Metrics are your weapon against discouragement! Tracking your progress helps you rise above your daily circumstances and feelings. I outline a few methods and apps I use to track my creative progress - no spreadsheets required.

FINISH by Jon Acuff

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Doing our 'best' is an ambiguous, ever-changing concept. I outline a few reasons why exhorting ourselves to 'do our best' is unhelpful when it comes to making more (or better) art.

Plus a handful of questions that are worth asking instead.

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Do you have a creative manifesto - a document that lists the important creative truths you want to keep top of mind? If you were to create one, what would you write? Stephanie shares a few points on her work-in-progress creative manifesto.

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

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Do you walk into an art store and get sidetracked trying to figure out what paints to buy because you’re overwhelmed by all the different color options available? Do you find mixing the colors you want to be frustrating, elusive and inconsistent? If so, I have a piece of information that - I kid you not - will change your life.

Handprint.com - Color Index Names

Do you equate marketing with telling people what you think they want to hear? Do you feel pressured to conform to artist stereotypes or what's trending? Author & global marketing expert Bernadette Jiwa has a welcome wake-up call for us! Stephanie shares two points from Jiwa's book, Story Driven. They're helpful reminders that we're the most compelling when we're ourselves.

Story Driven by Bernadette Jiwa

Struggling with far-off deadlines? Need to jumpstart your productivity between projects? Stephanie offers a strategy from an unlikely source: the way software developers work. Learn what "sprint" and "scrum" mean in a non sports-related context. Seriously, it could help!

Welcome to the launch of High on Paint Fumes! Host Stephanie Lam introduces the show and what you can expect.

www.highonpaintfumes.com