04-20-2015, 07:06 AM
I was at a presentation recently given by Errol Gershon, who teaches the business side of art and how to be successful as a creative at the Art Center. Immensely useful. I can't distill it all down, but I will give you a few key pointers.
1. P2.D2
(the 2's are meant to be "squared" but can't figure out how to do that in a post)
This stands for Passion, Persistence, Determination, Discipline. Without any one of these you will fail. I never heard it boiled down like this before but upon examination it really holds up. I realised I had everything, but I have always been quite low on discipline, so that will be changing. Figure out what aspect you are low on and address that. I would say for most of us, discipline will be a weak point.
Another thing to note is that two of these are internal motivations (Passion and Determination), the other two are action oriented (Persistence and Discipline).
You cannot have intent without action, because you will get nowhere. And action without intent is just randomised motion that will get you somewhere, but with no purpose in mind.
2. SMART goals. This is a very standard criteria to create your goals, used in business a lot.
S : Specific
M : Measurable
A : Achievable
R : Realistic
T : Timebound
If your goals aren't SMART, there will be issues in meeting them.
So look at your goal that says: "Really really focus"
It isn't specific, it isn't measurable, is it actually achievable because there is no criteria in place for what focus means? In this case does it sound realistic when you don't know what you are aiming for? It isn't timebound.
Instead you should say something like:
I will do 1 hour of art practice on 6 out of 7 days a week for the next year.
Boom. SMART.
Your next goal: "Develop a portfolio and just keep going"
Not SMART. Instead:
I will work on 1 portfolio piece a month for the next year until I have 12 of my best artwork to showcase
Doing this will ensure you know exactly when you are about to fail on a goal.
3. Reasons and Excuses.
Most people come up with all sorts of things to explain why they failed. Most of these things are excuses, not reasons. You want to ditch any excuse that you ascribe after the fact to why you failed. Things like, "I didn't have enough time", "I didn't have enough money", "My circumstances weren't conducive to my practice" etc. These are excuses. If you didn't have money, then you make enough to support yourself. If you didn't have enough time, then you juggle things around, reprioritise and become more efficient so you have the time.
Using an example of your own "So immediately after getting a job, my art productivity dropped."
Nice excuse blaming the job. No, your art productivity dropped because you allowed it to. Playing games all weekend to relax as time off from your job, was your choice. What about after work? You could have been doing art. I worked fulltime, a 10 hour day, and would go back home and do another 4 hours on my art. I did this for over a year.
Do you want it bad enough?
Psquared-Dsquared. What's missing?
Make sure you have reasons for failing and then address them, don't make excuses.
4. A couple of tips.
Reevaluate your goals all the time. Sometimes they may need to change. A goal is not something to hit, it is an incentive to create movement towards something you wish to achieve. Be prepared to shift your target even as you are flying towards it.
Keep physical lists of what you need to get done for the week/day. I believe physical ones are better than the electronic ones because they are more visceral, especially when you put them up where you pass by and see them everyday. Plus crossing them off is an awesome reward.
Before you go to sleep each day, spend a few minutes thinking about what you are going to be ticking off your list for the next day. You will wake up with these things reinforced in your mind and find it easier to do.
Hope that wasn't too harsh, but sometimes you need to be told direct and honest when you are letting yourself get away without any self-accountability. That's what we are here for :) but ultimately you need to be able to generate this yourself as well.
1. P2.D2
(the 2's are meant to be "squared" but can't figure out how to do that in a post)
This stands for Passion, Persistence, Determination, Discipline. Without any one of these you will fail. I never heard it boiled down like this before but upon examination it really holds up. I realised I had everything, but I have always been quite low on discipline, so that will be changing. Figure out what aspect you are low on and address that. I would say for most of us, discipline will be a weak point.
Another thing to note is that two of these are internal motivations (Passion and Determination), the other two are action oriented (Persistence and Discipline).
You cannot have intent without action, because you will get nowhere. And action without intent is just randomised motion that will get you somewhere, but with no purpose in mind.
2. SMART goals. This is a very standard criteria to create your goals, used in business a lot.
S : Specific
M : Measurable
A : Achievable
R : Realistic
T : Timebound
If your goals aren't SMART, there will be issues in meeting them.
So look at your goal that says: "Really really focus"
It isn't specific, it isn't measurable, is it actually achievable because there is no criteria in place for what focus means? In this case does it sound realistic when you don't know what you are aiming for? It isn't timebound.
Instead you should say something like:
I will do 1 hour of art practice on 6 out of 7 days a week for the next year.
Boom. SMART.
Your next goal: "Develop a portfolio and just keep going"
Not SMART. Instead:
I will work on 1 portfolio piece a month for the next year until I have 12 of my best artwork to showcase
Doing this will ensure you know exactly when you are about to fail on a goal.
3. Reasons and Excuses.
Most people come up with all sorts of things to explain why they failed. Most of these things are excuses, not reasons. You want to ditch any excuse that you ascribe after the fact to why you failed. Things like, "I didn't have enough time", "I didn't have enough money", "My circumstances weren't conducive to my practice" etc. These are excuses. If you didn't have money, then you make enough to support yourself. If you didn't have enough time, then you juggle things around, reprioritise and become more efficient so you have the time.
Using an example of your own "So immediately after getting a job, my art productivity dropped."
Nice excuse blaming the job. No, your art productivity dropped because you allowed it to. Playing games all weekend to relax as time off from your job, was your choice. What about after work? You could have been doing art. I worked fulltime, a 10 hour day, and would go back home and do another 4 hours on my art. I did this for over a year.
Do you want it bad enough?
Psquared-Dsquared. What's missing?
Make sure you have reasons for failing and then address them, don't make excuses.
4. A couple of tips.
Reevaluate your goals all the time. Sometimes they may need to change. A goal is not something to hit, it is an incentive to create movement towards something you wish to achieve. Be prepared to shift your target even as you are flying towards it.
Keep physical lists of what you need to get done for the week/day. I believe physical ones are better than the electronic ones because they are more visceral, especially when you put them up where you pass by and see them everyday. Plus crossing them off is an awesome reward.
Before you go to sleep each day, spend a few minutes thinking about what you are going to be ticking off your list for the next day. You will wake up with these things reinforced in your mind and find it easier to do.
Hope that wasn't too harsh, but sometimes you need to be told direct and honest when you are letting yourself get away without any self-accountability. That's what we are here for :) but ultimately you need to be able to generate this yourself as well.