How do you juggle it all, stay focused and still make space for creative energy?

Most of us have diverse aspects of our daily lives which can lead to distraction and  fragmented thinking.  Whether it’s the need to juggle family, business and household or working on several related projects simultaneously, multi-tasking often breeds mediocrity.

Because I have a couple of different businesses, I am frequently bouncing between websites and blog posts and twitter accounts. Part of the challenge is the constant generation of ideas whirling in my brain faster than I can get them all down. So, I switch over to another page or file and record the thought. I get things accomplished but I know I could do better if I focused on one task at a time.

Every year I pick a word and for 2012, my word is FOCUS. I’ve not decided exactly how I will apply this to my work day but I have a few ideas. I may choose to work strictly on one business on certain days. If I am doing a project for Inspired Livelihood and something comes up for Craft Biz Blog, I’ll possibly just pretend that Craft Biz Coach is out of the office today and she will get back with you tomorrow. I’ll keep my Inspired Livelihood hat on all day. And then how do I handle areas of overlap in my businesses? Maybe I’ll divide my day spending morning on one biz and afternoon on the other.

As an artist, you may work on crafts that require diverse processes. Do you design Monday, fabricate Tuesday, solder Wednesday, market Thursday and pack and ship Friday? Do you throw pots in the morning, glaze others in the afternoon while others are firing? What happens when you get a burst of creative energy on a day that’s designated a marketing day? How do you organize your tasks so that you maintain sharp focus while continuing to be open to flow of inspiration?

My friend Barbara Winter has some great tips on 3 Ways to Sharpen your Focus HERE

Crafting for a cause; your art can make a difference

For decades superstar entertainers have done benefit concerts to raise funds for causes they believed in.  I will always remember the 1971 Concert For Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden organized by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar for the relief of refugees from East Pakistan during the 1971 Bangladesh atrocities and Bangladesh Liberation War.  The event drew 40,000 people and was the first benefit concert of this magnitude in world history.  It featured Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Billy Preston, Leon Russell, Badfinger, and Ringo Starr.
The popular summer music festival, Bonnaroo donated $50,000 to Music City flood relief efforts and of course Nashville’s elite songwriters made enormous donations to the flood victims but you don’t have to be a rock-star or billionaire to make a difference.
I’ve heard from artists and crafters who feel called to make a contribution to aid recent disaster victims but think they must have name recognition like sea-life artist and environmental educator Wyland to be taken seriously.  Not so.
Local musicians and indi crafters at the Chattanooga Market are sending proceeds from their art to Nashville flood aid and you can make a difference with your craft too.  While the magnitude of these issues may feel overwhelming, every little bit helps.
Craft Hope for Haiti has an Etsy store where artist donate the profits to Doctor’s without Borders. Crafting a Green World and Etsy list artists and groups who are using their craft to raise funds for Earthquake victims.

Needleworkers and fiber artists making wash cloths for wiping the fragile birds and sea turtles in the gulf.  Yarn shops are donating wool to clean up the oil.
And if you think any effort you make is too small to make a difference, consider eleven year old Olivia Bouler of New York who has raised $70,000 from donations for her bird drawings for the audubon society to help birds in the gulf oil spill. She said, “I want to help, and I want to make a difference and show that the birds are important, and we need to preserve them.” Olivia’s mother, a teacher, says her daughter has proved what she’s always told students: “you can make a difference, and I pretty much believed it,” she says. “But now I know it is truly possible.”
What can you do with your art, your music or other talent that can make a difference?
As always, you are invited to share here. We’d all love to know how you are using your gifts to benefit the world.