How to make sure your photography time dies not slide down your to do list.
Today I’m gonna try so hard, today is going to be the day that I don’t flit around like a butterfly and I’m going to settle… The only problem is, that I feel I might miss out on something. I also feel like I have a million things that I not only need to do, but actually more importantly, things I want to do. Now that’s actually quite a mind shift to go from ‘I need’ to ‘I want’ because in making this shift, I am recognising that my list actually contains a whole bunch of things I want to do, but I’m just not sure if I can find the time, or more accurately how I can partition my available time to fit them in.
Now bear with me, because I think this article might just be like following a butterfly around a garden!
I’ve already shifted from considering writing a chapter of my book, to editing photos to writing a blog post, all in the space of 30 seconds since I decided to start my day! Just now the blog post has won!
I’m just back from my morning walk, stroll, call it what you want! I go for a walk around my local environment for about 40 minutes each morning after my first cup of tea of the day. It has been my daily commitment for the last three weeks. It’s the first thing in my day, and I am having to work hard at making it a priority, but I am managing, and by golly am I proud of myself for that. Every day I get out for my walk I am amazed and proud of myself. It’s just a walk I hear you say; well yes so that it might be. But for me, it’s a commitment that I have stuck to, even though it starts with dragging myself out of my cosy bed each morning, a place my body is sure it would rather stay when my alarm goes off at 6.30 each morning.
It is the tiniest little bit of routine in my day that I have as well. Get up – cup of tea- walk – ponies out and then breakfast, and all that before its even 8am!
Why am I telling you all this, bothering to write about it? Well on this morning’s walk I was accompanied by the rolling tones of David du Chemin and his ‘A beautiful Anarchy’ podcast. This morning I managed four episodes on my walk, but the one that stuck with me most was about carving out chunks of time to do the important stuff. Check it out, its episode four, well worth a listen.
As usual, I listen and it’s like my conscience talking back at me. Of course, I know everything that David is saying, it is not new information. But the way the information is presented with so many anecdotes and examples, it resonates with me and seems to light a fire or desire in me to try and make it happen ‘this time’. I come back from my walk this morning with a renewed desire to carve out ‘chunks of time’ because it makes perfect sense.
Just as an aside – I’m trying to write this and in the space of the last 5 minutes both my husband and son have just walked into my room ‘looking for a passport’, ‘wanting to know ‘do I have an envelope’, wanting to know ‘where the local courier location is’ – I seriously need to get a ‘do not disturb’ sign for my door. Every single one of these interruptions stops my flow. Just as every ping of an email or message coming in on my computer or phone does. I’ve learnt to turn of the digital notifications, now to deal with my family!... Told you this would be a flit around today!
Now you are probably wondering what any of this has to do with photography? Going back to my lists… I find when I am looking at my list of ‘want to dos’ or ‘must dos’, that getting out with my camera is always on the list, but somehow seems to get pushed way down in my priorities. I always seem to tell myself that tomorrow will be a better day, a day with more time, a day when I’m feeling creative, a day when I don’t have deadlines, a day when the weather is better. And so, as I write this article, I am going to be honest and tell you that I have probably not been out with my camera (for me and my creativity) for over a month.
Don’t get me wrong, every few days I am out with my camera, but it is normally with a feeling of I ‘must’ make a video for a course, or make images that will illustrate a blog post or for my Instagram feed. One unique thing about all these tasks is that they have a clear purpose, a clear deliverable and return.
However, when I go got with my camera just ‘for me’ I try to go out with just am inkling of an idea, then, what I thrive on is creating and exploring. Playing and seeing what happens and being open to possibilities is where I need to be to enter my happy and creative place. Where I make images for the love of making them, because I am intrigued to see what happens if. The flip side to this is that I often feel guilty for taking this time. It is not clearly delivering a monetary return, and I can’t see an exact return on the investment of my time.
However, please remember that to get better at photography you can’t just rock up to your special locations and expect to be able to work with techniques that demand a bit of work. The investment in the exploratory photo excursions are what contribute to your photography journey progressing. This is why they must be prioritised and recognised for the value of learning, progression, knowledge and skill building on a longer term. Not to mention the aspect of wellbeing when you are immersed with your camera and the rest of the world seems to pale into insignificance for a while.
So where might this all be leading, and why did I think it was worth prioritising the writing of a blog post on this subject?
Well, this is twofold really.
I wanted to consolidate further the learning from my podcast this morning, but I also wanted to let you know that if you personally are struggling with how to fit your photography into your life, or make it a priority, then you are not alone.
The learning
We all only have so much time in the day to get things done. We have two choices. We can plan and make sure we prioritise the things that are important to us. Alternatively, we can roll through each day fitting things in, and seeing what happens. I unfortunately am very good at the latter, and really struggle with the former. The difference on how I feel at the end of the day if I manage to prioritise, however, is amazing and clearly noticeable in my demeanour and feeling of satisfaction, wellbeing and levels of stress at the end of the day.
A really simple analogy, and probably one that is not new to you is the concept of having a jar – that jar is your day. How you fill it, and the order you fill it will affect what you manage to get done or fit into your day.
Imagining your jar as your day- The big rocks represent your most important tasks—things that truly matter, like family time, key work goals, or self-care. The smaller pebbles are less critical but still useful, like errands or meetings. The sand is all the little stuff—emails, social media, or distractions. If you fill your jar with sand first, there's no room for the big rocks. But if you start with the rocks, then the pebbles, and finally the sand, everything fits. Prioritize what matters most, and let the rest fill in around it.
Rolling through your day with no plan, getting caught with distractions, and just doing the things you find are easy is probably my default way of filling the jar. Adding the sand and small pebbles as you go. But when you get to the end of the day, don’t be surprised if there are rocks or ‘wishes’ that lay on the side that you just can’t fit into the jar. Conversely, if you can prioritise things that are important to you and get them locked into your day, you will find that your feeling of satisfaction and wellbeing will improve.
You are not alone in the struggle
The second element that I mentioned is that you are not alone in this daily challenge. This is why people have personal assistants to help them manage their days to get things done! If we could all manage our daily tasks easily, and prioritise without challenge, I would not be writing this blog and wouldn’t have listened to David talking about it. Don’t beat yourself up if one day you have a great day and the next you crumble! One day is better than nothing. So, what can you do about this? I’ve come up with a few bullet point ideas that you could consider. None are failsafe, but they might help.
- Figure out how much time you have in a day to work with – be realistic.
- Is there a time of day you work better at certain tasks? I for one know I love editing photos in the afternoon when I can be creative. Writing on the other hand comes much more fluently in the morning. I love Beth Kempton’s work and follow her courses. She understands that her best time to write is before dawn with a candle when everything is quiet.
- Identify and write a list of your desires, your wants – your big stones. You might also consider a note next to these why they are important to you. On my list for example I have editing my photos for my current project, writing the chapters for a book about Dutch cultural differences, riding my horse and going for my morning walks. This is where getting out with your camera needs to be scheduled in as well.
- If these are really important to you – say ‘no’ to additional things that get in the way.
- Identify any ‘must do’s’. Things that are non-negotiable – fill in your tax return, pick up children from the station, eat! These will vary each day (maybe not the eating bit) but must be included in the time you have. I Include food shopping in here!
- You can outline these two and schedule them on a daily/weekly or even monthly basis to help you plan your time.
- Once these are in your planning do your best to make them stick (this is probably the bit I’m most useless at) then you can add the small stones and sand around them. The phone calls, emails, social media scrolling.
I find it is really useful to create a list of things I really want to achieve or do on a personal basis and remember these are the reason why I am doing everything else!
The challenge of course then comes to putting this all into practise! I can tell you all this, and I’m sure you know it all. But you need to take the step of carving out the time to do the things that are important to you. If you don’t, every day will be one of a treadmill of small tasks and the big desires will get left out.
On a practical point – I use both a phone and a physical diary to help me plan and manage my time. I find the physical A4 diary on my desk much easier to relate to personally. I also buy packs of week to view planners (just plain ones that you can add any date or start on any week day). If I am struggling to stay committed, I try mapping out my weeks and days in a more structured way. This always helps with my commitment.
I hope some of these ideas prove useful. Just remember, you have to recognise what is important to you, and make space in your life to prioritise it, and guard it against all the other stuff life will throw at you.
