Multiple Projects and a Way to Make Progress.

Being a multidisciplinary artist can be overwhelming when you have several creative projects on the go at the same time. With multiple projects, how do you make progress?

The thing is you can only work on one at a time in the moment, being only one person. If you have a team then you'll be able to get more done, obviously. For my own work, it's basically just me as a solo act for the most part. I have two psychedelic soundscape album projects on the go, as well as two singer-songwriter albums I’m working on. Added to those, there are two major video projects. Alongside those I’m trying to fit in some time to paint and create abstract art.

Those are just the creative projects. I also need to create online content and do marketing tasks like maintain my websites, email, write blogs, and make YouTube videos every week. And that doesn't take into account all the shopping, housework and preparing meals, walking and exercise, time out to think, and visiting friends and family.

The way to do all this is to focus on only one project in any one day, maybe two at most. That way it’s possible to get a good amount done in the week. I’ve found it’s important to decide on which key projects to focus on first and bring those forward to completion before spending any significant time on the others.

Goal setting and planning help organise my thinking and reduce the mental clutter, along with meditation and headspace to do some big-picture thinking. That way I can get clear at what I’m aiming at. Without a clear target I might be blown around by the wind and subject to the vast world of distractions that lead nowhere.

You wouldn’t go to a train ticket office and ask for ‘a ticket to anywhere, please’ would you. You need a destination in mind.

Remember when Alice met the Cheshire Cat?

Alice: “Would you tell me, please, which way I should go from here?”

Cheshire Cat: “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”

Alice: “I don’t much care where…”

Cheshire Cat: “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”

Alice: “…so long as I get somewhere.”

Cheshire Cat: “Oh, you’re sure to do that, if only you walk long enough.”

(from Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll)

Let’s not be like Alice.

I think it’s best that we know where we want to get to and just walk in that direction consistently, one step at a time and keep going.