Gap Analysis in Production Time

On average, I produce one or two hours a day weekdays and 5 hours on weekends.

To create a fantastically successful extraordinary art career, I need to produce at a minimum four to six hours a day five days a week.

As I look at this gap in production time, I am struck to the core by how big that gap really is. I am off by at least two or three hours every day. Ohhh - this is tricky. I work full time for an accountant. So... what to do? What to do. What do I do about this production time gap?

After deep consideration with some trial and error, here is my solution.

• Work earlier for the accountant (I am talking 6am to 2pm rather than 8am to 4pm)
• Get off earlier in the afternoon
• Go directly to the studio and produce, produce, produce.
  
• Produce for four hours straight and be done for the day between 6:00 to 6:30pm.

This will work. I can do this. I can think of it like training camp really. Discipline is key. Tweaking some current lifestyle choices also will help this strategy to work.

• Each weekend, plan, shop and prepare food for the weekday meals.
• On weekdays, get up early
  
• Go to bed early so I can get up early
• Drink herbal tea on weekday evenings rather than a glass of wine (as much as I love a glass of wine in the evening, wine makes it easier to sleep in in the morning so save the wine for the weekends!)
  
• Say no to weekday things that take time away from production time
• Save the weekends for all the fun stuff. Really take time off and do fun things: gardening, cooking, writing, movies, time with my sweetheart and friends ...
  

All of these elements are critical to my success. There is just no way around it really. Top priority is to shift away from "fitting creativity in-between".

Top Priority:
Produce extraordinary work between 2:15pm and 6:15pm every day of the week.

Keep my production time top priority by tying my time to my finances. Starting today, convert my production time into dollars. From this point forward, I keep track of my time on whatever project I am working on: painting, wirting, film, children book illustration. Each hour that I work on a project I value at $75 per hour.

I keep track of and value each production hour at $75 per hour.

Think of it like a counselor or an accountant. They don't charge you for every hour they do their own bookkeeping or their own marketing but they do charge you for every hour they work with you or on your taxes.