Hand Drawn (and Hiked) by McCall🌻

Happy Wednesday! I hope your inbox wasn’t too lonely without me last week. I promised I’d make it up to you when I took the week off, so here’s my brain dump after 5 days of no cell service and lots of sunshine.

Mini Musings

You know those random things you read that stick with you for years and years afterwards? For me, that was this article about Obama minimizing the amount of decisions he made in a day. Overall, the concept is reminiscent of the productivity hacks you’ve probably heard echoed around Silicon Valley for the last decade — reduce friction in your days and avoid decision fatigue (etc etc etc).

For Obama, that came to life by always wearing the same suits — “You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits,” [Obama] said. “Im trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.”

The idea is that the act of making decisions erodes your ability to make decisions later on in the day. It’s why grocery shopping can be so exhausting and judges give harsher rulings in the afternoons vs. in the mornings. It’s also why just about anyone successful will yell until they’re blue in the face about having a regimented morning and evening routine. The article is a 12/10 and I highly recommend giving it a read.

To the same extent, I always loved the idea of decisions as a finite resource and getting a restart on that brainpower at the beginning of the day — and subsequently thinking about energy in the same regard.

When I wake up, I’m fresh as ever, ready to dedicate vast amounts of energy to anything. The unfortunate side: if I’m not intentional about how I spent that energy, it’s all too easy for it to get sucked to the wrong places (see: negative thoughts, social media, texting, etc.)

For that reason, I’m trying something new for the month of August: staying off social media. It’s been something I’ve wanted to do for a while, but I’ve always vindicated myself by saying I need to be on Instagram for my art business.

On a long roadtrip back from Lake Powell I thought a lot about the people I admire — how interesting they are, how interested they are, and how none of that happens by accident. I like myself better when I’m reading more books and spending less time on the internet, point blank. I love the way I feel my brain thinking within the context of what I’m learning from said book and my guilty pleasure is regurgitating some jaw-dropping stat from whatever nonfiction book I’m working through.

I want to dedicate the next month to being social media free, just to see how it goes. With commissions lined up to keep me busy through the end of the month, I’m determined to try something new and take progress photos throughout the month, then post all of them in one fell swoop vs. logging on every time I draw something new. (#photodump meets the art insta).

We’ve all read articles and books from people who curbed, or gave up altogether, their social media use and don’t ever stop talking about how amazing it is. I promise I won’t become a 5AM wakeup hardo along the way, but I know this will objectively better my life.

Artiste In The Making

I spent a good chunk of time this weekend reading up on Parkinson’s Law: the idea that work will expand to fill the time allotted for it’s completion. In essence, deadlines can actually cause procrastination or even prompt people to fill their time with trivial matters.

I’ve always felt like I’m more productive with a looming deadline, especially when it comes to art. If I get an Etsy order for a wedding gift that needs to ship in three days? That drawing is done in two days. If I have an idea for a drawing to give to someone as a gift 3 months in the future? That drawing miraculously takes me a month to create.

I have a few commissions due mid-August that I’ll be cranking on for the rest of the month, but looking at what I want to create for the rest of the year, I’m holding myself to 1x drawing per week. I’ve got a lot of fun updates coming in the next few weeks, so stay tuned for a longer art section later on in the summer.

The Wild, Wild West

I was out of pocket last week in Utah celebrating my roommate’s 30th birthday at Lake Powell, and man, that place is something.

This isn’t the usual content of this section, but once again, I’m in between hikes and will have a full rundown after my next adventure: Pike’s Peak.

According to AllTrails (so take this with a grain of salt) it’s 13.3 miles long with 4.3K ft worth of elevation — right around the stats we clocked for Mt. Sopris.

Much more to come in this section next week. Cross your fingers for good weather on Sunday!

What I’m Noodling On

📚 I’m pretty sure I’ve plugged this before, but I just love this CJ Hendry interview. Transparency in the arts is so, so rare and so needed — CJ’s honest about everything she does and it’s so epic.

💌 My dear friend Katie has a knack for churning out pure gold on her blog, and this piece was no exception

🎧 I’ve had Midnight Flowers by The Dig on repeat for months. I’ll be floored if I Already Forgot Everything You Said isn’t on my Spotify top 4 songs for the year

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (probably a million times): I would genuinely love to hear from you. If you loved something, hated something, or just want to say hi, feel free to hit reply.

- McCall 🌻

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