Habits For Success...Illustrated

Not long ago the popular business coach John Di Lemme broadcast a simple idea that applies to anyone wishing to succeed. It goes like this:

“I am your constant companion. I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden. I will push you onward or drag you down to failure. I am completely at your command. Half the things you do you might just as well turn over to me and I will be able to do them quickly and correctly. I am easily managed-you must merely be firm with me. Show me exactly how you want something done and after a few lessons I will do it automatically. I am the servant of all great men, and, alas, of all failures as well. Those who are great, I have made great. Those who are failures, I have made failures. I am not a machine, though I work with all the precision of a machine plus the intelligence of a man. You may run me for a profit or run me for ruin-it makes no difference to me. Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I will place the world at your feet. Be easy with me and I will destroy you.

Who am I? I am a habit!”

Favourable habits reap favourable results. It seems that simple habits contribute more to success than luck, happenstance, or even a favouring economy. Further, recent studies on the nature of genius indicate that self-generated habits are mighty muscles indeed. While all of us who wish to master specific skills need to tailor our habits accordingly, here are a few for starters:

Squeeze out paint in the morning before your coffee is cold.

Program creative work balanced with rest, exercise and study.

Train yourself to be regular, punctual and workmanlike.

Shoot down your lazy tendencies before they shoot you.

Do whatever it takes to honour your personal perception of quality. This may mean slowing down, speeding up, multitasking, single-tracking, going back to basics, being risky, being cautious, dreaming, concentrating, winging it or even reading the instructions. Apparently, one of the most common bad habits these days is not reading the instructions. This can apply to artists. We need to regularly refresh the habit of truly looking, truly seeing and truly understanding. No big deal. It’s just a habit.

PS: “Our natures are alike; it is our habits that carry us far apart.” (Confucius) “We are what we repeatedly do.” (Aristotle)

John Di Lemme was a 24-year-old stutterer working in his family art gallery who dreamed of becoming a motivational speaker. Over a seven-year period of hardships, challenges and obstacles, John focused on his dream and ultimately built a marketing team of over 25,000 representatives in 10 countries. His idea was simple: with the right habits one could see progression to a higher state. In the words of the great art mentor and teacher Robert Henri, “If a certain activity, such as painting, becomes the habitual mode of expression, it may follow that taking up the painting materials and beginning work with them will act suggestively and so presently evoke a flight into the higher state.” R.Genn.

The above article was reprinted by permission of Robert Genn, a Canadian Artist of international repute who runs an art listing site called The Painters Keys.

The Studio

Here are some of my own personal habits in the studio and with my painting in general

1.I always clean up after I’m finished even if I intend to return to the painting the same day…my brushes are costly so they are rinsed and left to dry..

2.When I have finished a painting, I set up the table for another one in case I get an idea at any time…that way I can start immediately with clean water, etc. and don’t have to rush around getting things ready..

3.I keep note pads everywhere, so I can jot down ideas for paintings any time, anywhere...

4.The studio is generally tidy, but I do have a lot of stuff sitting out in case I may need it in the middle of a painting…e.g. I may be painting a watercolour, but I’ll have pastels and oil sticks on the table in case I suddenly decide to turn it into a mixed media piece…the rest of my supplies are organized in plastic clip cases placed on shelves in storage cupboards…as I have said in earlier posts, I keep a version of an art supply store in my studio space, so I never have to run out to buy something I may suddenly want to use.

5.I keep many visual and written journals, but I almost never have to refer to them when deciding on a new piece..once I’ve put it down in a journal it stays in my head...

6.I have a memo board to note supplies that are getting low, and I grab the sheet when I’m going to the store…needless to say I always come home with more than I planned…an art store, like the hardware store, is a treasure trove to me...

7.The most important habit of all, and that is why my website has the name, is that I PAINT EVERY DAY, every single day, even if it’s for a very short time and even if it’s something really small…in the summer this is curtailed as I have two gardens, but except for those three months, I try to fit some painting in between all my other duties and believe me these are many, onerous, and difficult…when I am not actually painting, I try to read about painters and painting or I visit art galleries…this is not to say that painting takes up all of my time ..it doesn’t…it can’t…but while I am making art, I do it to the hilt…it is the only way to succeed at it...Janis

The Studio

See also my article A Room of Her Own

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