We were lucky to catch up with Aimee Young Hopkins recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Aimee, so great to have you on the platform. There’s so much we want to ask you, but let’s start with the topic of self-care. Do you do anything for self-care and if so, do you think it’s had a meaningful impact on your effectiveness?
My self-care rituals are regular and very self-discliplined, which I feel keep me very effective.
1) I run for 30 min’s, lift weights for 10, and on a great day (fri.thru sun. and vacations) swim for 15 min’s or 24 laps. this keeps me on the beam and relaxed and centered. many days i break up my workouts into cycles of 10 mins each if i don’t have much time during a busy work day
2) I spend time with my family and friends regularly, doing fun things i like to do such as hiking, visiting art galleries, watching movies, having coffee or boba, going shopping, seeing plays, and cooking or doing a creative project of some kind. i love the planetarium in griffith park and i constantly strive to stay inspired. recently i visited brand park and saw art galleries there with a friend briefly, then we went on a hike; the whole experience only took about 2 hours out of my busy day and fueled me all week!
3) I eat healthy nutritious foods such as salads, protein, whole grains and brown rice, lots of water, and tons of fruits and vegetables. i allow myself 3 moderate meals and up to 2 healthy snacks per day, as well as up to 5 bites of a dark chocolate or a sweet, espcially if my mom or daughter bakes cookies or we visit a homemade ice cream place! i would rather have one bite than none!
4) i am spiritually grounded. i start the day with prayer and meditation, lying in our garden in the earth in silence, reading something inspisring and taking a few notes on a sticky note of my 3 reminders for the day to center my mind. then on another sticky note i write down my ideal day, from start to finish, in incremental time blocks so that i try to live into my ideal, doing the things i have to do but also some things i want to do, staying on schedule and not wasting time. once a week i spend time with my spiritual community as well as fellowship and touchstones throughout the week in my spiritual home community. i light a candle and incense every morning while i do this, and every night as i write in my 4 yr hournal, make my list for the next day, and reflect on the day and shut it down, whatever i have achieved and not achieved — if not, it goes on list for next day
5) i travel and visit my “happy places” frequently, such as the beach, the mountains, my daughter’s preschool (her teacher is also a dear friend of over 25 years!) and i see new things — this winter i will travel to italy and switzerland to see my daughter in bolognia, italy and swiss brother in appenzell switzerland. i will bring one backpback, travel alone, and hop on and off trains. every summer we visit our cabin in new hampshire, where we hike, swim, jump in waterfalls, and relax on the porch reaidng and swinging in the hammock. i also go to manomet, mass in the summers to see my cousins, aunts and uncles — it is a touchstone of family and memories generations back which continue to inspire me and remind me of my history. i have also traveled and lived in paris, taken a train all over europe to see friends in italy, spain, morocco, etc. one day i would like to go to greece, africa, india, and japan
6) when i start to feel burned out or drained i take breaks, even if just for a few min’s. my friend taught me the 10-second blink when i need to nap i can do it while playing the piano between songs. i can take a few days off, stay in a hotel in malibu with my husband even for 1 night and feel refreshed, a few hours at the beach, a mental break. i also take vocal naps since i’m a singer and a music teacher, to rest my voice, and i use a body mic.
7) i delegate. every day i have a list for myself for personal and one for business, as wel as one for my bookkeper, my admin, my social media person, my husband, girls, and grandma. anything they can take off my plate whether it be an admin task, dishes, laundry, driving someone somewhere (i have two teenage girls and one drives and one is 15 and doesn’t yet drive), or a coffee or salad pickup for me if they’re getting takeout, or gas in the car, anything like this shaves minutes off my day and off my list, giving me more free time and free head space to dream, think, believe
8) i spend time being creative — i’m always working on a long-term project whether it’s writing a musical or one-woman show, knitting a sweater or a sachet pillow for my nephew, planning a trip, decorating the house, or decluttering an area
9) i volunterr– i mentor other young entrepreuneurs and women business owners, as well as other younger moms, teens, adn people whoe are seeing solutions, and i do menial things too like making coffee at my business owners’ meeting etc
10) i am part of a group of small business owners and the women’s business ctr, where i get one-on-one counseloing, attend workshops in cash flow, balance sheets, entrepreneurship, etc. i also have a cash flow sheets, earning plans, annual spending plans and both a 1 yr, 5 yr, 10 yr and 25 yr plans for my business and personal, we invest and save money. we save 30% of our income, plan for retirement, and live simply in a 2 bedroom rental with my home office, grandma in back, garden, and one bathroom with 2 teens, and cabin in NH not winterized. we have the best in life, and the best things in life are free! i love my job and i love what i do every day! i sing, dance teach and build self-esteem and litearcy through the arts of youth of los angeles every day, and i get to raise my girls, be in a happy marriage, and be a daughter, friend, cousin, sister, auntie and a part of a rich fabric of a diverse community — i live in community and i thrive depending on others and letting them depend on me
thank you for reading this and hope it helps! when i care for myself i have so much more to gtive to my employees, my family, my c0mmunity!
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I run a small arts education company (a small sole proprietor-ship with 15 part=time W2 employees, including 12-14 Teaching Artists, a, Independent Contractor bookkeeper and a part-time remote W2 admin) called Aimee Art Productions: Building Self-Esteem and Literacy Through the Arts. We offer lessons in all art forms for all ages — Theatre, Music, Dance, Visual Arts and Interdisciplinary (Yoga, COoking, Playwriting, Puppetry, Film, Photography, Animation, Storytelling, etc.) in schools, preschools, families’ homes and studios throughout Los Angeles. We offer private, semi-private and small group lessons in all musical instruments as well as our hybrid Ballet (and Tap!) in the Park with Glenoaks Park and Studio A, and dance classes at Heartbeat House in Atwater Village including Toddler Dance (caregiver-and-me style) and Storybook Ballet. This year we celebrated 25 successful years in business, and we are hoping to celebrate 25 more!
One thing that makes us special is how we individualize our work to meet the needs of each of our clients. We are not a cookie-cutter program but rather a tailor-made custom-fit grassroots organization with person-to-person individual matching of personalities, and design each program to fit the needs of our school, family, or studio or non-profit. We work with all learners and all ages, mobillities, and learning styles. In fact, we individualize our instruction to the learning styles of our clients (kinesthetic, visual, auditory) to meet the needs of all neurotypical and neurodivergent populations.
An upcoming event which is most exciting to us is the Community Arts Partnership (CAP’s) grant with LAUSD, with which we are offering several both one-night/afternoon and multi-week arts and literacy experiences at over 10 school site locations, including World Dance, Astronomy Night, Pajama Night, Silent Movie Night, Night of the Arts, Arts and LIteracy Night, Tolerance Night, and more!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Three most impactful qualities:
1) Support from mentors and a network of business owners, especially women– I have a mentor and have had the same one for several years. and have had 4 of them since high school, my piano and voice teachers, my first boss at the camp where I was a counselor, my business coach, and my Music Center Director who retired and is now my mentor at age 82. I have been a small busienss owners’ group of intimate entrepreneurs since 2000 who have supported me for 23 years. In fact, we wrote a book together called “A Path to Gratitude: Find Your Enchanted Castle” and we have published it, done a book-signing, marketed it and more together! We started with writing gratitude lists, 10 things a day, and we did it for 1 year! We then wove together the story which evolved about a stepmom and stepdaughter (I had a stepmom and she is a stepmom, and she shared her beautiful experiences to help me grow, and somehow, vice versa!)
2) A strong family base — if you are a parent, support your child with lots of positive reinforcment. If you are not a parent, seek it out and if you’re lucky enough, like I was, to have a supportive family, lean into them. My mom still makes my props and costumes and files my files for me once a month! My brother helped me publish my book and gave the wires to create the songwriting files we did with our 6th graders in our grant. Lucky me!
3) Have fun! Enjoy each day and if you’re not having fun, try to find ways to make it fun! You should enjoy what you do and when it gets old, take breaks, delegate and find ways to keep it fresh for yourself. Inspiration is number 1 for me! When I’m inspired, and supported, I can do anything!
Pro Tips:
1) Start small and grow slowly
2) Get support
3) Have fun!
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
1) Self-care first. Breathe, close your eyes, drink some water, eat something nutritious or get some exercise if you need to. Take a nap, get some fresh air, call a friend or family member who loves you unconditionally and believes in you.
2) Break it down into manageable bits. Every task begins in the mind, and then with a baby step. First, imagine it, vision it, then find the steps and take the first baby step. “The journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step” — or as my husband says about taxes, cleaning the garage, etc. — “the hardest part is starting.” When you begin and commit to just 10 minutes on that task, you can be surprised at how much you have already accomplished and how much you want to finish! And if you don’t feel that way, put in a little sweat, set a goal, and do more later or next day, depending on your deadline. Sometimes I make the task so ridiculously small that I absolutely HAVE to do it — i.e. just open the envelope, just write the address on the envelope, just sweep one corner.
3) Set manageable goals and get support. Time yourself if necessary so you don’t waste time on each task. Break down your timeline so you stay on track. SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Action-Oriented, Realistic, and Timely. Bookend your tiny actions with others as you go (call/text before and after doing it) and check in regularly with people who support you, whether it’s your business group, family, friends, spiritual team, or all of the above!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.aimeeartproductions.com
- Instagram: Aimee Art Productions
- Facebook: Aimee Art Productions, A Path to Gratitude, Aimee Young Hopkins
- Linkedin: Aimee Art Productions
- Twitter: Aimee Art Productions
- Youtube: Aimee Art Productions
- Yelp: Aimee Art Productions
- SoundCloud: Aimee Art Productions
- Other: [email protected], Studio A Dance, Heartbeat House, Franklin Avenue Elementary, Friends of Franklin
Image Credits
Just taken on my phone at a recital by a parent, all good, thank you!
