Art related goals for the year?

[Alonso_Carballo]

Hey everyone!

I'm Alonso from San Jose, Costa Rica. I'm a musician, songwriter and producer. People like us who are artists can be at times very distracted and always have our heads wanting to go in 1,000 different directions. Then we complain why we don't get things done.

I'm curious to know if any of you take some time at the beginning of the year to write down your artistic goals and the things you want to accomplish. And I mean this in a tangible, measurable way, like this:

-Instead of saying "I want to do as many paintings as possible, you write down "I want to finished 5 paintings by December 31st".

For example as part of my big 8 goals for the year, I wrote "Release a music video in October" and "Release a 4-song EP by March 31st".

Looking forward to your comments. Hope I'm not the only weirdo who does this :-)

[D Akey]

Very interesting topic, Alonso.

There are things that I have not managed to accomplish that I have every intention to do. I have tried making lists. For me they fall apart the instant some major need pulls me off my course. eg: the roof falls in (deflect!) or some other thing jumps in my face (like a paying job) where there's no wiggle room. Often times it happens just when I get up a head of steam too which is maddening.

So, what would I do to make it work? Others tell me having other people in the mix to spur us on is a good thing. It's much harder to avoid 'the list' when a group (as with musicians) will bounce you out unless you deliver. If you're part of a team, it's very helpful especially if the can offer advice how to get around one's blocks. Clients holding up a paycheck are also very useful for focus. The world doesn't argue usually if money will be coming in as a result of your industry.

But I'm very embarrassed to say there are more incomplete projects than I care to admit. A lot that I have succeeded with as well. And so these days I think setting shorter (as you suggest) reachable goals is probably wise.

So does your making lists work for you?

[Alonso_Carballo]

Very interesting topic, Alonso.

There are things that I have not managed to accomplish that I have every intention to do. I have tried making lists. For me they fall apart the instant some major need pulls me off my course. eg: the roof falls in (deflect!) or some other thing jumps in my face (like a paying job) where there's no wiggle room. Often times it happens just when I get up a head of steam too which is maddening.

So, what would I do to make it work? Others tell me having other people in the mix to spur us on is a good thing. It's much harder to avoid 'the list' when a group (as with musicians) will bounce you out unless you deliver. If you're part of a team, it's very helpful especially if the can offer advice how to get around one's blocks. Clients holding up a paycheck are also very useful for focus. The world doesn't argue usually if money will be coming in as a result of your industry.

But I'm very embarrassed to say there are more incomplete projects than I care to admit. A lot that I have succeeded with as well. And so these days I think setting shorter (as you suggest) reachable goals is probably wise.

So does your making lists work for you?

You're not alone, most artists like us have to juggle jobs/commissioned work, family, financial obligations and still have energy and focus to continue being creative and putting out work. And we know that life continually gets in the way.

One thing that has worked tremendously well for me is to set no more than 7-8 goals for the year, goals that will be challenging and make me feel a little bit scared, but no so much that I know deep inside I will never achieve them. So then you spread out the target date for those goals throughout the entire year where you'll have 2 or 3 tops that are due in the same quarter. This way you aren't overwhelmed. And you don't think right now about the goals that are due 8 months from now.

Another great thing, as you mentioned, is having some kind of support system, be it an accountability partner whom you talk to every week over the phone or a mastermind of up to 5-6 people who again talk every week. No one can do it all on their own and it is very easy to just lose our way and drift.