**The Four Hats I Wear** **I began by thinking about all the projects and tasks I do related to my art. I narrowed them down and grouped them up into something I could easily visualize: the different hats I wear as an artist! After considering all that I do, I came up with four hats:** **Admin** - **I wear this hat:** When tackling business-related tasks. - **Tasks include:** Updating Sketchbook to Style, fine-tuning Studiomates, improving customer/student onboarding, updating other products, overhauling project systems, implementing new marketing initiatives, etc. **Ideation** - **I wear this hat:** When beginning a new book project and deciding the overall feel of the book. - **Tasks include:** Getting the spark of a new idea for a book, deciding which spark to follow, reading similar books as inspiration, researching the topic, sketching ideas, exploring the tone of the book, writing the manuscript, storyboarding the book, character development, deciding what medium/style the book will be in, etc. **Production** - **I wear this hat:** When creating the bulk of a book. - **Tasks include:** Finalizing tight sketches, editing the manuscript, calculating print specs, creating all the final artwork, laying out the typography, designing the cover, writing back cover copy, etc. **Play** - **I wear this hat:** When I wander around and experiment aimlessly! - **Tasks include:** Drawing in my sketchbook, learning a new creative skill, exploring strange ideas, reading inspiring books, taking a sabbatical from work, etc. **Fitting The Hats Together** **After I settled on my four creative hats, it was time to see how they might fit together, as seen above. I considered which hats I wear the most (ideation and production) and what order the hats need to be worn in. For example, Ideation and Production take the most creative energy for me, so I know I need a Play break after those two stages or I’ll burnout.** **As I was organizing the hats, I also considered how they fit into our 12-month calendar year. I already had the hats in the ideal order and approximate lengths, so all I had to do was assign each hat 2-3 months to fill out a year. Then I looked at how my new personal creative calendar aligned with our four calendar seasons, and added those to the diagram too, below:** **Noooow do you see the problem? There are THREE big heads in a row! And actually, there are two issues here:** 1. **I planned Production → Ideation → Production hats all in a row**, with no breaks in between. I can’t sustain that level of creativity and mental energy for that long. I know that. 2. **I planned the Ideation hat during one of my natural low-motivation periods.** (Followed by a Production hat—ha!) 🌱 **Find Your Own Creative Seasons + Make Your Project Plan!** **This process of planning my art projects with the seasons has led me to recognize what my natural flow of creativity is, and how to best organize it in a way that helps me achieve my goals. It’s helped me avoid an all but inevitable burnout and hopefully might help you to the same.** **Try answering the questions below to start exploring your own creative seasons:** 1. What hats do you wear in your career, life, or both? Can you narrow all your projects and tasks into just 3-5 hats? 2. What are your top 2 BIG goals for this year? Only choose 2! 3. Consider how you live and work naturally during the four calendar seasons. How do you work in the Fall? What do you tend to do most in the Summer? 4. Reflect back on previous years—do you tend to hit a low-point (creatively, emotionally, motivationally) at some point each year? When does it typically happen? 5. How can you align your goals with what you’ve learned about how you naturally live through the seasons of each year? How could you map out your ideal year (taking your natural tendencies into account) for 2022? 😊 [**Join the discussion on Might Could Studiomates**](https://might-could-studiomates.mn.co/posts/how-to-plan-your-art-projects-realistically-and-finish-them) **to share your answers and see other artists’ Project Plans!** **Not a Studiomate yet?** [**Join us here!**](https://might-could.com/studiomates/) [How to Plan Your Art Projects Realistically (And Actually Finish Them!) – Might Could Studios](https://might-could.com/essays/how-to-plan-your-art-projects-realistically-and-finish-them/) [[Lateral Thinking]] #Media/Books/productivity