Juggling Systems and Projects

Systems vs Projects

It’s January – so that means the topic for the month in the MakeBigArt Community is related to getting things done.

This year the specific topic is Systems vs Projects.

These are two classes I used to teach live but are now only available as self paced courses (for members of the MakeBigArt Community Plus)

I see these two things as very different.

Systems are things you do over and over again – the same way each time. They can essentially be boiled down into a checklist.

Projects are about growth. They are new things you haven’t done before.

You don’t yet have a checklist or routine for how you do this thing. Although very likely to become systems if the thing you have done adds value.

How Can We Do Both?

Our topic boils down to a question I frequently ask myself…

How can I both maintain my business and at the same time grow it?

The list of maintenance tasks is nearly never ending. From blogging, to looking for new opportunities, to making art, to social media, to updating inventories, etc, etc.

You can very easily get stuck doing just these things over and over again.

All Systems All the Time

And indeed an artists career is a lot of repetition.

Sure – the content of our social media posts are different – but it’s same things over and over – think of something worth posting, find an image, writing something witty, post.

Same thing for making art – think of something to make, make it. And then all the work of documenting it.

Within the structure of a system is much creativity. And that is the beauty of systems – we note down all the mundane repetitive things so we don’t have to fill our head with remembering all the steps for posting something online. Instead we get to use our energy for all of the creative things.

So even if all we do is maintenance work – there can be a lot of creativity.

And possibly there in lies the problem. We are being creative within all of that repetition – so clearly all is fine.

But if all we do is enter the exact same juried shows over and over again – is that really growth of our career?

Getting to Growth

Sure we might stumble into some growth opportunities as we are doing all our repetitive work.

But what if we were super intentional about growth? What if we had a few specific big bold aspirational projects that we worked on each year?

Unlike systems – figuring out how to move these projects forward isn’t’ as easy as following a checklist – because we haven’t yet done it. We are building the checklist as we go.

And that is really hard work.

And it can be so much easier to just post our new work on facebook and go back and make another one and figure we just aren’t meant for sales or solo shows.

Or we can be intentional.

The Planning System

Which brings us back to the question – how do we remember / make the time to do both systems and projects?

I think this question boils down to having a really brilliant planning system that helps you bring both of these things to the forefront so each time you are making a to do list – you make sure both are getting done.

My solution to this problem involves using templates for my to-do lists that include my maintenance tasks while also taking a look at my aspirational projects.

I have to admit – I haven’t done the best at this – and it is still something I am working at to perfect. Or at least get to 50%.

The appearance of this blog post is an indication that I am doing a better job.

You Don’t Have to Do it Alone

I created the MakeBigArt Incubator and Mastermind for artists at that point in their career where they didn’t want to take more classes to learn something but they wanted the support of a group of artists as they did their own work.

We are entering our forth year in the group and we have a few openings this year.

It is 10 month a coaching / mastermind style program. Meaning in addition to the group mastermind – members also have individual coaching calls.

This year I changed the enrollment process to include an application.

Why? Because if you aren’t willing to fill out an application with a few questions that require a bit of review and reflection – then you aren’t likely to want to participate in a group.

So basically the act of filling out the application and sending it in is all that is needed to join. This ensures we are a group of actively motivated artists doing the work.

You can learn more about the group and join us here: MakeBigArt Incubator and Mastermind for Artists

If you have any questions about the group please send me an email

PS – I’m also enrolling for a session of Working in a Series for artists a bit earlier in their careers. Working in a Series is essentially a series for your studio – the structure offered results in an incredible amount of freedom and creativity. It’s a magical process.