Sure, robots can help us create things. But they can’t design them ahead of us. We crunched the numbers and wrote the program before a calculator could tell us the square root of 64. So it is with everything that is designed. And I’ll tell you, everything, and I mean everything is being designed.

Will you be a leader of it?

 

Stay Positive & Go On, Design

Garth E. Beyer

 

Keep A Job

Garth Beyer

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Maybe it’s not your current job, but keep a job while you follow your passion and make your art.

If you hate your current job. Find another that you can bear, that you at least like, that gives you flexibility with time. For two reasons.

1. You need the flexibility of time to work on your passion. You may even discover that you can use your job time to do the real work of your passion.

2. When your focus is to excel in your passion rather than your job, a surprise promotion, raise, bonus, or even donuts on Friday morning are ever the better.

Don’t think you need to drop everything you have to focus on your passion. That’s just dumb. And if you think that’s what it will take for you to succeed in your passion, you may want to reconsider the passion you have.

 

Stay Positive & You Can Do Both (what pays the bills + follow your heart)

Garth E. Beyer

Photo credit

You. Yes, You… Why?

Garth Beyer

You, reading this, why are you making me wait?

I want it… I want a lot of things actually. I want to see them, read them, purchase them, interact with them, write about them, talk about them, play with them. I want what you have.

Why do I have to wait? Why am I waiting without knowing about your progress? Even worse, why am I waiting to get my hands on something that is already complete?

What are you waiting for?

The right time? The spot light? The spot on QVC? The 9 second reel on NBC?

There are people out in the world and online that are searching for what you have or what you are slowly (yes, I’m calling you out) working on, but they are searching now. Not later, not when you’re ready to deliver, not when you write on your Facebook page that your work is finally available. Now. That’s when they want it.

Simple solution: give it to them.

 

Stay Positive & Then Go Make Better Art

Garth E. Beyer

The End To Unproductive Weekends

Garth Beyer

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Every weekend there are people who have open schedules to work on their art, but never use the time to their advantage. (Heck, I am even guilty of it from time to time.)

The single greatest tip I can give to have a successful weekend, whether your schedule is packed or not, is to get dressed.

Even more specifically, put shoes on.

Don’t trust me? Try it just once. Next Sunday, when you have zero plans, wake up and instead of staying in your pj’s, get dressed, put your shoes on, and the rest will take care of itself. And at the end of the day, you will have made accomplishments.

Sure, we have had a weekend that we got work done barefoot, but I know there’s not one weekend that we were wearing shoes and no work was completed.

Life is weird, but the moments you discover to be weird, you can also leverage.

 

Stay Positive & In What Other Ways Do You Leverage Your Weekend?

Garth E. Beyer