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The Balancing Act It's a myth that we have to pick one over the other, if done correctly you can have both

By Akshita Gandhi

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The process and creation of an artwork are special for every artist because art communicates where words fail. Art transcends cultures and holds appeal across borders. It's a universal language that spreads the artist's message to communicate to the world. Shared below are principles that will help you pursue two careers successfully.

1. Health is Everything:

Health is our biggest asset! Needless to say, we live in a fast-paced world with ludicrous amounts of stress and our only constant is our health. Skipping meals, devouring endless junk food and staying up many late nights just to meet deadlines is just the part of one's life. Slowly yet steadily when your productivity starts to decline you learn the hard way and think that it's just not worth it! Be it carrying your lunch or opting for healthier meals, turning your electronic devices off to get your 7-hour sleep, meditating for twenty minutes or scheduling gym time, do not take your body for granted and always choose yourself first.

2. Time Management:
As the old proverb goes, where there is a will, there is a way! Yes, it is possible to pursue two careers even if one requires you to globe trot half the year. At the beginning of every month, setting goals at work and reviewing the progress bi-weekly, gives you the flexibility to travel while ensuring work does not suffer. You should always start your day by prioritizing the tasks that need to be completed depending on the deadlines. In the evening, when you are back to your life you should devote your time to what you love doing the most. Wherever you are, whatever you do, remain present and give it you're all. Create work you will take pride in twenty years from today.

3. Complacency is a Disease:
This cannot be emphasized enough! It's a great feeling to get comfortable at work but as soon as you start to feel you are letting go, tell yourself it is a disease with no medicine. Challenge yourself outside your comfort zone consistently. Do things that petrify you, feel your heart race and remind yourself that you're growing and need your muscle to be stronger. The first time an artist showcases their work, they feel nervous about their work and the response. Artists meet and interact with a lot of people while exhibiting their work at fairs, galleries and get very comfortable at the same exhibits. The realization that hits you, that you have become complacent when the sizes of the work and the style don't vary because you become content with the familiarity. You finally then face your fears and take your work to the next level. Aim to showcase your work at one of the world's largest contemporary art fair like in Miami. Once, you start dreaming big, face your fears there has been no looking back. As a business professional, when we begin working, we feel scared about making mistakes and reach out to our seniors for help. However, if we don't push ourselves in the deep-end towards the beginning, when will we learn to swim? Keep challenging yourself time and again. Tap into your untouched potential.

4. Vision is Nobody's Monopoly:
When you join your family run business, you have the pleasure of learning from and working with some of the most experienced people from different walks of life. In the beginning, you get intermediated and scared that your opinion or idea may not be good enough but there is no such thing. Your age and experience have nothing to do with your idea and vision. Similarly with art, at several fairs, although being the youngest artist, being confident about your work and constantly innovating irrespective of your experience as we'll remain, students, all our lives yet it is important to constantly think ahead of our time.

5. Don't Stop Until you Collect Your Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow:
There is no shortcut to success. Work smart but work hard. Of course no long hours at the cost of your health, but there is no substitute for hard work. Failures are inevitable, the setbacks in your journey will teach you how to do it again and better each time. Because infrastructure projects are long term and time-consuming, one can get impatient and disheartened easily at any delay. These deals are like well-cooked meals, it may take a while to cook but it will be tastier than anything else made with haste. So one should keep going with horse blinders on and have a solution-oriented approach to everything that may come your way.

Akshita Gandhi

Director and Founder, Director, SKIL, Infrastructure Founder, Akshita Gandhi & Art Founder, Dua Foundation

Akshita Gandhi is an international artist, a young business leader, and a philanthropist. A graduate in B.B.A, Finance and Economics from the American University in Dubai she pursued her MFA in Fine Arts from the Lotus Institute in Dubai. Growing up under the mentorship of her father, Mr. Nikhil Gandhi, pioneer of the infrastructure sector, Akshita has been engaged with business early on in her life. Akshita helms critical nation-building projects, which have strong fundamentals developing logistics, maritime infrastructure. She recently founded the Dua Foundation that aims to empower vulnerable members of society by providing a platform, which will enable them to gain financial independence via their art skills. 

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