All In a Day's Work :: Life as a Full Time Artist Working at Home with Kids

I used to observe people who were working from home and/or running their own full-time businesses and think, “It must be nice to do what they do. It doesn’t look hard or annoying, they get to work from home, they must have such an easy life…”

Umm…not so much, 2012 me…

It was easy to think that way, on the outside looking in. And I still catch myself when someone I’ve followed for a long time shows a bit more beyond the surface…

Everyone’s reality is faaaar from what we see on social media.

As an artist, working at home and spending every day with my kids, I honestly don’t know what my life looks like. I try to share an honest glimpse at my days - the good and the bad. There’s always a balance of “being real”, and wanting to market myself and my work as inspiring and beautiful.

But there’s laundry on the floor, toys strewn about, and plenty of coffee mugs and empty seltzer cans on my desk and bedside table. I will never pretend that my home is some minimalist, tidy image. It’s “well lived in”. It’s where I spend every single day, working and parenting and hanging out with my main squeeze of 19 years.

As I said in my Creativity Pep Talk last week, everyone has different journeys, different spaces, different families and relationships and work styles. We cannot compare what we see on the surface of someone else’s life, to the ins and outs of our own journey, experiences, and circumstances.

No one’s life is easy and glamorous. I think the more we share some of the struggle, the better off we all are in learning to be more empathetic and kind humans. When Chrissy Teigan and Meghan Markle shared so openly about their pregnancy losses this year, I felt deeply connected to their experiences, having been through similar. I saw so many comments about how they were oversharing, but because they shared, we better understand and remember that at the core, being royalty or living “the dream life”, doesn’t keep you from experiencing real pain and grief.

We all have good days and bad days. We all have days we work our asses off, and days we need to slow down. Whether you’re making millions of dollars or growing a side hustle to put food on the table, no one ever sees the full picture. We can only have grace with ourselves and try to have more understanding and compassion, less judgement and comparison.

It’s all in how you frame your perspective.

the glimpse of my day that you see is not the whole picture.

Yesterday, I shared three new paintings I had created. They are smaller, 4x6 acrylics on canvas, which took me about 3 hours to make.

I started wondering if people saw my post and thought “Wow, it must be nice to only spend 3 hours a day working.” I worry every day that the fact that I work at home somehow translates to “She only works 3 hours a day. It must be so easy and fun.”

It is and it isn’t. We all work. Many of us who work for ourselves find our days following a less traditional schedule, but it doesn’t change the fact that work is work. We’re constantly moving the needle forward in different ways. I am working towards every single sale to put food on our table and keep a roof over our heads.

My three small paintings took 3 hours to create, but in that time, I had to pause to sit down over Google Meet for a parent teacher conference. I had to pause to help Lily check her math practice sheets and help her work through some problems. I was thinking about all the art I need to add to my website so I can start meeting higher sales goals each month.

I squeezed in picking up the canvas from another artist in town after picking up Lily from school. I have been watching videos and taking classes for my art, learning new techniques, practicing different styles, messing up a lot and working through creative blocks.

I’m working around naps and remote learning, snacks and bathroom breaks. I’m weighing the pros and cons of my kids begging for an outdoor playdate with a friend after spending so much time inside at home this winter, while I watch the sunlight quickly changing and fading each afternoon, my opportunities to paint in my optimal lighting and creative energy feeling the pressure of time slipping away.

As an artist, I am joyfully creating, and I am working to support my family.

A lot of the stuff I do behind the scenes doesn’t make it to social media, because it’s “boring”. It’s what I call the “Work-Work”. This includes making podcast episodes (writing, recording, editing, publishing), Youtube videos (recording, editing, writing and publishing), planning and posting and engaging on social media, managing my finances, client inquiries and relationships, marketing, shipping art…I never work “just 3 hours a day”.

For the one picture I share with the world, there’s a lot more happening around it throughout the day.

What does my day typically look like?

A few weeks ago, I started using time blocking as a way to simplify and focus on what really needs to get done each day for my business, my family, and for me.

I used to try to plan every day down to the minute, thinking it would make me more productive. It was actually just really overwhelming and I would get distracted, lose focus, and nothing would get done.

I created a time blocking printable - give it a try!

Every day is different, so time blocking gives me the flexibility I need to hyper focus on my priorities, which include my work and parenting. Roo is home with me every day (we plan to start him in pre-K in the fall), and Lily is still doing remote days on Wednesdays, so I divide my days into 4 main blocks.

Morning 1 - 6:30-9:30am

We are waking up, getting showered and dressed, having breakfast, getting ready for school, dropping off at school, and getting settled into the day. We all know what we need to do in the morning, so I don’t plan it down to the minute. We are all home and getting ready in the morning and have established a pretty fluid routine.

Morning 2 - 9:30-11:30am

Sean leaves for work, and I’m settling into my workday. I sit down and do a 5-minute brain dump to clear my head and reflect on how I feel, and what I want and need to get done in the day ahead. From my brain dump, I prioritize my top three needs, and I do those things first. These things may be:

• responding to clients and inquiries

• writing a blog post or creating graphics for my website and social media

• writing, recording, editing and publishing a podcast episode

• adding new art and listings to my shop, and sharing them out to Pinterest, social media and my email list

• filming, editing, and posting new videos to my creative living channel on Youtube

• working on tracking sales and finances

• writing my weekly email newsletters

I try to focus on one general area of my work that I can complete in that time. Roo plays independently, watches some PBS Kids. There are days I forgo working in the morning so we can go for a walk, play, or do learning activities together. I am massively grateful for this flexibility in my life since this is a temporary time we get to spend together.

Midday Break - 11:30am-1pm

This break is for lunch, and doing some personal things around the house. Working from home is a constant mental battle of knowing that there’s laundry, dishes, appointments to make, grocery orders and meal planning…This midday break allows me to eat, breathe, stretch, and do those things that take up mental space. Knowing I have this time set aside allows me to better focus on work and other priorities throughout the day.

Afternoon 1 - 1pm-3pm

This is my golden time block for creativity. I spend this time painting, drawing coloring pages, or finishing up podcast or Youtube episodes. I try to do more of the podcast and Youtube work at the beginning of the week, so by Wednesday, I can spend my afternoons drawing and painting when more people are home from work and school.

Thankfully, at this time, Roo still naps most days during this block of time. Play hard, nap hard.

Afternoon 2 - 3pm-6pm

I wake Roo from his nap and we hustle out to the car to go pick up Lily from school. Once she’s in the car, we run any errands (like grocery pickups and Buy Nothing exchanges), and head home. On nice days, we might stop at a playground for some fresh air and playtime. Again, I’m grateful for the flexibility to make these decisions based on what’s on my plate and what my kids need. While they’re running around outside, I might listen to a podcast or pop into Clubhouse, make an Instagram post, and spend some time engaging on social media to stay active and relevent.

This block of time is the most flexible depending on the day, the weather, if Lily has ballet class, and if it’s a day we’re all home (my husband is home Wednesdays and Fridays). Generally, the kids are playing and have “free” time, while I’m wrapping up tasks that might take another hour or so. We’re cleaning up the house, doing any extra practice homework or reading, changing laundry, and getting ready for dinner.

Evening 6pm-10pm

The kids shower and put on pjs while I’m making dinner. We sit down together to eat, sometimes in front of the tv, depending on what’s for dinner and how many of us are home (Friday nights are always homemade pizza and family movie night). While I’m making dinner, I like to watch painting or business videos on Youtube on my iPad. The kids watch a little tv or play some video games if they get their jammies on quickly enough. Our family style is pretty laid back and it works well for us. I don’t fret over small stuff. It’s how I keep my sanity and enjoy motherhood.

After dinner, we head upstairs for bedtime. Some nights bedtime takes an hour. I am always incredibly tired by this point in the evening, but I enjoy reading to the kids, talking about their day, answering their “what is the meaning of life” questions and giving them some snuggles. I sing them a few bedtime songs, and it’s lights out.

I finish up cleaning up, dishes and laundry (which usually stays in a pile on the chair or in a basket in our room), Sean gets home from work around 9, and we chat and watch tv or play some video games, and go to bed. I usually watch a show or two before going to sleep (currently rewatching Brooklyn 99). Most nights, I stay up later than I should. I keep saying I’ll start going to bed earlier and waking up earlier to give myself more time for myself, but I haven’t made that change of habit yet.

That’s a pretty typical day in my life! Some days are more productive. Some days are crazy and stressful as a mom. Some days are pretty chill and enjoyable.

It’s definitely a balance, and while I know that what I share to social media is a small slice of my work and my day, I know there are many fellow artists, small business owners and entrepreneur friends going through similar days, finding ways to get stuff done around kids, and constantly changing plans and needs.

If you’re ever scrolling and find yourself thinking “Wow, their life must be so fun and easy.” - just take a moment and remember that there’s more than meets the eye.

We’re all trying to remember to eat and drink water.

Some of us have strict routines that never change. Some of us are constantly tweaking and working around changing household schedules.

Some of us have more appointment heavy days, some of us have more flexibility (which can be difficult to stay on task).

Some people have a lot of support of family, friends, neighbors. Some can afford assistants and house cleaners. Some are making it work solo.

Every person’s day to day experience varies in work, home life, parenting, relationships, spirituality, physical and mental wellness, and a million other things…

We’re doing our best to do more of what we love, while enjoying time with our loved ones. We do what we can to slow down, prioritize what means most to us, and maybe share a sliver of that with the world. Most of us artists, small businesses and entrepreneurs know and value the satisfaction and joy of doing work that we’re passionate about, to balance out our unique struggles.

No one’s perfect. The fantasy that we perceive is just that - a fantasy. There’s actually blood, sweat, tears, tantrums, timeouts, dirty laundry, burnt dinner, spilled milk, and a whole lot of grace going on behind the scenes of that Instagram feed.

My dad used to sell bumper stickers at his fishing store that said “A bad day of fishing is still better than a good day at the office.” And it’s the dang truth.

Do more of what you love, prioritize yourself and your people, and no matter what the reality of your day looks like, life is, indeed, good.

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Shannon Sorensen is a Connecticut-based artist with a passion for abstract, expressive painting, and encouraging fellow creatives to do more of what they love! Subscribe to her podcast, Youtube, and weekly emails for a hearty dose of creative inspiration and encouragement each week.

Being a Multipassionate Person :: Creative Happy Life Podcast Episode 13

Welcome to episode 13 of Creative, Happy Life Podcast!

Are you a multipassionate person? Have you heard that word before? I heard it a couple years ago, and things started to click together in my mind and in my heart, about my creative interests, skills, and the work I wanted to do. And surprising to absolutely no one, it meant going against the grain, shattering expectations, and ensuring I was the writer of my own story.

I hope you enjoy this episode! I invite you to subscribe to the podcast, leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts so we can get into the ears of some new listeners this year. I appreciate every bit of support you give, and I’m unbelievably excited for this fresh start in 2021. Let’s do this!

LISTEN TO THE LATEST EPISODE HERE, ON SPOTIFY, Or APPLE PODCASTS:

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Episode 13: Being a Multipassionate Person

Hey there! Welcome to episode 13 of Creative, Happy Life podcast. I’m you’re host, Shannon Sorensen, and today we are talking about being multi-passionate.

Now, I know there are a lot of new “wordy words” out there that, you know, the branding industry, and the coaching industry, and all these industries that have emerged online over the past couple of years have kind of come up with. And one of the words that I really connected with, probably two years ago, was the word “multipassionate”.

I connected with it because it really hit home, how I feel about who I am and what I do.

So, for instance, these days if you are looking at a lot of creatives and entrepreneurs bios, their little write ups, their elevator pitches…It's kind of funny because, you know, when our parents were young, and our parents were working and in the midst of their careers, they were a banker, a firefighter, an office manager, you know, they had their title. And that was their title and that was their career that they had pretty much their whole life. And now, in this, you know, modern era of so much work being done remotely and online, and people kind of creating their own businesses and their own careers that are made up of, you know, whatever they want!

It gets a little bit more complicated now because people are coaching, and doing a side hustle maybe selling oils or consulting, or they’re teaching an online course, and they’re also an artist and they're also, you know, doing all these things! And it's so funny because in the past five years, which, you know, coincides with when I started working from home on my photography business, I started just feeling pulled in all these different creative directions. And, I felt like there was something wrong with me. I couldn't focus, and I had to pick one thing, and just be really good at it. But it really conflicted with my heart, because I have always been interested in a lot of things, I've always wanted to do a lot of things. And the idea of just doing one thing has never really interested me.

And I thought that there was maybe something wrong with me, but there wasn't actually, because there is a word for people like me, and that is “multipassionate”. Multipassionate is, when you have many interests, many passions, many things that you want to do. And I think we are very lucky to live in this digital age where it's relatively easy to do all these different things if we really want to do. If we really want to spend the time figuring out how to fit these things together within our lives. It's doable!

I was really struck and inspired by an author. Now this is a story involving my daughter's elementary school. Every spring, they have a visiting author come and speak to the kids, and read their books, and talk about being an author, and what inspires them. And when my daughter was in first grade, an author named Jess Keating was the visiting author, and she came and talked to the kids, and I was there for the day to photograph the event, and the meet and greets and everything.

But I actually walked away feeling more inspired by her words than, perhaps, any of the kids. Because what she told them really hit home for me.

A little bit about Jess Keating, this was her story that she told the kids that day. She grew up interested in a lot of things, she was interested in nature and animals and plants and drawing and writing, and science, she was interested in all these different things. And coming into adulthood, she decided, “I'm going to find a way to do all these different things that I love. I'm going to find a way to incorporate all these things that I love into what I do.”

So, she's an author. She's an illustrator. She writes books that are based in science and history and fact, and she illustrates her books, and she's a zoologist because she loves animals. She has all these things that make up who she is, and she doesn't pick or choose just one. She could have decided to be a zoologist. Or she could have decided to be a children’s book writer and illustrator. She has found a way to include all of these things that she's passionate about into her life and into her career and her work

And I thought that was a really important message that she told the kids. You don't have to just pick one thing. You don’t just choose to be one thing, you can pick different things you can find a way to make these different things work within your life.

As people, we are multifaceted. Our personalities, interests, actions and behaviors - there are so many things that make up who we are. So, why does it make sense to only do one thing with our lives and our work?

I was sitting there like 35 years old and I was like, “Oh my God, she's speaking to me.”

But truthfully, I felt she was I felt that that was something I needed to hear from another person who is generally around the same age as me, like, a little bit of validation, that it's okay to want to do different things.

For a long time. I worked a corporate career. I worked as a graphic designer. I kind of worked my way up from an admin position to graphic design and marketing and packaging. And, you know, I had a good career, but I knew I wanted to be doing something else that was creative but also on my own terms. And around 2010, when I was getting married, that’s when I started my photography business. And you know, that was 11 years ago, and I was really gung ho for shooting weddings, because at the time, I was getting married.

And I was really interested in weddings. And then, you know, over the next couple of years I started doing some family photography, and newborn photography, and I had started my own family and had Lily. And, I started branching out and finding that the more different things I was photographing, the more things I enjoyed doing all these different things. It kept it exciting!

I kind of felt this whole time, like I was doing something wrong, because all these photographers in the industry were like, “Oh, well I'm a wedding photographer. I'm a family photographer. I'm a newborn photographer. I'm a headshot photographer. I'm a product photographer.” They were a photographer for one thing, and I was like, but I'm interested in all these different things. I'm interested in the weddings, and I'm interested in the babies, and I'm interested in working with seniors or with businesses.

And, you know, I knew in my gut that it was okay to be doing all of this, but there was like, all this outside messaging where I felt like, if you just pick one thing and focus on it, and you'll do it really well and then you'll be successful. Like, if I don't pick one thing, I won't be successful. That's not true. It's just not true.

So, in 2015, when we moved up towards Hartford, and I left my corporate job, we decided I would work from home, doing my photography, and being home with Lily. I really focused in on my photography, and I was doing well. And then I got this itch to do other things!

We live in New England, and the winter is not very conducive to having a full schedule of photography work if you don’t have a studio. So, I would always have some newborns, occasionally a wedding or two, but the winter was always pretty slow and tough. And I knew I wanted to kind of fill that gap with something that I could do from home, that I didn't have to travel to do.

So, I have a creative mind and heart, I had been working on my Etsy shop, and making art prints and doing graphic design. I started making tshirts, and crocheting, I kind of started allowing myself to exploring all these different things. And the more I explored, the more I was curious, you know, the more things I tried, the more I wanted to do! One of those things I really enjoyed was painting. I know that I enjoyed holding a brush and applying paint to something. So, over the past couple year, I started painting art! It was really an evolution of my creativity.

And then, you know, so, I've had all these things that I've been really interested in, you know, whether it was painting, or making jewelry, or making tshirts, or crocheting. I've always had several different things that I really loved doing. And I felt like I was fighting myself for a long time, because everywhere I turned it was like, well, you can't have all these different things you do. You’ll never be good enough, you’ll be divided. You're never going to succeed, you're never going to make enough money. You're not gonna be able to support your family, you're going to have to go out and get a “real” job.

Yikes.

So I had all these different stories, running through my head, for the past several years.

it was hard to figure out what story was true.

And then, I was sitting in the back of my daughter's library, listening to an children's author, who's very smart and very funny and her books are amazing, telling this roomful of kids…You don't have to pick one thing.

You can be interested in many things.

And it's good to be interested in many things, because it keeps life interesting.

I said, huh. How about that. That's unexpected.

So, I guess my lesson for today is, if you are a person who has many interests, and many passions, and many things that you love to do, and enjoy, and you're trying to figure out how to make them work within your life and within your business…

Be gentle with yourself. Don't listen to anyone else's messages about what it takes to be successful, and to do a good job. You know, you don't have to focus on one thing…and take this with a grain of salt from a person who's still in the process of figuring things out.

I spent the last year painting canvases, painting jewelry, doing digital art, doing watercolor, you know, various creative things, trying to figure out, “Okay, what am I going to do? We’re in a pandemic? What should I do? How do I move forward?”

But maybe we don't have to decide…maybe we just have to keep creating, and keep exploring, and keep finding our style and our voice that feels true and authentic to ourselves.

And it doesn't matter what it is that we're doing to get there. Right? It’s not being afraid that maybe it takes a long time to get there, or that it takes many twists and turns to get there.

I mean, this past year, I've been on a roller coaster. I've been up. I've been down. I've been twisted aroun,d I've gone upside down a few times. But I'm finding my way.

I know I'm not there yet, we’re all finding our ways as we go, but I am finding that the more I explore and allow myself to be open to making new things, to creating new things, to finding new ways of doing the things that I love - I am getting closer.

And there’s so much good stuff in there, in the whole process.

So, to all my multipassionate people out there who feel a little lost, who feel like maybe they don't fit into what they see every day on social media...Who are receiving mixed messages from all different directions, all diufferent industries and walks of life…Do one thing and do it great…

Well, it's funny because one of my favorite quotes is actually from the show Parks and Rec, where Ron Swanson says “Don't half ass many things. Whole ass one thing.” And I'm always like “YES! Throw yourself fully into one thing, and be great at it!”

Well, then I turn around and think, “Oh, well maybe he's not speaking to me…” But you know what? He is. Because I am throwing myself into my art.

Art is multifaceted, and I am “whole-assing” my life, in my art.

I think it comes down to finding the common tie between your art, or between your work that you're passionate about, and finding the way to combine all these things, so that feels pulled together. Even if these things might seem so different…

You know, back to Jess Keating, she is a zoologist and an illustrator. So she incorporates her knowledge, and her scientific curiosity into drawing and writing these amazing factual books for children, so that they can be excited and passionate about learning about animals. And she loves to write about the weird funky animals that you don't really study in school. It’s not all koalas and panda bears, it’s like blobfish and axolotls, and she writes some really fun, cool stories, very engaging, because it’s stuff that she’s clearly passionate about.

So for me, I'm passionate about painting, and creating art, and creating stuff that’s colorful and vibrant and interesting. So, I’m finding ways to create art that people will enjoy, whether it’s painted jewelry, or art, or drawing coloring pages that will inspire others to explore their own creativity.

And it feels like I do a lot of things when I'm making art, but I mean, I'm an artist! Right there is a big, big umbrella over my head, and there's a lot of things under the umbrella, but it's all under the umbrella that is me.

So, I'm never going to feel like I'm doing it wrong, because to me, what I'm doing, all the different things that I'm doing, are true to who I am and the things that I love. And that is what it is to be multipassionate. And being multipassionate just means, we get to do more! We get to explore more, and we're open to trying new different things.

There are a lot of people in the world who are multipassionate, and will never feel happy or settled or satisfied just doing one thing. And that’s ok. Don’t ignore all those things. So don't push them aside. Don't suppress all the weird, fun, colorful different things that you love, because those are the weird, fun, colorful things that make you who you are.

All right, we don't need more grey in the world.

We need more rainbow.

Some people live in the gray and they're happy in the gray with their things. And that's perfectly fine but there are those of us who need a broader spectrum. We need more color. We need inspiration.

So, I want to know if you are a multipassionate person. I want to know what it is that lights you up. I want to know all the different colorful things that you love.

Hop over to Instagram. Come find me at creativehappylifepodcast, and let me know in the comments or shoot me a DM, and tell me all the things you love. Tell me all the multipassionate things in your life, because I want to know what amazing things you are creating. I want to know what amazing things you were dreaming up. I want to know the amazing things you're curious about. I want to know the things that you are bringing, creating into this world, into this universe, to make it a more beautiful colorful place.

I want to know all the odd things that you are bringing together under the umbrella that is you. Because there is no one else like you!

Think of your top 5 things that you’re interested in. Or maybe the 5 odd things that you’re interested in that you pull into your work.

For me, I love the ocean, flowers, vibrant colors. But I’m not going to try to paint some detailed, fine art seascape. My style is very whimsical and energetic and textured, and a little crazy looking! That’s what I like! And I like taking that style and painting it on jewelry. Because jewelry is fun! It’s fun to get dressed up and pick out some shiny things in the morning, even though we’re all wearing sweatpants.

We find ways to pull together the things that we love. At the end of the day, I think a lot of us are trying to do things that are interesting and bring us joy, and those things look different to everyone. It might be creating portraits of our favorite TV characters. It might be coloring. It might be crocheting Bernie Sanders on a folding chair wearing mittens.

We all have our weird, odd interests, and that’s a good thing! It keeps life interesting! It keeps life colorful. And beautiful. And joyful.

And I think if there’s one thing we could all use, after the year we’ve all had, it’s more joy, and more color, and more happiness and weird funny things on the Internet. You know, the world is weird and absurd and you never know what YOU might be inspiring. You never know WHO you might be inspiring, doing all these different things.

So shine your light! Wave your freak flag around. Embrace all the different things you love, and don’t be afraid to put it out there into the world.

You do not have to do one thing.

You are not a flat white piece of paper.

You are a beautiful, amazing, colorful, creative person. And only you can bring your special flavor of weirdness into the world, that is going to make it a more beautiful place.

Thank you all for listening this week. I hope you have a great week. I hope it doesn't snow too much, it just started snowing outside. We're in that weird week in January where it's just kind of like really gray and cold and blah.

So, let's add some color to this week! Hop over to Instagram. Tell me what you love. Share this episode with your friends if you enjoyed it. Tell me what you're passionate about, and I really do hope that you have a beautiful week. Whatever you’re creating, enjoy it, and take care, my friends.

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Patreon is a platform for creatives to connect with their fans, spend more time creating and doing the work they love, and less time worrying about where their next meal or rent payment will come from. Patreon gives creatives the ability to create freely and give back to their subscribers in a variety of ways, while their fans make a monthly investment in their creative work.

For $5 a month (less than a fancy cup of coffee), you can become an official supporter and Patron of my work! I have a private community where I share behind the scenes, my works in progress, chat with you and offer creative encouragement. I do Q&A videos, and every month, I send you four new printable coloring pages!

If you’ve followed my work over the last several years, you know I am always creating, sharing, and hoping to inspire, through my art, writing, and this podcast.

If my work has connected with you in some way, if you enjoy seeing my art, listening to this podcast, or my writing has inspired you, I hope you’ll consider becoming a member! Memberships renew on the first of each month, and February is coming up next week. I hope to see you in there!

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It would mean so much to me if you’d share this episode with friends, leave a review in the comments, and follow @creativehappylifepodcast on Instagram for bonus content and a glimpse behind the scenes!

Why I'm Loving Block Scheduling :: Creative Happy Life Podcast Episode 12

Hey, there! It’s time for episode 12 of Creative, Happy Life! Huzzah!

As a working artist, working at home with two young kids during the pandemic, join me to hear more about a method of planning my days that allows me to create boundaries and balance between personal time and work time, flexibility in my day during personal time, and how I'm getting more focused and productive in my work. I came to a realization that my days felt busy, but not much was actually getting done. And the already blurred lines between my personal and professional life had become even more blended. It was time to regroup, and rethink, and re-prioritize how I spend my days.

I hope you enjoy this episode! I invite you to subscribe to the podcast, leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts so we can get into the ears of some new listeners this year. I appreciate every bit of support you give, and I’m unbelievably excited for this fresh start in 2021. Let’s do this!

LISTEN TO THE LATEST EPISODE HERE, ON SPOTIFY, Or APPLE PODCASTS:

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Episode 12: Why I’m Loving Block Scheduling

Hey friends! Have you purchased a planner for 2021? Have you explored some new ways of getting organized and scheduling your days? This week I want to share about a new style of schedule I am learning to work with, why it’s a good choice for me, and why you might want to consider giving it a try.

First, I have to talk a little about working from home, having kids at home, and why I ultimately decided to give block scheduling a try. If you’re anything like me, you’ve tried all sorts of planners and organizers, and no matter how hard you try, no matter how busy your day feels, you somehow end up feeling like nothing got done. Can you relate? You have projects to work on, things to get done, and somehow, nothings ever finished. Housework gets pushed off. Or your work-work gets pushed off.

I’ve been working from home for over 5 years now, with varying stages of kids being home, or at school some days, or suddenly home for long stretches. Especially in the last year, we’ve needed to learn to be flexible. Things can change quickly with school, but we’ve gotten pretty good with changing gears by this point in the school year. At least, the kids have.

For me, I have my own schedule to manage, client projects that are long term or short term, plus my own work that needs to be done to grow my art business. If I’m not making art, I’m not making money. It’s as simple as that!

I realized that a lot of days were going by quickly, and I’d chip away here or there at the work, but it was actually taking a long time to complete. Or it was never getting finished. Or started. I made lists, and I made lists for my lists. But I also wanted to make sure I was getting dishes and laundry done, meal planning, spending time with the kids…It would be time to make supper and I’d feel obligated to keep working because I didn’t feel like I did enough, I was unfocused and stressed. And the to do list just kept growing.

I remembered back to high school and the block schedule we used to follow. Instead of cramming every subject into every day, we’d have 4 classes that would last 85 minutes each, allowing time to really dig into the work and get a lot done.

Why not give that a try for my own daily schedule?

So two weeks ago, I created a block schedule template for myself, and I am working on making it work. Am I an expert and fully immersed in it? No, but I will tell you why I like it and think it will be good for me to stick with moving forward.

The way block scheduling works is, you give yourself longer blocks of time to hyper focus on one task or project. Whatever you assign to that block of time, is all you do.

So before, I would sit to check my email and social media, and then I’d remember I need to throw in a load of laundry, and then I’d see the playroom was a mess and would tidy up for a few minutes. Then, I’d sit to do some work but my son would need a snack and I’d see another project I needed to attend to. A text would pop up and I’d spend time responding, and before I knew it, it would be lunchtime and nothing would get done. But I’d look forward to my son’s nap, because then I’d have 2 hours to myself, to get work done!

Would I get work done, though? Sometimes. But usually, I’d remember to change the laundry over, place a grocery pickup order, spend some time bouncing between painting or writing or podcast editing or website updates, and then it would be time to wake up Roo, go pick up Lily, run a few errands, and come home to make dinner.

Are you noticing a trend? Yes, I am easily distracted and unfocuised. And I know I can’t be the only one trying to find a way to work more efficiently and focused while at home with kids. It’s not easy. But I think the solution for me, and maybe someone else out there, might be to do less.

By doing less each day, we can ensure that more actually gets done. And here’s how…

A block schedule allows me the flexibility to look at my days or week ahead, prioritize what needs to get done, and spend focused time working on that thing. When the time block is up, I move on to the next block of time.

So for instance, I typically break up my days into two morning blocks, and two or three afternoon/evening blocks, generally assigning the following to them:

• 8-10am is personal time. I get Lily ready for school, drop her off, Roo and I do a grocery pickup or other errands, and then we come home and do some home preschooling. If we aren’t doing preschooling, sometimes I do a 30 minute workout. Sometimes we go to a playground. This block of time is flexible and gives us time to get the day started.

• 10-12pm is for me to work. Roo gets to play independently, or watch a show, while I work on whatever I’ve assigned to this block.

• 12-1pm is for lunch, and maybe doing 1 or 2 household tasks, like laundry or dishes. When lunch is over, it’s naptime for Roo.

• 1-3pm is my other main working block. I try to assign things to this block that are easier to do without any distraction, like if I need to do a Zoom meeting, record a podcast episode, or work on painting.

• 3-4pm is a personal hour where I wake up Roo, we pick up Lily from school, and we run any other errands we may need to do before coming home.

• 4-5:30pm is playtime for the kids, work time for me. I reserve this block for wrapping up whatever I was working on earlier, or doing something like social media planning or writing. Then we spend 30 minutes cleaning up, and winding down for the day.

• 6-9pm is family time. We make and eat dinner, clean up, baths, reading and bedtime. It’s not really scheduled, but evenings are generally the same across the board.

So how is it possible to get stuff done when it seems like I’m only really working for 4 hours a day?

In short, by cutting out distractions, and staying laser focused on the task at hand. I waste so much time on social media. Like, an embarrassing amount of time. I also get lost in emails and thinking about all the things I have to do. So I decided to turn off my phone, or leave it in another room, so I wouldn’t be tempted to mindlessly scroll.

Do I still mindlessly scroll? Yes, yes I do. But much, much less. And the less I do it, the easier it is to recognize in the moment when I am starting to lose myself in the Instagram feed or a comments section. The more I say no to social media, the more I can say yes to my art and my family.

The part about focusing is still a struggle for me, and I have honestly wondered if I need to see someone about it. But for now, I am doing my best to devote these two hour blocks of time to what really needs to get done. And if I need to go to the bathroom or get more coffee or water, I use that as an opportunity to stretch my legs, but anything else has to wait for another block of time. The dishes can wait. The laundry will still be there.

There will of course be times when I assign a task to a time block, complete it, and still have 30, 60 or 90 minutes left. In those cases, I think about what I can complete in that time. It might be writing my weekly email newsletter, replying to an email, or working on new Etsy listings.

Another thing that helps is prioritizing work that moves my business forward. After a year of spending so much time worrying about growing my social channels and interacting in Facebook business groups, I realized those were all times I could be making new art, sharing my newly made art, and working on sales.

Simply talking about business isn’t going to grow my business. I had to spend some time really thinking about what my goals are and how I’d get there. And when I took a good hard look at 2020, being home every day, my work and personal life blended to a point of really losing myself. I lost focus. I made myself available to anyone at any hour because I was home. I literally told people (frequently) to call me anytime, I’m home. Text me whenever, I’m home. We can do a playdate anytime, we’re around and not doing anything. I minimized my own productivity and the worth of my time. And there are layers and layers that could be dissected here, but the long and short of it is that I needed to come to this realization and recreate my own boundaries, for myself, my work, my family and relationships. I had to start looking at my days as work days, as I would if I were in an office or other work environment.

As a self employed person, if nothing’s getting done, that’s on me. I can control what I let in and out of my days, from social media to texts and emails and calls, by controlling when I let them into my day.

And if you’re wondering, well, why not just break down the day and assign things to an hourly schedule?

That definitely works for many people, I’m sure. The nature of what I do, and needing flexibility with the kids, means simplifying my schedule as much as possible. I’ve tried saying I’ll do laundry at 8:50, 1:20 and 6:05 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, so far as assigning different laundry baskets to different days. I’ve scheduled myself solid by the hour or half hour. I’ve watched myself fall behind daily and wallow in feelings of failure because I was distracted, procrastinating, trying to do it all, but all was simply too much. Oh, and nothing ever got done.

Block scheduling allows you to be flexible with your time, which is what I realized we needed with all our different daily schedules. Some days I work for an hour. Some days I work more like 8 hours, including after the kids go to bed (although, I really try not to do that anymore, because boundaries). I know that I can try to schedule a couple blocks on Sundays when Sean is working, so I have more flexibility on Fridays when Sean is also home. I don’t schedule exercise, because that’s one of those things that I might do at 9am, 12pm or 4:30, depending on the day and how I’m feeling.

When quarantine life started, I thought having a fully scheduled day would be how we keep a sense of normalcy in this crazy world. But like wearing masks and carrying sanitizer everywhere and all the things we’ve adjusted to over the last 11 months, scheduling is one of those things that there’s no easy answer for. It’s a matter of looking at what works for you and your family, and giving it a try with a little flexibility and a lot of grace.

So if you’re thinking about trying block scheduling, here’s what I recommend. Look at a typical day, and think about where those 1.5 to 2 hour chunks of time naturally occur. For me, my days are pretty well segmented around the school day. You might have a 2 hour block from 6-8am doing a workout, showering, getting dressed and having breakfast. I don’t track that myself. You might leave your mornings open for personal time and choose to break up 12-8pm into four 2-hour blocks for working.

Once you determine you time blocks, start assigning your work or tasks to your blocks. I fill mine out in pencil so I can easily make changes as needed. I created a printable that I use for this, which you can grab in my Etsy shop. Or, you can create your own using a spreadsheet, if that’s your jam!

Keep in mind that each block is ideally given one assignment, or subject, to focus on. For me, I might assign something general, like “work on podcast”, or I might decide to be more specific and say “Work on podcast edit”, and will focus on that from start to finish. Not graphics, not writing a transcript or popping into the Creative Happy Life on Instagram. Just getting the episode edited and done.

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