The book “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell was a wakeup call for me. I learned things about myself that were not flattering. I called myself an artist, yet I floundered because other interests and hobbies cut into time that should have been used to focus on art. I had to make a change. So, how does one change old habits developed over years? The first step was to take a personal inventory of the clutter in my life. It turned out to be more alarming than I expected. On my computer, I listed all my hobbies and interests--one item per line--and found out that I was a hobby hoarder! Furthermore, I didn’t want to give up any hobbies/interests because I’d worked so hard to learn them and invested a fortune in materials and technique books. It was all a bit much. I was in my late 50s when I read “Outliers” in 2013. I agreed with what Gladwell wrote about the secret of succeeding. It was time to buckle down and declutter my time. It was time for self-tough love. Art was the first item to which I placed a star; my number one priority. Having made the first choice, I selected three other hobbies/interests that were closely related to art to keep and struck everything else. Okay. Truth be known, I kept six. Maybe seven. Don’t think the process of elimination took a few minutes or a couple of hours. Whittling down the list took days. It was horribly painful, but it had to be done. I sold books, instruments, and materials unrelated to my “keeps” and gave a lot away. After shedding a tear or two, I was ready to move on.