Making Lists

Museware Pottery is a really small company. Like, micro. We are a group of three (occasionally four) women and honestly, we get a ton of stuff done. We each have multiple jobs and are all really good at them. Nicole & Kris (& in summer, Melissa) do all of the physical work - their hands are all over your gift. They've read your invitations and have gathered and spelled out your names.They know when you got married and where. Sometimes they even know your favorite song. By the time they've finished making your gift, they've been thinking about you for a good while. 

Me? I'm the woman behind the curtain. While I no longer do the physical stuff - painting, glazing, firing - most days I'm here, in the chair in front of the computer. The wearer of many hats, I do marketing, design, product development, social media and whatever else comes up. I'm the woman behind every Pin, Post & Photo. I promote Museware Pottery to a ridiculous list of 15 different online places. I call myself a shameless self-promoter but what I'm actually promoting is my work. To anyone who will listen. Or not. 

Last week, I spent the entire week making lists of things I need to do. And then remaking them. I have pages of notes so dense that they're overwhelming just to look at. So, in an attempt to prioritize, I made yet another list. That little notebook up there? An exercise in futility. Lists of lists. Remade lists. Crossed off lists. Highlighted lists. I got depressed just looking through it and decided I needed a new way to make lists. 

Enter index cards. OMG. I love my index cards! One card for each category. I can lay them all out in front of me and see everything I need to do. It's fricken depressing. That pile up there is just a fraction of the wad of cards I now carry around with me - tucked into my notebook of lists. These little cards are islands of sanity in an ocean of too much to do. Their collective thickness is daunting, but when I'm considering the items on one, the others don't even exist.  

Next month, I move into my newly purchased home (a project with a whole new category of lists.) Once settled, one of my first projects will be setting up my home studio (I know, right?) An integral part of my studio will be a large scale inspiration board - like, big enough to cover an entire wall. Upon this wall, I'll hang my cards, move them around, re-categorize, reconsider and re-purpose them. I'll do this instead of actually getting things done. Crap. I'd better make a list.