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dated vocabulary

2024-01-07

4 minute read

It's been an okay start to the year. I went back to work on the second - far too early to be in any way ready. I hated it. I got barely anything done and took a day off on friday. Above all else I felt tired. It was hard to focus, and hard to care about the job. I can see a mountain of working rising up in front of me, and I feel intimidated. I think this is going to be a challenging year.

A Challenging Year

I've just realised this this is the first post of 2024! Enough complaining and speculating. I really like those "In and Out" lists, but I can't think things to put on mine that feel in any way real?

out: A cowboy rides into the new day
in: look who's back on the same horse

I do have a few goals/vibes I'd like to bring into this year (many are carry overs from the year before)

1. Focus on fewer things

I read a quote recently and I now, frustratingly, can't find it at all. I am an information retrieval god, I can find anything online. If it is online I can find it. Of course it helps that I saw it on Are.na

My One Wish If I had one wish for all of my artist friends out there, it would be this:

Start off the new year by dedicating yourself to one thing:

One project, one series or one idea.

Then show up, begin and stay with it. Don’t look back. And see it through.

My guess is that you have lots of ideas for projects or paintings that you would love to get to some day.

So, my wish is for you to be able to block out all the noise that comes with a new year and commit to one new cohesive body of > work infused with your visual and narrative voice.

And then give yourself the gift of having the discipline and resiliency to focus on that one thing.

I’m going to sneak in a second wish here.

And that second wish is for you to set up a regular and consistent creativity schedule, right now.

And then fight like crazy to maintain that schedule until you have completed your project.

This will help you gain, build and maintain precious momentum so that you can be more productive.

The more art you make the more creative you will allow yourself to be, and the more confident you will become, and the more art you will make.

Declare right now what one project you are going to focus on to begin the new year:

What do you really want to create? What one thing do you really want to say, communicate or evoke? Then decide what a reasonable daily or weekly creativity schedule looks like for you. Then begin and pay attention to your project. And more importantly, pay attention to you. And then apply yourself.

Focus on your one project.

Create what you really want to create. Create the work you were meant to create.

What do you think might happen if you tried this? It’s worth a shot to find out.

You have creative work to do!

Now I don't think I'll be able to fully do this, but I think I can get pretty close. I think I can get everything into either RIPE or return.horse. This aligns pretty well with small

2. Not talk too much about ideas

If you touch an idea too much without actually making it, just like a dough or plaster, it dies. I think it’s better to make and bake it and throw it away than to imagine how it would have worked or tasted. — Zeynab Izadyar

I have a habit of getting excited about an idea and telling everyone about it. This is fun, but it takes the wind out of the sails a bit for actually doing something. I want to be a little more private about things. Talk is cheap.

3. New words

I'm sick of saying "vibe", "vibes", "energy". Dated vocabulary.

4. Talk in full sentences

I can't find (read can't be bothered) the quote, I think it's in this interview, where Jack Self mentions how he practiced talking in complete sentences. The broader goal here is to be clear about what I'm saying and in doing so get a clearer picture of what I believe. I could, and do, talk ad nauseum about Jack Self. This quote bears repeating:

It’s very easy to forget what it is you're doing with your life and it’s very easy to see mission creep seep in. I shave my head between every two and four days, and every time I do I take it as a moment for reflection on what is it that I'm doing this week, are there ways I could be using my power to advance these causes which I think are important, am I doing the best job and most of all am I sincerely trying to live a life in the service of others.

5. Prioritise sleep

Sleep first, sleep as a skill, sleep as a goal.

On that note

I've got more to say, but I haven't got the time. Maybe tomorrow.

listening to

Lucky for You - Novo Amor, Gia Margaret

questions