Are you the kind of artist that sets goals and chases them or are you a person who just prefers to dream and enjoy the process of making art? Or maybe you are somewhere in the middle?
Most of us creatives are dreamers, and sometimes we get caught up in the dream but turning a dream into action and that action into reality can be quite a journey. Chasing those dreams can be risky and scary and so it’s no wonder a fair number of people don’t get past the dreaming stage. But for those who do, the lure of goal setting can lead them down a road that may not take them where they need to go.
In this episode, we explore what goal setting is, when it’s useful, when its healthy to not have formal goals, and how to identify their purpose and place in a journey that may be better focused on process than results.
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CREDITS:
Cover photo and design by Sage; Illustration by Olga Kostenko
Music by Playsound
Transcript:
–AI transcribed, unedited. Please excuse the copious errors.–
The idea of goal setting has become almost a non-negotiable thing in people’s minds. Just like multitasking, we think it’s something we need to do. But like with multitasking, as it turns out, it’s not the necessary, non-negotiable thing we’ve been taught. Hello all my fabulously hard working and driven creatives out there. Thank you for joining me on the Sage Arts podcast. It’s it’s just me again today. I’m sorry I haven’t had the opportunity to do interviews yet. They’re just they’re more time consuming than doing this on my own. Even doing it with Brett so. It’s it’s something I haven’t felt like I can. Commit to with the dog stuff still going on and some family stuff going on, so any case I do have, some people have already talked to, so once I know that I can sit down with an uninterrupted time to have a great interview with them, we’re going to get this going again. But in any case, just me again today. But I have a subject matter that I’m pretty enthusiastic about. So hopefully won’t notice it’s just me and you. Well, and everybody else who listens to. But in case you want to come join me, the lounge is free. Come and have a seat. It’s all the all the pillows are on there. It’s nice and cushy. It’s nice and cool in here. So finally, the temperatures coming down. You know, we’re doing well out here. I do really feel for all of you in the East, South East of the United States and what you’ve been dealing with the the remnants of Helene, the remnants of Milton, the the disasters that you’ve been dealing with and living through. My heart goes out to you all. Please, please, please take care of yourselves. Take care of your neighbors. And please, please don’t listen to the conspiracy theories about the government assistance that is available to you. If you need assistance, please go out and get it. These crazy stories that you’re hearing have no basis, and I can absolutely prove first hand more or less first hand. These things are not true. So one of the things that has been touted lately is this idea that Venezuelan gangs are taking over Aurora, Co now that’s my town. That’s where I lived for 20 years. I still have. House there, my friends, that live at that house have confirmed the Venezuelan gangs have not taken over. I have another friend actually lives very close to the apartment complex that kind of started this whole rumor and they said there’s a couple people who were arrested because of gang activity in the area and there are gangs. It’s a big city. I laugh every time someone says the town of Aurora CO.
It is huge. It is not a town. It’s at one point when I lived there, it was listed as the 4th largest metropolitan area in the United States. It takes 45 minutes to drive from one corner of Aurora to the other. It is ginormous space wise, but in any case there’s nothing going on there. The stories are just being made-up for political purposes. And a lot of these conspiracy theories around the help that is available to you down in Florida and Georgia and North Carolina, they’re not. There is help. Please go get help. Please be part of the solutions down there. Please be part of the healing and the reconstruction and just help each other out. And in case I just feel like I had to say something. It’s just it’s it’s driving me crazy. I’m not here to to push you politically. If you’re a U.S. citizen and you’re still trying to figure out who to vote for. I’m just telling you that a lot of the stories coming out of these crazy, extreme folks just don’t listen to. If you hear something and it worries you, please do research. Please find out what the truth is, you know, and then vote accordingly to what it is that. You need so. I just had to say that cause. It’s like ah. Aurora is not being overrun by Venezuelan gangs, and I know. This for a. Fact. And so, yeah. So it’s just one of the many things that we’re dealing with. Out here. It’s been a rough couple of months for a lot of people, so take care of each other even if you’re not down in those disaster areas, dealing with all the chaos down there, just we all need to take care of each other. We all need to support each other. We need to come together and help each other out. And times are times are tough for a lot of people, so be there for each other, you know. And then as far as me and my stuff. I don’t have anything major going on, but I do have a lot of interruptions. Still, so that’s why last week, after I thought I was starting back on a weekly production schedule, I ended up having to skip last week. So I decided I just gotta stop stressing out trying to get this done because it’s still going to be a problem. And now I have to do a bit of traveling and some of it may be last minute because I have some family things that I may have to attend to. But in any case. If you got the newsletters last week, then you know things haven’t eased up enough here for me to get this out every week with any level of quality that I feel good about. And then doing this weekly is also meant that I haven’t been doing my own work, so I haven’t had a lot of time to attend to my own artistic creative needs as well. So it seems a little unbalanced if I only have time to talk to you about these kinds of things and push you to give yourself that creative time that you need. But then I. Don’t do it. So I’m, you know, trying to strike a balance in what I’m doing here and I figure we’re all going into usually a busy season. The holidays are coming up and getting houses ready for winter and all that kind of stuff. So it’s gonna be every other week. I might sneak in a little something here and there because I just, I do actually miss doing this every week. But I’ve got to be realistic about what I can do and I am really super excited about what I’m working on artistically right now. So I do want to have time for that. Today, we’re going to get into a subject matter that has a bit to do with my trying to get back to the weekly schedule for the podcast and basically failing to accomplish that. And I know some people don’t like to use the word fail. Because of its negative. Annotations. But when something doesn’t happen, that’s basically what it is I think. Instead of avoiding a word because of the negativity surrounding it, I’m more for just relearning that words original intended, and usually more innocuous, meaning, you know, we’re canceling people and places and things. This whole cancel culture thing. And it’s discouraging discussion. And cancel culture is literally a repressor of free speech, so if we’re already having limitations put on us by society to not just say what we think, it just seems like a compounding of the injury to also not use words as intended. Now that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be considered of the impact of our words. If I say I failed at something, it doesn’t automatically mean that I hate myself for it. I honestly have a pretty good relationship with the idea of failure. At least I think so. It’s not that I don’t beat myself up because I do. I don’t have the emotion though, of that sometimes very devastating disappointment when I fail. But what I do know and make the forefront of any of my internal self talk, is that I failed only because I tried. I failed because I was learning because I attempted something and I pushed myself and I took a risk. You know, you can’t fail if you’re not trying. If you’re not taking some. Level of risk. Risk and risk is commendable and trying is what we should be doing on some level all the time. If the work you do is just easy, is nothing you really have to try to do, but rather it’s just something that you can and do manage without concern or question. Then you’re not pushing yourself and you’re missing out. I think on the joy. Of real accomplishment of the Pride and the purposefulness that comes from working on something that you weren’t certain you could do. And then when you do it, it’s just, it’s just a great feeling. And you know, OK, yeah, I may often use the word fail and you don’t have to if you feel it crushes you too much. And well, that’s fine. But choose words and your approach for dealing with disappointments your way. And if you’re OK with using the word fail or failure or failing, that’s fantastic. Let’s just get comfortable. With the words that. Specifically mean what we’re talking about and appreciate what the positive and not so fun aspects that come along with the concepts that we’re communicating. I feel like throwing away so many words as we have in recent times is really kind of depleting our language of valuable communication tools. If it’s not insensitive or inconsiderate to someone else, or even to yourself, use the word that best describes what you’re trying to say. So yeah, I failed to get back to the once a week podcast production. It’s been a goal on my plate since I earlier this really early this year actually, but this failure to meet my goals seems like. The trend, not just this year, but actually the last few years, actually since the pandemic, and I’m not really sure why, but it did get me thinking about the way I set goals and why I set goals and whether this goal setting thing. When there’s so much disappointment involved, is actually healthy or not, and I guess it comes down to how healthy the stress and emotions that accompany this are. And as I say, you’re going to feel what you feel, but it’s what you do with those emotions that matter. But then I thought, you know, I’m not sure. That’s absolutely true. Because how we feel does matter, because those emotions drive our motivation. They are at the center of the pleasure or the pain we have in the things we do and are usually at the core of the experience of whatever we’re going through and that’s. What we’re going to remember as much as anything, so I think it’s important to feel the feelings and maybe it is the emotion and what you do. With it so. Maybe we don’t downplay the emotion so much or try to shove the. Sign. You know, I was listening to this podcast a couple weeks ago about the Olympic athlete mentality, and I I don’t remember what show it was. I wish I did, but I listened to a lot of podcasts. And in any case, I remember being a little surprised and kind of woken up by a statement they made. They pointed out that most Olympic athletes. Fail. At their ultimate goal. Which is usually to get the gold. Right, or at least get a medal, but only one person in each event is going to get that gold, so they have to not only be motivated and driven to reach this goal, but because it’s so hard to get, they have to be prepared to not fulfill that goal. And sure. They’re in the Olympics. That in itself is huge, but how many years do they spend training and how much money do they and their family spend on that training and coaching and traveling? If you knew that you were not going to get that medal? Would you go through everything that they go through anyways? The thing this podcast spoke to, the one that was listening to, or at least what I took from it, was the fact that these athletes don’t see that goal as the end goal. It’s one point in the journey that they’re taking for which the Olympic gold may be a primary dream. But the majority, upon losing pick themselves. And move forward, there will be more competitions for them and more opportunities to prove themselves and as long as that’s out there, they can keep moving forward. And I remember thinking that as creative, some of us don’t really have an ultimate goal, which maybe that’s a good thing. But we do have goals and hopes and dreams. And we are having to pick ourselves up from failure and keep moving forward, kind of all the time. Now, if we don’t reach a goal, at least for most of us, it’s not usually something that we’ve worked towards since we were little kids. It’s not like we have just one opportunity to get that particular thing. So I guess you could say maybe we’re lucky that we’re not in an industry where there is this one big. The ultimate point of proving your worth. But we do have some pretty big dreams. Maybe not as showy as an Olympic gold medal, but things like making a career and living as an artist, getting into galleries or getting publish, or having our work in high demand or making it into that show that we’ve kind of put on a pedestal, that one that makes us feel that we’ve made it, if we. Eventually get into. These are all big goals for which only a fraction of the people who have that goal will actually achieve it. Now. I hope you won’t take away from that that these things are really hard and maybe you shouldn’t try it, because that’s not true. It’s not that dark and dreary and outlook. It’s not pointless or impossible, not at all. And the fact is, there are so many different goals and dreams. That we have as creatives so many usually for me for sure that we could probably set up a new one at least once a week for the rest of our lives. So you know, who cares if maybe only 15% of applications get into the Smithsonian Art show? Or maybe 10% of artists ever get gallery representation or whatever? I I don’t know the actual numbers. I’m just throwing some random numbers out there, but I know those who succeed are a fraction of those. To try and there’s a much, much, much smaller fraction of success for those who dream of it but don’t work towards it. I know, I know. Seems like it should be 0 if you don’t work towards it, but you kind of have to leave room for those who get things by chance through some lucky confluence of circumstances. Whatever. But this all illustrates the fact that those who set out and try to reach a particular goal are so many more times likely to get what they’re after than the people who just think of it dream of it, talk about it, and don’t take it any further. Now I know none of this is news to you. We all know this. But knowing and acting are kind of two different things. So before I get further into the pros and cons of goal setting and why sometimes you want to set aside a goal and how you deal with failure and all this, let’s talk about the purpose and I like to say the magic. Because yes, I think it’s magic this goal setting because these are like thoughts that are turned into action. That are turned. Into actuality and that’s what goal setting can be, because I know a lot of you understand and appreciate the idea of goal setting, but you probably don’t set goals and act on them in a conscious and determined manner. I mean, most of us are dreamers and sometimes. They get caught up in the dream, but turning a dream into action and that action into reality is a journey and often a scary one and a risky 1. So it’s no wonder a fair number of people don’t get past the dreaming. No, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe that’s not a lot of you listening. I mean, you’re interested in the kind of things we talk about that can help improve your work and your enjoyment and your motivation. So you may be of the ilk of artists who do set goals and chase them in a conscious and determined manner. But having been a creative coach, I dealt with a lot of people. Who set goals? Often under my guidance, or at least my watch, who never made them the priority they needed to be in order for them to have a chance in order for their dreams to have a chance. And I mean they even had accountability with me. But other things will come up and they would prioritize those things in their life. And sometimes they absolutely needed to do that. But many of them would get to a point where they would realize, hey, I’m not actually working towards these goals. And that’s often when the coaching relationship ended. And sometimes that’s when their creative career or dreams. That I don’t know if it was primarily out of embarrassment or just realizing that it wasn’t giving them the magic pill that they wanted to make things happen for them that causes. But you know, I mean, I had a lot of clients who did chase goals and the relationship ended because they were busy chasing their goals, which is absolutely fantastic and was often the focus of what I was doing with them. So I guess the question is, are you the kind of artist that sets goals and chases them, or are you a person who just prefers to dream and enjoy the process of making art? And I’m not judging you. If goals aren’t your thing. I don’t think it’s wrong not to have goals not in the way that it’s been set out, not in the specific stated goals of time frame and written steps and all that kind of thing. And that’s a big part of what we’re going to be talking about because in reality, we all have goals, even if we don’t recognize them. Has goals. And you don’t need to do some formal goal setting thing, especially if you are moving forward in the direction and within a time frame that works for you and all on your own team, because goals can take many forms and we’ll talk about that in a moment. But I think maybe we need to define what goals and goal setting actually is. And so basically a goal is anything that you look towards achieving, it’s really as simple as that. So right now I’ll take my silly little goal of the moment. I have this goal of making graduated color swatches of all my colored pencils. And no, I’m not going to get a metal at the end of doing that. But the point of me doing it is to become familiar with what I have practice the application of colored pencils because I haven’t done it in ages and to have samples with which to plan out my drawings. Because looking at the lead color, first of all, it’s not a good way to judge the color of the pencil. And that’s true with a lot of art materials, a lot of paints as well. And I’m also doing it because it’s something that I can do easily when I just have a few minutes. So I do a little bit every day and it’s very Zen. It requires some mental engagement, but it feels more like meditation. To mean, to be honest, some might not think that having a complete set of colors swatches for my pencils is something. To be called the goal. But when I’m done with. That I will have a sense of achievement. I will have something that will be very useful for my continued practice and even checks off all the letters in what are known as smart goals. And if you’re not familiar with smart goals, it’s an acronym. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound. And this is the kind of goal setting that I’m talking about. That’s very kind of formal. It has its purpose. It has its place. And it’s good to know about and it’s good to be aware of all the aspects that it’s trying to address, but you don’t have to do something so formal. And I don’t think it is the way to define a goal, but when you are consciously setting up a goal, I think it’s good to see if you have the things. That smart stands for in your goal, and you can quickly go through them and it’s helpful to realize that setting a viable goal might take more than saying you’re going to do something and maybe writing it down and giving yourself a. Line. It is a little bit more involved if you want to be successful and again it doesn’t have to be formal and I don’t actually agree with everything in the smart acronym list, but let’s go through them because I think they are actually helpful to focus on what is needed in a goal, whether it’s formal or not. So starting with the. Yes. Specific, that just means that you don’t leave your goal as just a general idea like I specifically want. Color Swatch is done in ingredient for all my colored pencils. Creating a reliable color reference for picking colors that’s pretty specific. So you want to try to be specific because you’re more likely to accomplish what you want to do. If you have a clear idea of what it is. The M stands for measurable and that just means that you have a way to judge that you’re making progress. So the color Pencil project is easy because I can see the swatches getting filled out, and once they’re all filled in, I know the goal has been achieved. And then a is for achievable and this refers to the aspect of setting a goal that you have a reasonable expectation of completing and being successful at. Now. If you’re an athlete going for a gold medal and you’re not ranked at the top, you may feel that your goal of getting a medal at the Olympics might not be achievable, and this is the part of the smart goal I’m not really keen on because. I think some people think that if their chances are low, it’s not worth chasing. It’s not a worthy goal, and that’s absolutely not true, because what we do can provide us with so much more than the stated end result. We say we want to achieve. So let’s look closer at this a achievable thing. Because it meshes with kind of my deviation from the standard belief that you need to have these big end goals to really achieve anything meaningful, let’s look back at these Olympic athletes that made it to the games, but they didn’t win a medal. They did not achieve the assumed end goal, but they are in no way losers. They are amazing, accomplished athletes that have some really mad skills. And if you don’t make it, you know into that big show or get gallery representation or get a big illustration gig or win that photography. Contest. You may not have achieved that big end goal, but the work itself to try to reach that is not just commendable, it’s a big part of what chasing that dream is about. The work itself is an education for you on what you can do on how you handle the ups and downs of your artistic achievements. And you end up with this amazing experience of chasing something big of taking a chance of being one of the. People who try. Wide I think you take the achievable aspect of these supposed rules of goal setting, not as a judgment of statistical possibility, but simply that you have a chance at all. And maybe more. Importantly, that you can do the work that moves you. Towards the goal. So measure whether you can do the work. Not whether you think the goal is achievable, because for one, if you can do the work then the goal is theoretically achievable, and if you don’t reach the intended. And goal, you still achieved interim and milestone goals of attaining educational or refining experiences that enhance your skills and knowledge through doing the work. So for instance, if I didn’t finish all my Swatch charts for my colored pencils, for whatever reason, I will still have gained practice and skill in applying. Colored pencil and learning to create smooth gradations of color, as well as becoming familiar with the pencils that I own and their characteristics, and the look of the colors. And how I work. For them. The fact is, we aren’t going to hit every goal right and may suggest that if you are hitting every goal that you might not be setting them as high as you could and you know, I mean, do you if you just want easy stuff, that’s fine. It’s fine. If it makes you happy, but maybe push a little bit because, Oh my gosh, achieving something that seemed. Hard and impossible. Ah, it’s such a high. It’s such a great feeling. But yeah. I’m just saying it’s something to think about. Anyways, back to our originally scheduled program. I think the most important part of setting goals is giving yourself something to strive for, something to work on, something to experience, and something to learn from. I’m not saying this is all preferable to actually hitting your end goal, but if you realize a big part of goal setting isn’t about hitting the goal, but rather. It’s tempting to hit that goal. Not only will you get more out of. The journey, but reaching it will be even sweeter, and if you don’t hit that goal, you’re going to be ready to bounce right back from any disappointment you do encounter because you know you still have more at the end of that experience than you did at the beginning, right? OK, let’s move on to the R of smart. That is to make it relevant now, there are probably a few different words. I think that would have been better than relevant, but it fits the acronym. The relevance factor is about judging whether the goal is useful to you, so you ask yourself if reaching this goal accomplishes something meaningful and will it move you forward into either bigger and better things, or work as a bridge into the next thing you’d like to do. The relevant category is it’s an opportunity to. Ask yourself if what you propose to do is worthwhile, and I think that’s a two-part question. Really. Is it worthwhile and why? It’s a chance to stop and think about and recognize what the end goal and the work itself the work to get to that goal we’ll do. To you? Well, they open up more doors, get you bigger sales, allow you to network the kind of contact you’ve been unable to reach up to this point. Or do you just think that’s the next thing you’re supposed to do? I think that when you set a goal, the why of it should be at the top of your list. So you write down what the goal is and you also write why this goal is important because the things that you put down to answer that question, the why question should probably address like long term overriding goals, don’t you think? Don’t you think any goal that you’re after? Is going to be part of a bigger picture. Anything that you do as an artist is going to affect your. Life it can affect how? Joyful you feel. In your life, it takes up time. It takes time away from other things, potentially. And so if the goals that you have aren’t feeding the kind of bigger picture of how you want your life to be, then it may not be a goal that you want to be after. So answering that, why will help you identify that. For example, if your goal is to get your work published in a magazine, what is that going to do for you? Is it going to help with sales? Probably not. If you’re just selling artwork, but if you sell books or tutorials or tools and that kind of thing, it could help your sales with that. Or if you’re interested in teaching gigs or want to do more magazine articles that could do that for you, that’s quite possible. But if bigger, art sales is what you’re after, maybe maybe this is not where you put your time and energy. Maybe put. Your time and energy into getting bigger shows with bigger markets and that kind of thing, so use the relevance factor as a way of analyzing your goal in terms of the big picture of what you wanted to do for you and your art and your art career and your life. OK. So then to one that is kind of you know very standard and very important and that’s the T the last letter AT stands for time because that last factor is really important. Most of us at least most of people I talked to do better when they have a deadline when they have some kind of time frame. Working, I mean, we’re artists, we’re easily distracted. We can mess around with our work forever and ever. Number and so when we have a deadline to reach, we tend to rein it in and get focused. So I’m big on having time frames for the things we want to accomplish. I’m also big on telling somebody else about my deadline because if I’m. The only one. Who knows? I’m not going to feel any real pressure to meet it. So if you really want to accomplish something and it it doesn’t itself. Have an inherent deadline, like when you need to apply to a show or submit your work to a contest and they give you deadlines. Of course, set some deadlines, ideally set several try to break up what you’re going to do into smaller bits, especially if it’s a really big project or a really big scary go. Well, if you break it up into smaller bits and you set time frames on those, you’re more likely to hit those to hit those series of small deadlines than to aim for one big and final deadline. Because that’s hard and some days you feel like, Oh my gosh, it’s it’s going to take forever. And it’s so far away. But when you’re saying, I just want to do this one thing. So for instance, you want to open your first online shop. You set up a deadline for researching your best shop options, and you figure out, you know, if you’re going on Etsy or Facebook or have your own website. And once you know that, you know what’s involved, you make a list. And for each item you have to do on that list, you set a timeline with all the little deadlines for each of these needed tasks, and then may I recommend that once you’ve done that, add about 20 to 50% of the time you. Think it’s going? To take to what you actually have down there, stretch it out because things always take longer than you think they’re going to take. And then when you have a realistic timeline, put a date your shop will open on your calendar. That’s something that you can look forward to, and once you have those all down on your list, your. Or whatever it is. Post it somewhere where you can see it every day and then tell your person whoever your person is. My person’s Brett, so I would tell Brett, you know, I plan on doing this and then I have to fix those deadlines because they know not the bit gives me a hard time if I don’t meet a deadline. In fact, it’s usually. The other way around but. You know. You want to be able to approach it like you were doing something for a paying client like there is some stakes in the game for you. So you tell somebody and you’re going to feel like there are some stakes. So as long as you keep. Your schedule you. Will have a shop on that day that you have on your calendar. Now if something happens and you get thrown off, it’s OK to go ahead and you reset your calendar, but be the Olympic athlete who maybe doesn’t win every race in the Olympics. But it just gets up when they don’t hit one and they look forward to the next race. In your case, you look forward to finish redoing that deadline that you needed and going on to the next thing and eventually hitting that long range goal, right? So there you have it. Those smart goals are the factors that a bunch of business guys put together back in the 80s. And as I mentioned, it could use a little tweaking, but it does get you thinking about all the different things that do matter when it comes to setting a goal or just trying to achieve a dream. However you want to phrase it. The biggest problem I have. With all of this that we just talked about, is that the idea of goal setting has become almost a non-negotiable thing in people’s minds. Just like multitasking, we think it’s. Something we need. You do, but like with multitasking, as it turns out, it’s not the necessary non-negotiable thing we’ve been taught. Like multitasking, we don’t actually ever multitask. The brain actually can’t do it, and it’s been proven many times over that you aren’t efficient multitasking, either. Most of the time, you’re less efficient because your brain isn’t able to just focus and get into flow. And as artists, we know how important flow is. Now, why do I say it feels like such? Requirement, especially this very particular idea of goal setting that you can’t get anywhere without it that you must always have these big dreams that you’re chasing. I think it’s pushed to the point where sometimes the way here people talk about it, it’s like goal setting itself becomes the the objective instead of the objective. Is actually the end goal that you’re after. Because goals aren’t things, they aren’t themselves. What you’re after. You’re not after just achieving goals, goals, or ideas. They are mental tools to get those things you want and have those experiences and successes that keep you motivated and give added value to your work and your life. But because it’s become such an essential thing in our conversations about. Anything we’re trying to achieve when we don’t meet our goals, I think that perception leads to even more dire reactions and feelings. Not that we failed this one time, but that we are failures as an. Identity, as already mentioned in the attempting of a goal, we are anything but failures, but not achieving a goal. Not achieving that idea of a thing is honestly not something to be upset about. The missed experience of that achievement. The kudos or the money or the next wrong on the ladder of where you wanted to climb? Sure. That might be something to be upset about, but how often is that target? Is that end goal that you missed? The only target of its kind, or something you can’t try for? Then how often are these goals? We set a once in a lifetime opportunity. Now some are it’s true, but there are more goals and more accomplishments and more experiences and many more lessons to be learned. So if you have a goal that you don’t get done or you miss your deadline, or you don’t win, you don’t get recognized or you lose an opportunity. Be an Olympic athlete and pick yourself up and get on to the next thing. Maybe push and cry into that type of ice cream and you vent to your person about how you suck or whatever it is that you have to do. I’m not going to tell you not to feel those things or work through it in any particular way. You do you, you do what works for you to get through the emotional period that is going to hit you initially. Take that time to just feel just be human and maybe just don’t beat yourself up. That would be the only thing I would ask. Just don’t beat yourself up. I mean, you tried remember that and you don’t have to dive back in or get back on the horse. Whatever, you can take a moment or two to, you know, basically grieve if that’s how. It’s hitting you. Even Olympic athletes, you’ll see them. They’ll sit on the field for a few after they got beat and just take a moment to take it in. And I’m assuming they’re just letting the feeling do its thing. And that’s more than OK. But then look. To what’s next, because you’re not done. You’re never done being a creative, that is identity. You are a creative, not a failure. You’re a creative who’s trying. There’s one other thing I’m not big on that’s kind of a standard part of the advice about goal setting and you’ll hear it often that when you don’t make your goal that you need to analyze what went wrong and what you can do better next time. And I’m not saying that reflection isn’t helpful because it absolutely is. But for one, it’s not. Every. Experiment. And secondly, not reaching your goal often isn’t your fault, so looking for what went wrong seems to be telling you telling yourself that you did something wrong, so if you don’t win a contest or make it into a show or sell a lot 1 month, it’s often happening because of things outside of your control.
So.
I want to propose you say this instead. If you have a goal that doesn’t pan out and you plan on doing the same kind of thing again or anything related to it, make notes on all the things you did right. I think that really gets overlooked and it’s really important to identify your successes and identify the things that work, because if you don’t, because if you just. Focused on what you think might be potential problems or potential issues that you didn’t address right, you might end up changing some things that actually did work that were actually right on the money.
So.
I think start there. Make note of all the things you did well and did right as far as you can tell. Then if you’re attempting something similar, maybe go back and try to identify what fell short. And now some may say that you should analyze immediately because it’s fresh in your memory, and sometimes that’s true like. Maybe a first time at a particular show, maybe Day 2. You realize that you really need a different price points, or maybe a different booth set up, or you got ideas or suggestions from other vendors. Yeah, those things are great. Write them down ideally, as they come to you as ideally as you run into them. But if your sales are poor and you want to figure out what went wrong, making that list of what. Went right, then coming back later and looking at it with probably a more objective eye because there’s been some time for you to work through any emotional residue from your disappoint. Moment you can be more impartial and see things for what they actually are like at that theoretical show. You might have thought you just sucked and people hated your work. At the end of that disappointing weekend. But two months later, with a couple successful shows, some good sales elsewhere under your belt, you might be able to see that. Either or it it just wasn’t your market or your items were priced too high or they’re too high end. And if you want to do that show again you think, OK, I have to pull back and and have more of the fun stuff and the lower price points. Ohh whatever it is. But in the moment that might actually be hard to identify, I don’t know. Some people are better at it than other people. I’m pretty good at being objective because, well, I’ve been in business for freaking ever, and I’ve had more than my share of disappointments. But if you find yourself emotional at the end of the show, this is not the time to start analyzing. What was wrong? You know, look at it later when you can be objective as as objective as possible. Because yeah, looking at where you can improve, that’s always smart. But just be careful when and how you do it, and I can’t say this enough. Make a conscious, preferably written note of what you did well. It helps keep you motivated and and kind of keeps you from throwing out the baby with the bathwater. You know. So with all that said. Let’s get to this core idea. Do you need goals? And the short answer, short answer is it depends on how you define them and what you need from them. And from this whole long discussion thus far, I’m guessing you can start to fill in those answers. Everything you do as a goal, right? But it doesn’t have to be official outline, timelined milestone kind of that accountable thing. It can be, you know, color few swatches every night until you have those color. It’s done if you don’t need or want the pressure of this kind of formal goal setting thing, keep it simple and keep it casual. If you aren’t getting where you think you need to be though, and keeping it casual. Go ahead and write down some goals and really clarify not just what to do, but what you really want, and just remember to include the why questions so you have an understanding of what this thing you’re after really means to you and how it will help you in the long term. This is especially important in identifying when you’re aiming for something because you think. It’s what you should do. Versus if feeding your unique needs and overriding goals so it’s, it’s sometimes hard because we’ve heard it over and over again. Like you make art, then you must sell. You don’t have to sell. You can just make art because it’s joyful and you love it and you love the process and you give it away to your friends. And it makes. Them happy and that fulfills you now if you’re looking for additional income. Then you might feel like, yeah, I need to sell, and that’s fine. But that’s a good reason to, because you’re like, I need some side income. And why not make some side income? Doing something that I love to do. Fantastic. You’ve identified a goal that you want to get into sales of your art and a reason why, and that’s perfect. So yeah, the answer is. You don’t feel a need to set goals in any official capacity, but do be aware of whether you’re making the kind of progress you want and need. If your goal setting is the casual type but you find you’re not getting any. There maybe it’s time to step it up, do something a bit more formal, do written plans, timelines, discuss it with someone who will help you stay on track and be accountable. Now we aren’t all made the same. We aren’t all after the same thing, so there’s no reason why we should all proceed in the same way. But I think the one thing we should all do is go after things. Go after the things that we want, the things that will enrich our lives and make us happier and more curious and. Live not just as artists, but as people in our day-to-day lives. So go ahead and do what you have to do your way. Just check in with yourself and be sure that your way is actually working for you. And if it’s not, Yep, step it up. Try some of these established approaches and then tweak them to fit your needs. So that’s basically what I’ve been doing in the past couple of weeks I’ve been. Seeing how often the things I set out to do aren’t working, and I’m wondering if it’s because I’m not pursuing the things that I need, at least this big picture wise thing. I’m one of those people that is always coming up with ideas. And it shows plenty of you out there listening that do the same thing cause it’s kind of a creativity thing, right? But I have this thing where I have to tell myself that just because I have a good idea doesn’t mean I have to do it. So I’m always repeating that after something comes up, I think, oh. I could do this I could. Do that and I’m like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, no good idea. But you don’t have to do it. No. Figure out why it might be something you want to do. And otherwise just hand it off to somebody else if at all possible. So I’m wondering if some of the things I’ve been trying to do slipped past that particular. Shelter and I didn’t stop to think about whether I really needed to be doing some of the things that I’m doing or going after. Some of the things that I’ve set goals for myself. So yeah, there’s been a lot of self contemplation going on here lately, and I don’t have answers yet, but I do have inklings. I do have concepts of the plan. Sorry I couldn’t. So no, I do have inklings that I need to pay attention to. What gets me excited and jazz, not just at the start, because new ideas are always exciting at. The start but. Ongoing. So I have a couple of new things that I’m excited about right now, like working on the color pencil stuff because I actually can work on it a little at a time and it’s so thrilling to know I can work on my visual arts kind of whenever I have a couple of minutes. But I got to let it play out and see if my ideas about where I could go with it are worth setting some kind of long range goals for. Because it might just be that in this moment it does allow me to do something creative while my life is still crazy and disjointed and constantly. Corrupted, but when it settles maybe I want to go back to those more complex projects that require big chunks of time. I don’t know yet, but what I do know is that right now I don’t want to set a goal. Not big goals, not where will I be in five year goals. I don’t have to. The closest thing I have to goal right now is to learn everything I can. About colored pencil and other quick medias that you can work with it and that’s it. No big overriding goals, no question about how I’m going to make money off of it or whatever. It’s not necessary. So if you’ve been trying to figure out where you’re going and what you need to be doing, maybe you can step back and look at the big picture. And if you’re in a period of flux or a period of exploration, don’t put pressure on yourself to have some big end goal. We will get something out of our creative work no matter what we do with it later on. You’ve probably heard me say this before, but you don’t. Go on a hike to have an end product. You don’t travel or go to a movie and expect to have a return on your investment. You do these things for the joy and experience and you can absolutely do that with your artwork, either ongoing or at least at the moment. I think the only thing I would encourage is just be sure you’re going in and being curious and being creative in whatever mode and however often it works for you right now. Because, yeah, too much pressure and expectation can really suck the joy out of the artistic experience. And barring that, you’re doing this to put food on the table or whatnot. I think that experience is the most important thing you want from your creative. Projects. So that said, I think I’ve. Babbled on enough? If you’re struggling with these issues, if you’ve been struggling with goals for a while, I don’t mind giving you some feedback on that, or if you need an account to bill a buddy you know, reach out. Let me know what you’re thinking. Tell me about your stuff. Tell me about your stories. You can do so at the sagearts.com. Just go to the contact page there. Or message me on Facebook or Instagram at the Sage Arts Podcast where you can also follow and keep up on when new episodes are out. You can also respond to the newsletter if you get that if you do. Phone. Just click that using notices button on the home page of this age arts.com or look for link in the show notes or description section of wherever you’re listening to this from. Also, don’t forget to hit the follow or subscribe button in the podcast player or on YouTube if you’re listening to this from there. That will also help keep you in the loop and helps push us up the search engine so more people can find us and be part of this. Conversation. And if you’re so inclined, write a review and let people know what you think of the podcast and if you are getting a lot out of these episodes and you want to give back, you can do so by going to the links or buttons in your show notes or description section of where you’re listening to this from and donate through PayPal or buy me a coffee, links and buttons there and on the homepage. It’s like halfway down. OK, my lovelys that’s that’s it for today. Just take the pressure off yourselves. Look at the big picture. Set goals. Or not in a way that makes sense for you. And if you don’t? Hit a goal. If you fail in any manner, feel your feelings. Do what you gotta do, then pick yourself up and find that next great thing to chase. There’s always another great thing out there to put your energy and creativity into. So Yep, go out there and have new experiences so you can feed that Muse and find. That next great. And along the way, stay true to your weirdness, and then join me again next time on the Sage Arts podcast.
