The Holidays

Tis the season to run around  like a madman and try the very best you can to get a bunch of small gifts for all those dear to you in life, compete with all the other crazies for the last shiny new gadget or wait in long lines for a limited something that inevitably will run out the second you are next.

I am trying a new approach this year that has been inspired by my loving girlfriend... that is to communicate with people instead of buying them something they don't really need, spend some time with friends, call old pals and let them know you are thinking of them, in general just spreading some love this season instead of useless gifts.... maybe this is the best gift to give in these tough economic times and really, probably a better gift to give after all.

Anywho, wishing all of you and yours the very best this holiday season, talk to you in 2009.

Peace - JK

Quote: Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect.

- Oren Arnold

Stress - Friend or Foe?

Hello all,

I realize I have slacked off on my blogging duties but I am dealing with a bit of stress these days and am trying to figure out if it is helping or hurting my productivity in my professional work flow.

One of the things I am dealing with as a "freelance" design studio is the fact that clients (I love each and every one of you by the way) may not follow scheduling as diligently as I try to. The world of design is plagued with deadlines and that is a good thing because it keeps you focused on a never ending list of to-do's... BUT if more than one client doesn't turn in information in a timely manner, let's say multiple clients do the same thing it, it stacks the work, makes deadlines slip by like the wind and adds a tremendous amount of stress to a person like me that is all about hitting my marks,or deadlines.

If you are an up and coming designer this is a good post for you to read and take to heart, the things that will help you in these situations are:

1. Good Communication - this is the most important bit of advice I can pass along, keep your clients informed and explain what is going on, most clients are good people and can understand if they are informed of what is causing the delays.

2. Continue to produce quality work - if a client has selected you to the job they are going to be a little flexible because they want you to do the work, make sure you give them your best, that is often worth a little delay in production.

3. Stay focused and try to make up for lost time - The best way to get to the finish line is to stay focused, which in my case can get hard sometimes because it seems there is too much to do... stay focused and finish one thing at a time, eventually you will get caught up.

So back to my original thought about stress being a friend or a foe.... I find it to be a bit of both no matter how you look at, stay positive, stay focused, and stay happy and the rest will fall into place.

Peace - Jeff

Wanted to take a minute to thank Jules for leaving a very sweet comment on one of my posts, I appreciate the love, this quote is for you:

Quote:  A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

- Albert Einstein

Really getting excited!

I know I have been telling everyone that my new zartwurks.com site is in the works but I REALLY MEAN IT!!!

The designs are finally done and I am sneaking minutes out of my busy busy schedule to try to get it ready for launch around the same time as one of my next major projects... Steve Hatch Racing... GOING TO BE AMAZING.

Just wanted to share some of my excitement.

AND a new quote.

"Not everything that counts can be counted"

-Albert Einstein

Peace - Jeff

Blind Melon

First I want to thank the guy that almost ruined my night of watching Blind Melon play... I hope that all your friends and you have that much fun trying to ruin everyone else's good time everytime you go out, maybe you should work on your public presence and maybe think about the Karma consequences to your ill willed actions.

And I am over those guys... Let's move on, I really enjoyed the show, if you are or have ever been a fan of Blind Melon their new lead singer Travis IS AMAZING. I highly recommend checking them out live, they covered all of their major hits and completely brought the house down several times.

I am not a big fan of the venue we were in, I won't mention names as I don't like to slander, but it has the name Red in it and is very close to the 101 in Tempe.

To the rest of the peeps that actually were there to enjoy a nice night out with Blind Melon thanks for reeling my thoughts back to the music with your dancing and smiling ways and I hope to see you all at the next Blind Melon show in the Phoenix area.

I will be adding to my blog much more regularly as soon as my new site is up and running... zartwurks.com - V3.0

Peace - Jeff