I actually completed something I set out to do??

Procrastination, ADHD, and the hole in my wallet

Last year I signed up for a very expensive online tax bootcamp where we had to meet up on Zoom every Wednesday for eight weeks to learn Important Finance Things™.

I’ve always been awful at math and managing my finances (which isn’t great when you run your own business), so I figured I should put on my big girl pants and learn how to do the boring parts of my job before the Canadian Revenue Agency hunts me down and kills me.

I attended the first session and did not complete the course. What’s worse is that I forgot to download the class materials before they expired so that money spent went up in flames. (Thankfully we learned about the importance of filing business expenses in that first class, so I at least was able to write the BootCamp off on my taxes.)

Learning my lesson, earlier this January I signed up for another hefty online course on Color & Light. I had the option of selecting the ‘homework’ tier where I could get some more accountability if I knew I had to hand in work to someone. I thought I had grown as a person and didn’t need these silly tactics, so opted for the self-guided option.

I missed the first intro Zoom because of a work conflict. And then proceeded to not attend any of the other six classes after that.

Thankfully, this course I remembered to download so it wasn’t a total loss. And every month I tell myself that I should complete this Color and Light class soon. We are currently nine months past, with no signs that I’ll ever actually start it.

I have a dozen art books that I had initially bought to further my skills, left unopened on my shelf. A handful of Domestika courses that I still haven’t started. A Schoolism course, saved YouTube videos, a audiobook on managing your ADHD procrastination… all collecting dust.

What is wrong with me???

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I’ve talked about my issues with procrastination, poor time management, and all my ADHD shenanigans in the past so I don’t want to focus on that now. Today, I am talking about a success.

Over the past year, I have become utterly inspired by the world of Miniature Painting. For those unfamiliar, let me share some of my favourite examples:

It started with my Solo Gallery show at Nucleus last year, where I drew upon my Pakistani culture for inspiration for my show pieces.

When I started working on Rani’s Remarkable Day, I became further enamored by the lush architecture and textiles of the sub-continent.

Compare my Pinterest board for the book:

To a spread from Rani:

Just when I thought I was out of this era, I was pulled back in with the two picture books I’ve been working on this year: Sari Sisters by Anitha Rao-Robinson, and a secret author/illustrator book.

For the Secret Book, I decided that I wanted to go all in and try to emulate the classic Miniature art style to reflect the content of the book. This is when I began to invest my time in researching this craft, and felt I should probably take some kind of formal training.

So I enrolled in another online course.

This was a six-week online miniature painting course offered by the Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Art. In London, UK. Thankfully the time difference wasn’t too big of an issue; I would just have to meet at 11 a.m. every Tuesday for three hours.

I told myself that I learned my lesson for real this time. In fact, I had a few tricks up my sleeve. I told everyone I knew I was taking this class to hold me accountable and make me feel shame if I didn’t complete it. In fact, I asked my friend Maxine (who also did not complete the Color & Light class haha) (sorry to call you out like this) to give me weekly reminders.

The one snag in my plan was that I’d be staying at my parent’s house for most of the course. While not necessarily a huge issue, this was a huge change in The Routine™.

The Routine™ is the foundation of many ADHD havers’ focus and time management. Having a schedule to stick to and a fixed time and place you work at can make you way more productive and feel ‘in tune’. However, one small change in The Routine, be it working a different location, an appointment in the middle of the day, sickness, daylight savings or bad weather, and it all goes sideways and you find yourself eating Flamin’ Hot Doritos in bed all day instead of working on an upcoming deadline.

But again, I thought I could handle it.

I attended the first session of my Miniature Painting workshop. (Hurray!)

The course was centered specifically on The Cosmos, so I knew we’d be painting a lot of skies. For our first week, everyone had to recreate a stormy swirly sky.

Study #1

I was quite proud of my work, and even more pleased that I actually attended this course. Wow! Look out world!! This Anoosha is an unstoppable beast who does her work on time! She will attend all her classes like a good girl, use her gym membership, and also cure the common cold!

Anoosha then missed the other five classes.

So it turns out, there were a lot of things working against me.

For one, the Routine™ was in shambles. I was working in the living room of my parents house, and it was a full house. My nephews running around playing behind me, my family loudly having breakfast downstairs, and my sister coming over to entice me with the irresistable Starbucks-and-Target run. It was impossible to focus on my work for more than an hour at a time, let alone a full working day.

Second, it was summer and everyone was on vacation!!! I didn’t want to spend three hours working, I wanted to sip on a skinny iced Caramel Macchiato and peruse Homegoods for a cute vase! So I would skip the live Zoom class on Tuesday, and tell myself I’d make it up later in the week. (I didn’t.)

When I returned back home, I was rushing to finish painting Sari Sisters finals, and then immediately moved on to my sketches for Secret Book. Although the class was over, I knew I only had three months to complete these videos otherwise they’d be gone forever.

Last week I turned in my Secret Book sketches, so I had a brief window of time while all my clients were reviewing my work and I had free time.

I decided I was going to complete this course once and for all.

AND I DID!!!!!

During this course, I completed three paintings in total. Two were studies, and the last was a culmination of everything we’ve learned in our own styles.

Study #2

Our final piece!

If you wanted to learn more in-depth info on my process for painting this final piece, I made a post about it on my Patreon! I talk about the materials I used, some of the techniques I learned, and just walking through my process step-by-step.

I’m really happy with my paintings but more importantly, I literally can’t believe I completed a self-guided task I set out to do!

I feel so accomplished and proud of myself, and invigorated to complete even more tasks piling up on my to-do list!

Maybe it’s finally time to tackle the ever-dreaded Color and Light class. Or curing the common cold. Whatever’s easier.