Want to work but have difficulties for legit reasons

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spacephrawg
Blue Jay
Blue Jay

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Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Age: 41
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12 Jan 2010, 9:40 am

I have difficulty with mornings regardless of how much sleep i get. Around the middle of the day or sometimes in the afternoons, i have to crash. Also i have a lot of trouble changing venue, changing tasks, shifting attention - you know the sort of thing, i am sure; so getting out of the house, and even leaving work, or leaving where ever i am having lunch, are extremely difficult and disorienting.

I am an artist and have worked as an artist's assistant before. The guy liked me but not my work so much. Basically being an artist's assistant in this case meant "chasing" bronze, which means cleaning up bronze casts, also sweeping, sanding paint off of pedestals and repainting them, organizing tools (i'm good at that), and similar tasks.

Boss once had me cut a series of wooden disks out of plywood to support sculptures at a show. I work in series in my own work because its the only way i can get things right. I have to go through many things before i start to produce good results but no two items are the same. So making everything identical was difficult and there were a lot of errors. He was not amused. Never mad, just frustrated.

I worked for a time at a casting studio and had difficulty with punctuality. The work there was more monotonous which i'm A-OK with. However, at that time in my life, craftsmanship suffered. I'd be better if i were doing it now but its still a problem:

There are two kinds of sculptors: adders and subtracters. In other words, builders and carvers. I am a carver. Whenever i have to build something i get confused. Mold making is a lot of building which i find difficult without help/guidance. Its the sort of thing I delegate in my own work. So the guys at the studio regarded me as the slow newbie, though they were patient. I was still frustrated though.

The boss liked me but not the punctuality issues.

I am considering a gallery job but I expect i will have similar problems there. I have no problem stuffing envelopes to make mailings and I can handle phone calls better than i can person to person communication, though business conventions of behavior are a little beyond me at this point.

I am not sure how to proceed re: the punctuality issues. Can anyone advise? thank you!



Ladarzak
Deinonychus
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Joined: 9 Mar 2007
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14 Jan 2010, 1:46 pm

Make punctuality a priority. It's simple. I realize you're artistic and so you may like unstructured situations, but if you want a job usually punctuality is important.

I don't wear a watch if I don't have to be anywhere, but when I do have appointments or a schedule, like when I was teaching, I wear a watch and check it often. Maybe too often, but I am never late, always early. Just make it a priority in your life.

It's like when some people can't lose weight because they don't make the commitment. You have to make a commitment and give up something possibly to make it happen. Friend of mine was always horribly late. I couldn't understand it. She didn't want to lose the sense of flow and freedom. Well, she had a job to do and she shouldn't have been late for school so often when she was the teacher! Loved her as a friend, but she was doing a bad thing there. You have to look at your behaviour and situation more objectively, and from the point of view of an employer or someone counting on you to be there on time.



FreeSpirit2000
Toucan
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Joined: 7 Aug 2009
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27 Jan 2010, 9:55 pm

spacephrawg wrote:
I have difficulty with mornings regardless of how much sleep i get. Around the middle of the day or sometimes in the afternoons, i have to crash. Also i have a lot of trouble changing venue, changing tasks, shifting attention - you know the sort of thing, i am sure; so getting out of the house, and even leaving work, or leaving where ever i am having lunch, are extremely difficult and disorienting.

I am an artist and have worked as an artist's assistant before. The guy liked me but not my work so much. Basically being an artist's assistant in this case meant "chasing" bronze, which means cleaning up bronze casts, also sweeping, sanding paint off of pedestals and repainting them, organizing tools (i'm good at that), and similar tasks.

Boss once had me cut a series of wooden disks out of plywood to support sculptures at a show. I work in series in my own work because its the only way i can get things right. I have to go through many things before i start to produce good results but no two items are the same. So making everything identical was difficult and there were a lot of errors. He was not amused. Never mad, just frustrated.

I worked for a time at a casting studio and had difficulty with punctuality. The work there was more monotonous which i'm A-OK with. However, at that time in my life, craftsmanship suffered. I'd be better if i were doing it now but its still a problem:

There are two kinds of sculptors: adders and subtracters. In other words, builders and carvers. I am a carver. Whenever i have to build something i get confused. Mold making is a lot of building which i find difficult without help/guidance. Its the sort of thing I delegate in my own work. So the guys at the studio regarded me as the slow newbie, though they were patient. I was still frustrated though.

The boss liked me but not the punctuality issues.

I am considering a gallery job but I expect i will have similar problems there. I have no problem stuffing envelopes to make mailings and I can handle phone calls better than i can person to person communication, though business conventions of behavior are a little beyond me at this point.

I am not sure how to proceed re: the punctuality issues. Can anyone advise? thank you!


I am not in the artistic profession though, because I am only merely a college student right now, but all I know is whether you are going to school or holding a job, time management is a very important thing and it is a must to deal with life's daily problems as we speak. Because if you keep on leaving things at the last minute and if you are unorganized on how to prioritise your life, how are you going to get things done in life? This is just simply my question.