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Picture this: It's 3 a.m. and I've been awake for two hours. After going to bed at 11:30
thinking about all the things I had to do the next day, I woke up at 1 a.m. to go to the bathroom and
my overactive brain immediately turned to my mental list of things to do. I went back to bed,
of course, but I knew it was hopeless. I finally got up at 3 a.m. and began to empty my brain on paper, something I've been doing for years.
Sometimes after doing this I can go back to sleep; other times, like this particular morning,
I only get myself more excited by what I put on paper and end up losing the whole night. I finally got up at 6 a.m.,
made some coffee and went to work while Harry snored on, oblivious to my restless night. Creative-thinking people often suffer from insomnia caused by an overactive mind that
just won't shut down at night. But professional craftspeople, artists, writers
and other creative people also lose sleep simply because
they work too many hours a week. Theoretically, "normal" people work eight hours a day, have
eight hours of leisure time, and sleep the other eight, but it doesn't work that way in the crafts
community. Here, 60-80-hour work weeks are common. When you add time normally
devoted to family or social activities, it doesn't leave many hours for slumbering. The research I did for my Make It Profitable book
confirmed that professional
artists, craftspeople, designers and writers either
sleep less than the average person, have little or no leisure time, or both. And, awake
or asleep, their creative brains never stop clicking. "It's an entrepreneurial characteristic to think about your business 100 percent of the time,"
confirms business consultant Paul Orman. "Entrepreneurs even dream and think about their
business during non-waking hours and often wake up during the night to jot down a flash of inspiration." I used to worry about not getting enough sleep, but several years ago I decided that worrying
about my inability to sleep was probably more harmful to my system than lack of sleep itself,
so I changed my attitude about sleep. I discovered that if I got up and pretended
I'd had a good night's sleep,
had a hot breakfast and got on with the day, I was able to do a good day's work and sleep like a baby that night. In short, having the right mental attitude
cam make all the difference. If you'd like to know more about how professional crafters, artists and designers
actually live their lives, cope with time and stress problems, and successfully blend business into their
family lives, read chapters 2, 8 and 14 of Make It
Profitable--How to Make Your Art, Craft, Design, Writing or
Publishing Business More Efficient, More Satisfying, and More Profitable. It's always good to know you're not alone, and this book includes
HUNDREDS of great tips from
creative people who have shared their expertise with me so I could pass it on to you in this book.
Read it soon to make YOUR daily craft life more efficient, more satisfying and more profitable! [Back to Crafts
Marketing Success Secrets T/C]
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