Monday, January 25, 2010

What Are Your Goals for Your Art This Year?


No, I do not call them resolutions. They are goals. Goals that are thoughtfully pondered over and realistically set for both the short-term AND the long-term.

A short-term goal is one that should see completion within a relatively short period of time, such as six-months, one year all the way up to five years. Long term goals obviously then would be five years and beyond. Haven't you ever gone for a job interview and been asked, "Where do you see yourself in five years? ..... in ten years?" I always hated those questions, and usually the interviewers did not like my response (but that's a story for another day). The point is, if one is to succeed, one must first set realistic goals, otherwise one tends to succeed at nothing more than wandering aimlessly.

I find goals easier to manage when they are broken down into small chunks, much like a painting. In case you hadn't noticed, I like to work my paintings one section at a time rather than all over at once. I have to feel like I'm making progress or I get discouraged. When I work one section at a time I am constantly seeing progress. So it is with goals. I break them into smaller, more manageable pieces that can be completed in a short enough period of time that I can see and feel the progress I'm making.

Furthermore, it is important to write how you intend to accomplish your goals. Simply listing your goals is not enough. You need to have a plan of action other wise it becomes too easy to fall by the wayside and never achieve your goal.

Although it is putting yourself on the spot by making others privy to this information, it helps to let others know what your goals are. In this way friends and fellow artists can help you, and I, achieve our goals by occasionally nudging us in the right direction, or reminding us of a goal we may have forgotten about.

So I am taking my own advice and writing my goals for 2010 here. I will not be including what my plan of action is here. That is for you, and me, to do for ourselves, because a goal without a plan of action is probably a goal that will never be achieved.


Here is my list of goals for this next year, and included is the date when I would like to have that goal accomplished:

1. Get established in at least one gallery within the next eight weeks.
Goal = Feb. 28, 2010

2. Do store demos, an "Artist in Action" sort of thing.
Goal = March 2010.

3. Enter at least two national art competitions this year.
Goal for first entry = May 2010.

4. Enter at least two local and/or regional art competitions.
Goal = May 2010.

5. Write at least one tutorial for my website.
Goal = July 2010

6. Finish my Christian paintings!!!
Cowboys for Christ: Goal = September 2010.
Is Your Name In The Book: Goal = December 2010
The Great Compromiser/Deceiver: Goal = June 2011

7. Work on my art basics. Turn what I learn and what I work on into lessons that can perhaps help other artists as well.
Goal: Ongoing throughout the year.



Now what about all of you? What are your short-term goals for this next year? What would you like to accomplish in your artistic life?

I challenge you to think carefully about what you would like to accomplish this year and write out your goals, then write your plan of action to accomplish each and every goal. Make your goals known to others and take their reminders and inquiries throughout the year as encouragement rather than as nagging. You may just find yourself accomplishing more than you thought you would, and hopefully more than you have in other years.

7 comments:

  1. You cat is beautiful and your goals impressive. You are right it certainly does help one to set goals,write them down and review them regularly.

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  2. Thank you Vicki! So, do YOU have your goals set for this year? :D

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  3. Beautiful Blog Nancy.... I Love the Kitty.... I get to look at him everyday since I have the Original!Thanks for putting him in the ST ATC exchange.... Your list of goals is impresive. Hope you get everyone of them accomplished!
    Jean

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  4. Hi Jean!

    I forgot you have this kitty! Lol! Glad you still like him. :p

    I will have accomplished my first goal tomorrow, if all goes as planned at least. I'll have to post a blog about it tomorrow.

    Thanks concerning my blog. Yours is coming along wonderfully! You'll get there. A lot of it is about trial and error, and playing. Just have fun with it, while keeping it professional looking.

    Nancy

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  5. great blog and I like the goals you have set. Very realistic and achievable. I hope you hit every one of them.
    God bless and thanks for checking in on my blog.

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  6. Hi Nancy,
    You put things so clear, once again, that it really looks so simple to do. Have you ever been a teacher?
    Your painting of the kitty is adorable...
    Best regards,
    Carolina

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  7. Thank you Carolina! Yes, I actually have taught before. I have taught at the college level (statistics, research, sociology, writing/grammar NOT art). I've also been a riding instructor and clinic instructor (for horses and riders) and have given private art lessons because my student insisted. She later became one of my best friends! I do love teaching either one-on-one or in very small groups. I never liked teaching large groups of people, especially in lecture halls of 250!

    Thank you Gary! I'm glad you dropped by.

    Nancy

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