It sure is a time of new beginnings all over again.

I have heard people refer to September 1st as their “New Year’s Day”…the day they come out of the summer slow time, and pick up work to start the cycle of the work year, plan and tackle projects over the next 10-12 months.

I think I like the sound of that. It makes total sense in my head. 

My ideal active work cycle is 10 months of the year. Summer is really busy with plans and outings and long drives and camping and packing and unpacking. Which means it is very hard for me to get any amount of meaningful time to get though serious plans or projects. I can do small things, or keep up with my practice in my sketchbook…but I wont be producing a whole big series of paintings in July and August.

September is when the juices start flowing again. 

With the cooler feeling air, being indoors and cozy is a good place to be. And with schools back on, there is more meaningful structure to life- no crazy middle of the day plans, no long drives every weekend, and everyone is up and working or out the door before 9 am. So the rest of the day beckons with all the creative possibilities to move the needle forward in work life.

Can you tell, that I have to motivate myself to get going? And mostly I am very motivated. But, it’s also easy to get off the merry-go-round of motivation when life gets hectic in other ways, or I’m working on something tedious. In those cases, it’s the processes and planning, and built-in fallow time that help me keep going.

And I love that I get to think about my own routine, and what I want to accomplish, but it would also be nice to have some accountability to someone other than me and myself.

So there are both pros and cons for me working for me trying to get my art business going. It is definitely not easy. Because art is not an essential commodity for people to spend money on. And what it most certainly needs is lots of marketing to get more and more eyeballs. As well, to get people to connect with me as the person who’s art they are connecting with. But being an introvert, marketing is hard for me. 

Although, what would be infinitely harder for me in the future would be to know that I did not give it my all, to do this art thing, and be an entrepreneur. That I am not willing for my future to be- living with that regret. Which means I have to keep trying, and figuring out my best way of working productively. And that means I have to develop systems that are simple, flexible, durable and sustainable (I got this from Mike Vardy’s Forge Your Future Challenge).

One of my systems is to give myself the summer mostly off, or atleast not aim for big things. Instead I have visions of enjoying the outdoors, and my son’s company during his holidays. 

And then to restart the work cycle, refreshed, once again in September, to go on till June.

I guess in that case, it’s Happy New Year to me!