Managing time well is one of the biggest challenges artists face—especially when you’re trying to balance creating art with running a business. Whether you’re self-taught or experienced, learning how to manage your time is crucial to growing a sustainable art practice without burning out.

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3 Time Management Tips for Artists

In the early days of building my art business, I struggled to juggle everything—parenting, part-time work, creative energy, and business admin. I often felt torn between painting and promoting, always thinking I was neglecting one or the other.

Sound familiar?

Here’s what I’ve learned: you don’t need to do everything at once, and you don’t need a perfect schedule. With the right systems and mindset, you can create a time management rhythm that works for you. In this blog, I’m sharing three practical and simple strategies that helped me find more flow—and less guilt—in my creative career.

Balancing the creative process with the business side of things is crucial because both are essential to not just sustaining, but also growing your art practice. My goal is to help you find a system that works for you, so you can truly enjoy and have success in the creative lifestyle you love.

My Top 3 Time Management Tips

Prioritise

Task prioritisation is hugely important! Running off an endless to-do list is a recipe for stress and frustration because you never reach the end! Spend some time identifying the most important activities in both the art and business aspects of your art career. I recommend doing this every day and writing down just three tasks that you will complete that day. Either choose the items that will “move the needle” (bring results) or use a method like the Eisenhower Matrix (rate by importance and urgency) to categorise tasks.

Time Blocking

Time blocking is another tool that will really help you live the creative lifestyle you want and reduce the guilt and overwhelm. Look at your weekly calendar and dedicate specific times to your art and business tasks. Start small, maybe blocking out just an hour for business tasks each day, and grow from there. Complex, over-designed systems do not work from the get-go. They need to evolve. Start small!

Consistency Over Perfection

Remember, consistency is key!!! Small, regular steps in managing your business can lead to big results, even if they feel slow at first. Often we overestimate what we can do in short amounts of time and underestimate what we can achieve over longer periods. So, keep moving forward with consistent, small steps, and you will be amazed!

Lastly, believe in yourself!  A mantra I’ve been discussing a lot lately is that when you have your own business, you are the boss! You get to call the shots, which means you can design your art business your way. If you want to spend more time on art than business, you can do that. If you prefer to focus on the business side only during school holidays, that’s entirely up to you. You get to decide the balance that feels right for YOU.

Stay creative and keep believing in the possibilities—because anything is possible!

If you’re looking for more tips and support to help you thrive as an artist, be sure to subscribe to my email list. You’ll receive regular advice and inspiration to help you balance the creative and business sides of your art career. 

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