#25 : Backburner It: Simmer Down and Stop Treating Everything Like an Emergency

In this episode of The Jeweler's View, host Courtney Gray shares her insights from 25 years in the jewelry industry, exploring how to manage creative overload by distinguishing between urgent and non-urgent tasks. She introduces the 'back burner' technique, offering steps to help you prioritize your projects and avoid burnout. Tune in for practical advice to enhance your creative business while maintaining focus and clarity.

Transcript

 Welcome to The Jewelers View. I'm Courtney Gray, and after 25 years in the jewelry industry, 15 of those running one of the most elite schools in the country and working with masters and aspiring makers from across the globe. I've experienced the highs, the lows, and everything in between. I've consulted for organizations both large and small, and I work one-on-one with makers who are building their own creative business.

In this podcast, I'm here to help you do the same. Whether you're just starting out, maybe you're dusting off the bench or looking to elevate your craft to the next level, we'll explore topics that build confidence, tackle challenges, and help you achieve your goals. So what's holding you back? Let's dive in.

  📍 Hey, friend, can you believe it? This is episode 25 of The Jeweler's View. I just wanna take a quick moment to say thank you for being here. Whether you've listened since the beginning, or this is your first episode, your support means everything to me. This show was born out of passion to help creative entrepreneurs, especially jewelers, but not just jewelers, find momentum, clarity, and confidence to build their business how they want it to be.

And 25 episodes in, we're just getting started. If you've been enjoying these conversations and want even more resources Behind the scenes tips. strategies, frameworks, and upcoming workshop invites. Make sure you're on my email list. Head to courtney gray arts.com or click the link in the show notes to join.

I send out a weekly inspiration email that pairs with each episode, and I'd love to connect with you more personally there, so send me a message. Also, be sure you're following the podcast. The Jewelers View lives right here, wherever you're listening. On your favorite podcast app, and on YouTube now at The Jewelers View.

So pick your favorite way to tune in and hit follow so you never miss an episode. All right, let's get into today's show. I have to tell you a little something about my husband, I could not have manifested a better man. Ask all my girlfriends. All my guy friends have huge guy crushes on him.

He still outpaces most 40 year olds . He will walk into a room and within 30 seconds, he's scanning what needs fixing, painting, repair, reorganizing, or just improving. I'll catch him staring at a baseboard or checking the hinges on a door, just waiting to see what needs his attention next. During an ice storm, once we were sitting and watching TV and the whole city was freezing over.

We're in Texas. Oh my gosh. Red alert. Nobody knows how to handle that. Here. We're not equipped, and people's tree branches were freezing to the point where they were breaking and falling off of the trees. I  mean, trees went down everywhere. So Peter and I are watching tv. We're snuggled up on the couch and

all of a sudden he pops up. Runs outside with a hat and a jacket. So I go outside a little bit later and I find him on the roof, hitting the tree branches. I kid you not with a two by four to shake the ice out of the branches and prevent them from breaking, So many people lost their trees during the storm, but not us. I always say Peter Mazzetti for mayor. I adore this about him. Don't get me wrong, it's part of what keeps our home running beautifully. He's healthy, he's productive, always in motion, always doing something for me or for the kids.

He's  amazing partner to have.  But you know what? He struggles with  sitting still. Sometimes I joke that by the time he's 90, I'll be taking him off the roof when he is trying to repair something with a sprained ankle. So as creatives, we often operate in the same way. We see everything at once. We feel everything at once, and we wanna fix or act on it right now, but I will tell you that is a fast track to creative fatigue. This episode is about how to hold space for ideas without letting them overwhelm your current priorities. It's about learning to back burner the things that matter.

Not right now. So here's the curse and the blessing of creative perception. Like Peter, we notice everything, a crack in the plan, an opportunity, a problem, a to-do this is a gift, but it's also a distraction. When your brain is flooded with micro details, your creative clarity goes out the window.

Creativity doesn't thrive in chaos. It thrives in contained spaces. So here's the difference between prolific versus productive versus present. There's a big difference between being prolific, lots of output, doing the things all the time. Create, create, create, being productive, aligned action, And being present with intentional focus on one thing at a time.

You can be prolific and still burnout. You can be productive but spread too thin, or you can be present and let your best work emerge at its own pace. We need all three, but they don't all happen at the same time. So before you back burn or something, you need to know what belongs on the front burner. So ask yourself, what is most mission critical right now?

 📍 What must be completed to move my current project forward? What will create momentum or clarity for what's next if it doesn't help the current mission back burner it. Here's a simple framework to help you practice the back burner technique.

Step one, brain dump everything. Write down every single idea, task, project, or nagging. Don't forget thought. That's cluttering your mind. Step two star, what's now, what's important from that list? I want you to highlight only what directly supports what you're working on today or this week or this month.

Let's really zoom in. Step three, create your back burner list, move everything else that's not serving the current mission into a back burner document in Google Docs or whatever. You use a notebook or a project board and label it simmering ideas, not for now or something like that. Step four, I want you to set a review time.

Once a month or once a week, whatever feels right for you, check that back burner list. Some things will be ready to move forward and others can keep simmering. You're not saying no,  📍 you're saying not yet. So we have to train our brains to trust the back burner.

It takes practice. your brain wants to act now on what feels urgent, but that urgency is often emotional, not logistical. So train yourself to ask, does this need my energy today?

Will I lose momentum if I don't do it right now? Or is this just an idea that I'm afraid I'll forget if I don't do it right away? When you know it's written down and you trust yourself to revisit it, you're going to free up space for what matters most. You're gonna prevent overwhelm, distractions, squirrel effect, we call it, right?

Getting pulled in too many directions at one time, so you're gonna free up space for what matters most right now. So here's your power phrase back burner. It. Don't bury it, simmer it until it's time to serve. So I invite you today to take 15 minutes and try this.

Do a quick brain dump. You don't have to take long. 15 minutes. Pick your front burner, back burner. The rest. Let your nervous system exhale. You'll be amazed how much more grounded and focused you'll feel when your mind isn't juggling a dozen, half baked ideas at once. Okay. So there you go. If you are not following me yet, I want you to jump on Instagram and do that at Courtney Gray Arts.

And even more importantly, like I mentioned, jump on my email list.  📍 This is for my VIPs,  where I'm sharing strategies and frameworks to apply to your creative life. So go to Courtney gray arts.com and jump on that list if you're not there yet.

Until next time. Remember one thing at a time back burner. The rest onward and upward.    📍