I came to New York with a few business of art books and seminars under my belt, and I had a strong bias toward the conventional wisdom:

1. Make twenty somewhat alike things so you can take twenty somewhat alike slides of them
2. Fully organize your professional self. Figure out exactly who you are and what you look like and stuff it into a nice folder
3. Then, once organized, make a serious campaign to get your ass into a gallery.

Every time I have followed this advice, it has led to:

1. Procrastination
2. Protracted Busywork
3. Missed Opportunities

The idea that you can set yourself up so completely negates the fact that you are an active person with projects on the table and more to learn every single day! It's a fallacy to think that you can project such a seamless public persona. In fact, as I become more public, I find that I abide by only two rules that are the polar opposite of this Perfectly Presented Persona:

1. I tend to do instead of prepare.
2. And this involves a lot of learning in public. Today Seth Godin is calling it layering, and he paints the same picture of he who hesitates being lost.