Idea of the Week…Be Messy

Hey there…

Happy Monday!

I always look forward to the first of the month here in KC because of the “First Friday” event that takes place across town. Artists, designers, antique collectors, and more open up their “by appointment only” shops for everyone to visit.

My favorite part is seeing inside someone’s studio and getting to see the art as it is being made. I love staring at the half-finished canvas and trying to complete the rest of the picture in my mind or noticing the pile of raw material (wood, pottery, glass, etc.) for a “next project” and thinking “what is that going to be”?

And the messier the studio the better because it makes me feel better about my own. Case in point…a picture of one corner of my desk at this very moment:

In this one picture, there are pieces and parts of 4 projects I have in flight. There is a story for a book/screenplay, the plan for an online class I am about to teach, some designs for a startup of mine, and a marketing project.

It is messy, and while it may seem chaotic to those of you rely on folders, binders, etc., let me make one suggestion, which is the idea of the week:

IDEA OF THE WEEK…”BE MESSY”

With whatever you are doing creatively, try not to keep it in a neat, clean organized world. I know you need to be organized at some level so you do not spend an entire day looking for something (I use organized piles!), but if you let your work mingle with other things, like other projects or your day-to-day things, it really helps. Example, in that above picture, there are synergies between that marketing project using the box of colored pencils and the story for the book/screenplay. And right now, I see both of them in one glance on my desk…ideas colliding. And that keeps me going forward with both projects.

So go be messy this week! Enjoy, and let me know how it goes.

That’s it for now…have a good week!