Perform one simple task a day to assist me in becoming more creatively productive and consistent in my studio. All tasks can be followed with a reward to encourage consistency.
It occurred to me that some might think I'm being over-indulgent in laying out why I re-booted my #100DayProject from one of finishing uncompleted studio projects, to a simple, complete one task to jumpstart me to be more creatively productive in my studio.
The Adult suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder learns to be defensive, to cover our tracks for our learning issue. And I've come across many a creative individual that I could swear had no clue that they might have ADD or ADHD. In fact I didn't have a clue, and once I heard the term, my life turned around. I no longer silently blamed myself for not being as smart as everyone else in this universe.
The odd thing about one's inner critic is when I knew more information about something or had an intelligent response I remained silent. Another thing? People I truly respected for their intelligence, never questioned mine, they offered respect back.
DON'T ALLOW YOUR LEARNING DISORDER TO DICTATE YOUR LIFE:
Once I had a handle on why I was so easily distracted, I was able to create a variety of ways to remember things. I also know this, if you are passionate about something, you won't forget, even if you have ADD. This is something teachers, psychologists, and educational pundits haven't figured out yet. I think a lot of creative people might suffer from ADD, as I talk to my artist friends I'm amazed how many did poorly on standardized tests, stared out windows during class, and always seem to misplace their glasses, book, keys etc. We aren't stupid, just distracted. The world is filled with people who can color within the lines, but for those who can't, we're a rarer breed. But, do not use your ADD as a crutch, think of it as something to tend to, but not as an excuse, this brings me to:
DON'T USE ADD AS AN EXCUSE WITH OTHERS:
Have you ever been sweeped into an arguement with someone and mentally blame yourself for not communicating appropriately, even though you know and may even have email proof that you DID inform clearly what the issue was? Since I've trained myself to keep notes, and emails I've learned to have my own back. A year ago someone emailed me that I neglected to do something, I seldom receive emails from this individual. Some of our conversations on a project I helped her on were done over the phone. BE YE NOT SO DUMB AS I, DO NOT use the phone to commit to anything or make changes on a project with out sending a back up email i.e. "As per our phone conversation (put date of phone conversation here) we are moving forward with your consent to_________________." I repeated what we agreed upon in a former phone conversation and her retort was : "I can't keep everything straight with my ADD!". This customer is a tremendously wonderful person in many ways, but I didn't know it was my responsibility to manage her learning disorder on top of all else that I do. I thought it my responsibility was to deliver a project at a very reasonable price which I felt I'd done. ADD is the responsibility of the owner, period. This leads me to:
ALWAYS HAVE YOUR BACK:
At a former job of mine, not mentioning which one, I noticed there were certain co-workers, and superiors who never returned an email. Instead they would answer my question, or affirm my procedure in passing. OR like one obnoxious woman, call at an inopportune time to blather a response.
This is a coy tactic that protects some from taking responsibility for their job. If their answer is wrong, they remain blameless. I worked in a very busy office, one such individual worked in a quiet two-person office; she had the luxury to listen to music as she worked. Once she called me at an extremely busy time, when I requested to call her back when things settled down her reply: "Absolutely not!" She was a bully, but mostly lazy. She also succeeded in getting me written up. Another idiot I worked with had to train me on a program. when I whipped out my notebook to write down instructions she intoned: "PUT THAT A WAY!" YOU DON'T NEED TO WRITE THINGS DOWN!". My response? " I respect that your time is valuable, and I need to write things down so I don't trouble you with questions in the future." What these people don't know, is very few employees in the workplace like them, respect them, and some of us do a grand job of mimmicing them behind their backs. Do these impatient people have ADD? I think not, they suffered from being in love with authority without responsibility.
My name is Suzanne Urban I sell my funny stuff on ETSY here: smirkinggoddess and my art here: SuzanneUrbanArt
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