The purpose of these blog posts is to share my approach that has helped move my art and business forward. We all have a passion or pursuit we can’t seem to live without doing that makes us come alive when we are living it. My hope is that some of this will help you do that thing, that work, more and elevate your art to the next level, whatever it may be. The first post gave 3 words that can motivate you when feeling stuck. What are they motivating you to do? I have found there needs to be a system to break down the process. My brain needs to plan things out before executing and this system has worked fairly well for me. Take what works for you. We all are here to grow in our art.
.jpg)
Borrowed ideas from an article about having a system for your goals by James Clear. I modified it slightly with elements from other techniques I have used before. Make it work for you. There is no one size fits all solution.
Goal Planning and Systems
What can be done to make the ship go faster? A more in-depth look at goals and breaking them down into manageable actions and steps. I usually sit down with a notebook and just write down all the ideas of what I want to achieve or want to be, no matter how lofty or outrageous. Sort them into larger categories, and even further into smaller actionable steps. Essentially working backward from the desired result through the steps to get there. Another variation or interpretation is SMART Goals. I don’t completely follow all of the SMART Goal structure as it may have been originally designed for corporate goals and performance assessments of employees. However, still a great concept. The 5 main categories I break my thoughts into are broad but are meant to start the sorting process.
5 Goal Categories
- Career/Business
- Financial
- Personal/Spiritual
- Physical
- Relationships
From there I pick a few from each category that I want to focus on. The system sort of forms itself. Breaking down into steps from larger steps to smaller, easier to attain steps. My philosophy for this is “what will make the ship move faster?” The ship being the art and passion you are pursuing, and moving towards a goal that was just laid out.
An example. Design website for business. That’s a pretty complex and broad goal. That can be broken down into smaller more manageable steps.
- Research designs
- Pick favorite design
- Write page copy (broken down even further to each page)
- Finding/taking/buying images.
This method I find works for me and allows me to focus my attention on my art and my life with simpler to understand steps.
What is your art and what are your lofty goals? How are you moving to achieve them? I’d love to hear what works for you. The next post will be some daily practices that bring it all together.
See all the posts from this series:
Post 1: Turn Aspirations into Goals | 3 Words
Post 2: Turn Aspirations into Goals | Planning
Post 3:
