Summer Hours for Creative Sanity

A coach colleague of mine practices something she calls ‘summer hours’. For her, this means that she takes Fridays off – no clients, no other work. She does this so she can spend more time with her grandson and savor the life she’s created for herself.

It might not be that easy for all of us to take an extra day off. Our bosses might resent that we are getting a break while everyone else is working!

Layering in pleasure: my summer work ‘office’ at the Denver Botanic Gardens, with fresh vegetable juice.

But there are still ways you can ease off in the summer for the sake of enjoying the treats of the season. I’m going to try my version of summer hours. You can, too, with these three practices:

1) List your activities. Which ones can be put on hold for the next three months? Which priorities could be put on the back burner so you can have a little summer fun?

2) Layer in the pleasure. What would add an extra layer of summer pleasure to your work? Perhaps you make your favorite summer beverage to sip while working. Maybe you take your writing outside to the backyard or a park.

3) Define your fun. What is summer fun for you, anyway? Make a list of at 12 summer pleasures that you will enjoy this year. My list includes:

picnics

beach time

visiting other cities

filling notebooks with memories

watermelon and other fresh fruit

Here are more tips on how to make summer more receptive and free.

In the next issue of Impulses, I’ll share my summer art plans with tips on how to focus on your art, too.

One of the ways I’m practicing summer hours is by taking a blogabbatical. I’m focused on a major renovation project at Original Impulse, and aside from my clients, that’s taking all my work focus. I’ll still be writing about how the creative life in my newsletter, Impulses. Subscribe in the upper right corner to stay in touch with your life as a creative adventure.

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