20 Minutes a Day (How to Get it Done)

Do you have an immovable project?  No sure how you'll tackle your next goal? Try working on it 20 minutes a day. Check out this 1.5 minute video where I share a concept that is helping me: http://youtu.be/LOgT1MfA09k

As I shared in the video, my latest oil portrait painting is being created in about 20 minutes a day. I get my paints out. I set my timer and get to work. Some days are good and some days... 

But since I’ve been at this for about 3 weeks - lo and behold, the painting has started forming.  I looked up after a painting session and saw the portrait beginning to take shape.

Why? 20 minutes a day. 

I obtained the idea from author Julia Cameron in her book, Finding Water: The Art of Perseverance.   In one of her suggested tasks, she advises readers to spend twenty minutes daily in their art form.  She also suggests utilizing believing mirrors - “friends who are friends to our work” to help us stay accountable. 

So I enlisted my friend Lisa to help me.  I checked in with her either before or after I painted.  She was tough too and yet very encouraging as I made progress.

Day 1 - Oil Sketch on Canvas - ©Toni Ruppert

Week 2 - Oil on Canvas - ©Toni Ruppert

 I lost count here but this was further along in the process...

This one below is where the painting is now.  Just a few more sessions and it will be completed.

"Granddad and Grandma" - Oil on Canvas - ©Toni Ruppert

Again, perhaps you have something in your path- a goal or a monster project.  These words have encouraged me as I take my 20 minutes and place them in God’s hands...

• “Who dares despise the day of small things...”(Bible-- Zechariah 4:10)

• “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don't be afraid or discouraged by the size of the task, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.” (Bible--1 Chronicles 28:20)

• “The odds stacked against us as an artist immediately lessen if we are in fact doing our work.” ~Julia Cameron

I believe paintings and other goals can be completed with small actions.  So go ahead.  Locate that goal in your heart.  Find your timer and get started.  It’s “just” twenty minutes.

Question: What huge projects have you completed using small doable actions?  What goals can you still achieve using the "20 minutes a day" method?

Be Willing to Start

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step."  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

2011 Vision Board, ©Toni Ruppert

I'm starting 2011 with a bunch of written goals. Since my girls went back to school, I've been spending my mornings reading, thinking and writing. 

I'm starting this year journey without seeing the whole path.  After my birthday, Christmas Eve, I had the urge to start anew. To begin again.  Hence, my word for this year is reinvention.

I made another vision board which is pictured here.  I admit, I don’t have a clear path.
But, I’m willing to start.

to lead.
to see.
to voice.
to dance.
and make waves
with my art and with my life.

In his January 12th eulogy at the Tucson Memorial for the Tucson, Arizona shooting victims,  President Obama said, “We should do everything we can do to make sure this country lives up to its  children’s expectations.”

Chaos.  Domestic uncertainty. Poverty. Violence.  That’s what many youth have come to expect. On another twist, my 17 year old told me she expects nothing.  She doesn’t really know what to expect except Jesus’ return and death.

Should any of us just sit around waiting for death?

Just before my birthday Christmas Eve, my brother-in-law lost his mother, due to an unexpected illness.  As I joined my family and others in serving the repast dinner after the funeral, a thought occurred to me.  I thought I had never seen such love and togetherness as I’d seen that day.

I don’t want to have another death occur to experience that love and unity again.

Scripture tells us, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
My days are numbered.  In the end, I hope I will be found:

trusting.
serving.
loving.
creating.

With my brush, pen, palette, pencil and camera in hand I am willing to start.  Though I can’t see the whole 2011 path, I am willing to start.

Are you?