Little and Often
Art Journal ~ April 26, 2025
During one of my art workshops, Nicholas Wilton, founder of Art2Life, used the phrase ‘little and often’. He was discussing the topic of painting and made the point that spending 20 minutes painting in an art journal every day was better than trying to carve out a big chunk of time to paint once a week.
So I purchased an art journal and decided to give it a try. Honestly, the results were astounding. Not only did my art begin to improve as ‘playing’ for just 20 minutes a day allowed me to loosen up and experiment, but something else happened. I began to apply ‘little and often’ to other areas of my life.
For instance, I like to swim at night during the warm weather. I realized that there were many nights that I’d find myself thinking, it’s too late, I need to cook dinner, I won’t have time to do my usual 100 laps (don’t be too impressed, we have a small pool so 100 is equivalent to about 33 laps in a regulation pool!). And one night I thought, what if I just got in the water and swam 50 laps? ‘Little and often’ radically changed my swimming routine. Now I swim almost every night, sometimes 100 and other times 50 laps. But the point is, I’m doing something I love and not making excuses for why I can’t.
Same goes for walking your dog. Did you now that your dog would much rather have a daily 20 minute ‘sniffie’ walk than one 2 hour long trek on the weekends? Dogs don’t have the same concept of time as we do, so for them a daily activity is much more important than waiting for something super special on the weekends - they embody the concept of ‘little and often’!
Do you have a pile of books on your nightstand that you’ve been wanting to read but just don’t have the time? Think about it, if you read just 10 pages a day/night, in a month you’d have read a 300 page book!
As many of you may know, I used to design jewelry. I gave that up when I started painting but now I have boxes and boxes of jewelry supplies. I decided to start going through the boxes and sell my stash on Ebay. It’s a daunting task to sort, photograph, and list the items. I literally have thousands of beads! Which is why they’ve been sitting in the closet(s) for five years. I almost gave up after the first few items. And then I reminded myself, yup - ‘little and often’! So every few days I devote an hour or two to listing items on Ebay and it’s so exciting when something sells. It makes me feel so good to let go of something and to know that someone else can use it!
There are so many non-profit organizations in need. You might be tempted to think, I don’t have enough money to donate. One of the dog rescues that I follow on social media does ‘$5 Fridays’ - pawfect! Although I can’t afford $100 donations right now, I can donate $5 a week. Small organizations are so appreciative of these ‘little and often’ donations. They DO make a difference!
One final ‘little and often’ idea - staying in touch with friends and family. It’s easy to let weeks fly by without reaching out to those we love. Life gets busy and we just don’t have the time to get together or even talk on the phone. But we all have the time to text a pic of our pup/kids/garden, etc. to a loved one with a quick note. A short ‘thinking about you’ text once a week (or every few days), or even a card in the mail, means much more than the grand gestures on holidays!
‘Little and often’ has enriched my life in so many ways. It’s allowed me to incorporate more of the things I love to do but was putting on the back burner because I didn’t think I had the time. What would you do more of if you applied this concept to your life?
Blessings,
Lissa