Early Bird gets the Worm

An old ancient proverb: "The Early Bird Gets The Wor..." Hey where is the M?

The M could stand for what is missing in your life because you aren't willing to make the needed sacrifice for it. (This sounds like my YES/NO post. Go Check it out!) That could mean money, time, happiness, etc.

Another proverbish like thing my father always told me was that the fisherman that had his hook in the water earliest and longest caught the fish. Now if you have ever been fishing you know that this is true and sometimes untrue. It depends on where you are fishing, what bait you are using and your skill at hooking the fish and reeling it in.

My goal in writing this blog post is not to convince you that you should get up earlier, but if that is what happens because of it I will count that as a win for me. The truth is that people that get up earlier usually have a lot more accomplished then those of us that sleep in by the end of the day. I mean think about it. When I sleep in I feel groggy through out the day and then at night the only good thing I can think of doing is watching Netflix or surfing the internet.

This week I woke up early and I started thinking about fun art projects I wanted to do. So instead of sleeping in I got up and wrote down a bunch of thoughts and then today I decided to execute one of them. It was this typography piece that appears above.

At this point I could take this blog post in so many different directions. For example:

I could talk about how people just need to start doing what they want to do and stop waiting for the right amount of money, a better job, more time, the moon to line up just right. Just go do it!

I could talk about what kind of bait you should use to catch the fish you want to catch, but then again that is up to you. You should be smart and find the bait that you like to use and that catches you enough fishies.

I could talk about the best fishing spots, like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, your local Cafe, or Tumblr! This also might come down to you trying it out and finding out which works better for you.

And then I could talk to you about waking up early and getting worms! The truth is I just dare you to try it a couple of times. Purposefully wake up early and do the things you need to do and then the next day sleep in and wake up when ever you want to and write down what you have accomplished on both days and tell me which is more productive for you.

If you decide to take my challenge shoot me an email and tell me your findings. (guapolsen@gmail.com)

I think there is another proverb out there that says if you Hoot with the Owls you won't be Flying with the Eagles.

5 Lessons I Learned This Week About Art or Life.

This week I had the opportunity to go to an art class with J. Kirk Richards. I wanted to share some of the things I learned this week with you.

Monday- Look at art! If you want to be good at making art you have to understand what others have done with it before you. 

Since I like to try to tie art things to life I am going to tell you this applies to everything! You want to be a good parent? Look at what other good parents have done! You want to become an amazing singer? You have to look (Maybe listen...) at what other singers have done. Do you want to become the best web developer out there? Look at what other web developers have done. Do you get the idea? Take a look at who has come before you!

Study what they have done and really see how you could apply it to your own work or if you want to go in a different direction at least you will know what they tried to do.

Notice color patterns, shape patterns, and all the other patterns you can see. It is really kind of fun.

Tuesday- Day Two! START!!!

When we arrived on Tuesday all I could hear Kirk say was, "Just start!" I think people in general are blessed with some inspirational thought or plan or something and all they have to do is put some action in to it, but so many people fail to start! I am not saying that a magical painting will appear if you start painting, but at least you will have something on the canvas and that is better than what was there yesterday.

I believe Thomas Edison attempted over 1,000 different materials before he discovered tungsten to be the magical key to making the lightbulb work. Then when he was asked about it he didn't say he failed 1,000 times, but rather he had discovered 1,000 different ways to not have the lightbulb work! It is a mind set thing. We just have to START!!!

Wednesday- Good Music always helps. I think this one is self explanatory. Find some music you like to listen to and that will help you get into the groove and then go! I mean Start!

Thursday- I learned about modeling today. This is where you start to do little cross hatching lines to make the details in the form of something you are painting that turns it from a side in light to a side in shadow. This also applies to life. You have to take some time in your life to see the little details. Some of the subtle things in life make the biggest difference. This also means that if you don't have the big picture all together then your little details will be out of place. Think about this one for a minute. It is definitely tied to my last blog post.

Friday- Endure to the end. If you want a good painting you have to keep pushing it and never give up.  The only way an artist fails is when he or she...

I think the of the tortoise and the hare story. The hare is very prideful and fast and the tortoise says he thinks he could beat him at a race. So they put together a race and off they go. The hare is definitely winning, but stops to take a nap! The tortoise is slow and steady and wins the race!

Be steady and keep going! I think that is the key to success.  

(Maybe someday I will talk about not measuring your success against others as well...)

Thanks for reading!