Jan 25
2009

This week has been very productive, which, for me, means multitasking at its best! Perhaps it is the business calls while commuting to meetings, or the dieting while teaching, or even the blogging while catching up on emails… Any way you slice it, I can’t get everything done without doing lots of things simultaneously. I think some must consider that an art.

Contrary to popular belief, I don’t relish doing so many things at once. Being good at something does NOT immediately signify joy in doing it. This week I bought the paint needed to renovate the new Jewelry Studio, finished course grades for my “day job”, began a new nutritional program (aka diet), got a rudimentary plan together for a cancer benefit, and redid some contracts for my business. These things are in addition to the meetings, communicating with friends and family, etc.

I will call my big artistic aspiration accomplishment this week my nutritional plan. I am learning that taking care of yourself is important if you want to get anything else done (plus it helps that my little sis made her wedding date and now I have a matter of months to prepare for torturous dress photos). I am doing another cleanse diet ( I am an Isagenix rep now.) http://alysiaasp.isagenix.com
I have lost 10 lbs. and am still going. I have come to terms with the fact that my body chemistry is not ideal or normal (doctor proven) so I must do things differently to reach my goals. I guess there is no reason why my body would be anything different than the rest of my life – necessarily different to deal with. Such is life. I am still going with it. Artists need to have a unique perspective in order to get people to see things uniquely.

Advice: Multitask whenever you can as long as it doesn’t decrease the quality of what you are doing, nor bother others.

Moral: In life, many things happen simultaneously, so, to be in harmony with life, we must deal with and do things simultaneously.

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Jan 19
2009

ARTistic ASPirations logo

ARTistic ASPirations logo


It is week 3 of the new year. With my list done in week two, I set out to do a little more planning. I achieved my aspiration yesterday, but football games pursuaded me to wait until today to post this. Not to worry though. It won’t happen again for a while since my team lost. :(

ARTistic ASPiration achieved : I went ahead and made a budget for the next big renovation on my art studio- the big one- the jewelry studio.

In the next months I will be transforming the 800+ square foot basement into a studio for metalsmithing, metal clay, and glass. I should be able to get my torch (maybe even two!) Anyone who has seen my resume online from my website knows that this seems a nearly impossible feat given my already jam packed schedule. But last year I managed to get the garage transformed into a drawing and painting studio in less than five months working a full time job 45 minutes away and running the business. So I am thinking this is possible. I have been sleeping way too much anyway.

On another note….it seems that my next aspirations are aligning themselves. I will be leading an effort to create a stronger arts education and advocacy piece on the internet. I have tried for a long time to avoid further commitment in the hopes that I might preserve what little sanity I currently maintain, but now I am quite certain that things happen for a reason so I give up. I am going with the flow. If I fail at all this, then I doubt so many opportunities will be flung my way and peace will ensue. If I succeed at all this, then it is a sign that I need to trust that phrase I have been so scared of all my life = “It will all work out somehow”.

ADVICE – Renovations are best done when you have sketched out what you want. But be ready for unexpected things to pop up that need to be a part of the overhaul.

MORAL – If you constantly find yourself fighting the flow, the fatigue will eventually overcome the reward, so it’s best to consider going with it. Things flow a certain way for a reason – even if you can’t see the final destination.

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Jan 11
2009

The first artististic aspiration (just in case you were wondering) was to set up a blog. Week 1 = mission accomplished. So, although it would be easy to try to include this week with that celebration, I know I would feel like I was cheating myself. So here we go with week 2…

I had a hard time this week figuring out which aspiration to tackle next. I could go into detail about how it was the first week back, I was feeling sick, crazy things were happening, but I find these reasons/excuses happen every week. If I accept that I don’t have to finish a task because life is too crazy, I doubt I will ever get anything done again. There is no rest for the driven…

…so with today being my first real chance to get anything done, I sat down to try to redesign some of my website. I soon found there was too much there and one thing led to another until I realized that I was taking on too much for this week. I got overwhelmed.

THEN IT HIT ME… I have no general game plan beyond 52 goals in 52 weeks. That just makes no sense. So I did something I have always wanted to do. I created a digital-to-do list. Now, once you put your sympathy/laughter for me aside, you will see that this can be a practical thing. So here is my take on lists:

1- they can help you to get all of the recurring to-do thoughts onto paper, so hopefully you can stop obsessing over them with the notion you might forget something.
2 – they can help you to organize your thoughts (I blame my teachers who thoroughly beat the idea of outlines into my head. Btw – thank you.)
3- they can act as a springboard for new solutions and ideas.

My list is an excel spreadsheet. The column headings are :
Task – What I want to do
Subtasks – Steps and things I need to do to achieve it
Category – (Website, School, Personal, Marketing, Family, etc.)
Prerequs – Some other task that might be first
Importance (1-10) – Higher number = higher importance
Task Size (1-10) – Higher number = harder to do
Happy ratio – This is the importance minus the task size. Important easy things will end up with a high positive number (perfect for busy, down weeks.)
Date Completed – You should always celebrate what you have achieved to help you do more.

So my digitodo is my second aspiration realized. I can sort it however I want, and now I have some clear things I can see to achieve. I should have no problem this year, as I have managed to type in 96 tasks so far in less than 2 hours.

ADVICE – Make a huge, unorganized to do list on a giant sheet of paper then type it up in a table of some sort.

MORAL – You can’t move forward unless you choose a general direction to move in.

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Dec 31
2008

Welcome to this blog!
I am writing this as a way to keep myself moving forward to achieving my dreams, while hopefully inspiring others. I am an overachiever. There. I’ve said it. That’s the first step, but I find that my life is not where it needs to be despite all the hard work I do every day. Perhaps you have had the same experience. So, I have decided this blog will outline a very large goal to reach the smaller ones (celebrating my small steps along the way). I will be attempting to complete a goal to better my life every week for an entire year (52 weeks). The best way to start any venture is to get the basics layed out. So here they are:

Who: Alysia L. Asp – artist, art educator, and owner of artistic aspirations & A2 Art Studio
What: Blog of the ups and downs of trying to achieve dreams
Where: www.a2artstudio.com
When: The Year 2009
How: Weekly (at least) postings about goals, achievements, failings, and the journey that provides
Why: To inspire others to reach their dreams while achieving mine. I think anyone can achieve anything they believe. Most of us, however, need a game plan to really believe we can do it.

I truly hope we can all fulfill the dreams we imagine. May you enjoy your ARTistic ASPirations!
Creatively,
Alysia L. Asp
Artist & Art Educator

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