Well, my sleep hasn’t been fantastic lately, and I’m starting to feel it.

Today was an odd day for me — I wanted to let my wife sleep in and recover since I would be going back to work again today, and I had a morning meeting with the Optimize Creators.

Awesome meeting on life, death, rigidity and flexibility. I’m at a point in my life where I need to embrace more flexibility for my family, so I can be present with them when it matters. I may not get a large quantity of time, but I want the quality to be outstanding.

After the Optimize meeting, it was time to rush to the studio for our weekly Shop Meeting. It was just me and the apprentice today, as my business partner is having a pretty extreme family health crisis. I spent an hour running Erin (the amazingly creative apprentice) through some drawing drills with micron pens, and I experimented with my new alcohol markers and even pulled out my old aquash brushes to play with India ink.

But I didn’t take a photo.

It was a fun hour and a half of talking, drawing, and helping someone move forward in their creative aspirations.

The rest of my day was spent running errands and spending time with my family. So, while I was sleep deprived and low on energy, I still had a great day!

What was awesome?

Keeping up with my practice.

Helping our apprentice learn more about the techniques that will help her execute her already awesome ideas better.

What needs work?

Sleeeep!

Simplification.

What did I learn?

I’m starting to re-read Essentialism (awesome book) and taking more detailed notes on it this time ’round. The wisdom is absolute gold, and I need to re-apply it to my life. The disciplined and relentless pursuit of less but better.