Since making the monumental decision to seriously cut back on in-person teaching, I’ve been reflecting more deeply on what this means for me going forward. There is something both exhilarating and unsettling about beginning again. Drawn toward the possibility of something new, moving forward often requires leaving something familiar behind. Even when the change is one that well considered, there can be a moment when one wonders whether this is the right decision.

There is something about the arrival of fall that makes me pay attention. The autumn equinox brings that brief moment of balance between light and dark, and then, almost imperceptibly, the balance begins to shift. The days shorten, the light changes, the landscape transforms, and we find ourselves moving into a new season.

I’ve been thinking a lot about change this year—how it can be both exciting and uncomfortable, and how often we don’t really know what is waiting for us on the other side of it. As artists, we’re accustomed to this uncertainty. We start with an idea, follow a hunch, add a layer, scrape something away, change direction, and sometimes discover that the unexpected turn is where the real magic begins.

When I first wrote this article about ten years ago, I had just retired from university teaching and was reflecting on embarking on my business plan of selling my work at outdoor shows and traveling and teaching workshops. Now ten years later, a few of these mistakes were repeated and I even added some more. I found this list extremely helpful to write as it helped me to reflect on who I am as a business minded artist, as well as to track my repeating patterns in mistake making.