April 30, 2010
It was a week ago today that I spent the day in a procrastination seminar. It cost my wife $185 ("Money well spent," she told me). So, to save you $185, here are the four main things I got out of it:

• Ask yourself this question: What do I need to stop doing and start doing in order to succeed? (I told this to a photographer I know and he said, "Well, I guess I need to stop looking at porn and actually start doing something.")

• For ten minutes every day do something you need to start doing but don't want to do. (for me it was forcing myself to draw narrative—boxes and word balloons before I check email in the morning).

• Start where you are: prioritizing is a skill that can be learned (the most important thing I learned is to try and delineate between what to pay attention to and what to ignore, or avoid).

• Task initiation: the ability to begin a task without undue procrastination (thanks to this prod I actually bailed into the Digging Up Billy cover sketches, something I have been putting off for a long time).

I have a ritual in the morning: I eat half a banana and drink a half cup of coffee, go out to the kitchen and put in four slices of toast (two for me, two for Kath), then go out to the end of the driveway and bring back the newspaper (I hate when it's late!), come back, butter the toast (with that non-butter stuff), read the paper, make notes in daytimer, take heart pills, feed the chickens, go for a brisk walk with Peaches, come back and check email.

Of course, by the time I do all of this, it's time to go into the office. So, day after day, I find myself doing everything but the one thing I need to do more of to be successful: draw and paint!

So, I still do the same morning regimen, but I put in ten minutes of sketching after the walk and before email. It was very hard the first day (it's hard work!), but I timed it and made it ten minutes. The next day you add 15 seconds, etc.

For the past seven days I have not missed a day and I feel good. Why?

Ol' Roux is gonna tell you why. . .

"To know one's self is the true; to strive with one's self is the good; to conquer one's self is the beautiful."
—Joseph Roux