What Lies Beneath?

It is time to say goodbye to 2018 and move on to 2019. I am sad to see 2018 end. It was a great year with travel to the Scandinavian countries, fun times with friends, interesting workshops, continued success in the studio, and teaching. I am hoping that many of the high points of 2018 will continue into 2019.

Hoping, however is not enough. If 2019 is to have continuing high points it is important to create goals for 2019 that can be attained. Resolutions, a subset of goals, for the New Year will not hold. In fact  80% of people fail to achieve their New Years resolutions – and most give up within the first 2 weeks of the year. Goals are a more attainable if created from reflecting on the past years hits and misses and if they are measurable. When I was with school staff in Minnesota we used the term S.M.A.R.T goals. The acronym stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. 

Creating goals requires reflection and January is a good time for reflection. January is a down time after the busy holidays. We tend to cocoon in January due to the short daylight and cold temperatures. Reflection can just be a series of simple questions such as what went well, what did not go well and evaluating my progress as an artist, success at selling work, or working with clients. It’s not about perfection, it’s about progress. 

Having goals is great, but the secret to success is daily habits. Chase Jarvis has seven habits that support success. His seven habits are:

1. Getting into adventures associated goals. Adventures will result in an abundance of motivation and enthusiasm and energy. New learning. Where can I tap into adventure? 
2. Devouring pop culture associated with goals.  How can I consume art through exhibitions, galleries, museums. What artists can I follow through social media.
3. Taking pictures of things or make things to visualize goals. What images, text, reflect my goals?
4. Scribbling lots of ideas about the goal. Using sketchbooks, post-it notes to capture ideas. Ideas are organic and can span the year
5.  Sharing ideas for feedback. What can I do to bounce ideas off of others? Who will be “my others.”
6.  Asking questions. Lots of people know more than I do, find experts in the field and poll those answers.
7. Listening not only to others but also to myself. Intuition is wisdom and intuition is our bodies way of remembering. Answers are in the inside of us all. Quiet and Space are necessary.  Synthesizing all you have discovered through closing the loop by returning to reflection. 

Wishing you all a Happy 2019 and thank-you for reading this week’s blog