4 Simple Time Management Tips For Artists

The Art Of Mastering Your Time: 4 Beginner Time Management Tips For Artists 

As an artist, you envisioned that most of your time would be spent in your studio, creating beautiful, original masterpieces, right? 

You were prepared to work long hours, for your fingers to seize up and cramp at least 6 times a day, and for all of your money to go on outrageously priced supplies. 

After all, that’s pretty much a part of the job description. 

But what you weren’t prepared for was to spend 99% of your time trying to keep up with your seemingly never-ending to-do list!

Whether you’re a beginner who only made a few scribbles on a piece of paper, an art enthusiast dipping her/his toes into the art industry and completing paid projects every now and again, or a professional artist who makes a full-time income from your work…

You have a long list of things to think about, including:

• Figuring out what to create and how to improve
• Keeping your studio stocked, systemized and spotless
• Keeping on top of your social media schedule
• Responding to chat messages, comments or client enquiries
• Marketing yourself and discovering your preferred style and niche 

It is no wonder if you feel as though you barely get around to actually doing any art. 

First things first, you are not alone. 

There are over 1.4 million artists in the world all going through the exact same thing, so there’s no need to panic. 

But what you do need to do is discover how to master the art of your own time, so that you can get more done, make more money, and feel more accomplished at the end of each working day. 

Starting with tip #1…

#1. Create A Proper To-do List For Your Future Self

Whether you’re a sculptor, painter, writer, photographer, singer or graphic designer, creating a to-do list for your future self is the first step in mastering the art of your time. 

Not to mention, there’s nothing more satisfying than getting to tick things off of your to-do list!

So, before you go packing all of your art supplies up at the end of the day and jetting off home into the sunset, ask yourself these questions: 

• What do I need to accomplish tomorrow?
• What do I want to accomplish tomorrow?
• How much time am I realistically going to need to spend on each of these tasks?

Then, write, type or draw out your to-do list from there.

Prioritize your tasks from most to least important and be realistic with your timings, that way, you’re far more likely to get everything done and feel accomplished at the end of the day.  

Don’t include too many tasks and avoid being too rigid and forcing yourself to complete all tasks. Your priorities can change and your to-do list should follow accordingly.

Writing your to-do list the night before is the most effective way to bypass morning stress, overcome procrastination and hit the ground running as soon as you are ready to start your workday.

Personally, I also find that it helps me to “fully switch off” in the evenings, as I am not constantly thinking about what I need to do the next day! 

Pro tip:

#2. Track Your Time

Now that all of your goals and priorities are set, it’s time to take a look at how you’re spending your time, and if you’re spending it wisely.

You can do this with “time tracking”. 

Tracking your time is one of the most effective forms of time management and effectively, does what it says on the tin: Tracks how much time you spend on each task. 

Why is it important, you ask? 

Because it will instantly enable you to: 

1. Measure & Improve Your Efficiency 

Do you know how long it takes you to complete a project? 

If your answer was “hmm, I’m not sure”, it’s time to start tracking your time! 

Becoming more familiar with how long you typically spend on each task will not only allow you to plan out your days more efficiently, and limit how long you allow distractions to take over your time, but it will also give you an idea of how much you should be charging for your work per hour. 

2. Hold Yourself Accountable

Look, we’ve all been there, you sit down with the intention of smashing out your entire to-do list in one sitting, but then you get side-tracked. 

You start scrolling. 

And then you start clicking. 

And before you know it, it’s 6 PM and you’ve spent the whole day scrolling through YouTube videos when really, you should have been focusing on productive work.

Tracking your time will encourage you to stay on track and complete the task at hand. Because let’s face it, come to the end of the week, you don’t want to see: 

“Social media – 10 hours” 

“Actual work – 2 hours”

3. Pinpoint Areas Of Improvement 

At the end of the week, you can then analyze what is taking up too much of your time, where your time is being wasted, where you perhaps need to be spending more time, and how you can improve moving forward. 

Not sure where to start? 

There are many free tools that you can use to track how much time you’re spending on each project, popular choices include Clockify and Jibble. 

#3. Focus On One Thing At A Time 

So, you’ve tracked your time, and perhaps you’ve noticed that you’re what we call a professional “task hopper”. 

That’s because our brains love to work “little and often”. 

Start one project, take a social media break. Respond to a couple of emails, check Facebook notifications. Do half a drawing, watch a tv-show.

Why do we do this? 

Who the heck knows, but what I can tell you is: working this way is the definition of being unproductive. 

Going back to tip number 1, which was writing a to-do list, it’s important to prioritize what you need to get done at any given time and commit solely to this task.

Do not, I repeat, do not give into task hopping temptation. 

I know, it’s easier said than done. 

And besides, sporadically responding to a couple of emails throughout the day can seem like the productive thing to do, right?

Wrong. 

This is just your brain’s way of trying to secure small wins that make you feel as though you’ve achieved more than you actually have. 

So, don’t try and juggle everything all at once. 

Simply set yourself a single task and focus all of your energy and creativity on getting it done to a high standard. 

#4. Identify Your Biggest Time Wasters & Cut Ties With Distractions

Last but by no means least, it’s time to cut ties with distractions. 

It’s no secret that the digital-savvy tech-riddled world that we live in has blurred the line between professional and personal communication. 

Our work emails, Facebook notifications, Instagram likes, chat messages, are all linked to the exact same devices.

This is a to-do list derailing, focus stealing, and time-sucking disaster!

So, when you think about it, it’s no wonder we’re often side-tracked and forget all about what we were actually meant to be doing! 

The hard truth is, the art of mastering your time comes down to being disciplined

This includes being disciplined enough to complete the tough tasks that are important before you start doing something else. It also includes identifying the less important stuff that you are spending an unproportionate amount of time doing, and then doing less of that.

It most surely also includes being disciplined enough to turn off your Facebook, Instagram, email notifications etc. during working hours, and only using your devices for work-related tasks.

I know, this can be a very tough pill to swallow…

So, here’s what I recommend: 

• Stop the task-hopping and focus on one thing at a time. There is no such thing as productive multitasking!
• Close down unneeded tabs on your laptop or PC
• Put your phone on silent, or better still, put in in the draw
• Schedule times throughout the day to check your emails and notifications (the fewer the better)

That way, you’ll have complete control of how you manage and spend your time, and you’ll be able to get more done, feel more accomplished, and even make more money at the end of each working day!

I am by no means a productive powerhouse myself, and it often takes me a long time to get started on a task/project that I have planned for. E.g. it took me several weeks before I managed to start writing this article.

However, I have seen drastic and positive changes to my productivity after implementing and practicing the tips mentioned here. I am able to work on my art/drawing blog: Drawingbyte.com while having a very busy full-time job, and at the same time enjoy all the fun things in life. 

I am very interested in hearing what you do as an artist to manage your time more efficiently?

So please share in the comments below!

What are your top time management tips for artists?