Suzanne Edminster, The Cows Come Home, acrylic combined media, 24″ x 24″
Part of the issue of achievement is to be able to set realistic goals, but that’s one of the hardest things to do because you don’t always know exactly where you’re going, and you shouldn’t. (George Lucas)
Are you, like me, mired in lists of goals? Worthy moral goals, health goals, art goals? Notebooks, index cards, sticky notes? Urgent goals and long-term goals and goals for others?
Go ahead and write them up , then throw them out. Choose one to three do-able goals, then cut them in half. It’s ok to halve them again and again. For instance, I started this blog with wanting to ask for five goals, then I cut it to three. I may only get two. The object is to make the goals so small that you will actually do them. Ridiculously, microscopically teensy-weensy goals that you can actually do this week, Monday through Sunday.
I’ll post my one to three goals in the comments section, then report on art progress next week. What are your one to three ludicrously small and do-able art habits? Post them in the comments section– it adds a little accountability. I’ll start with mine. We offer a big wet brush-full of good wishes to all Caerus readers for 2013.
The great secret about goals and visions is not the future they describe but the change in the present they engender. (David Allen, author)
My 2013 Saltworkstudio classes start Sunday, January 27 in my new SOFA Backstreet Gallery studio! Please join me… there’s currently a special offer if you sign up for all four of them. I explain a bit about my work in this video.
Caerus Art Residency 
Here are my three: go into studio three times this week. (I wanted to go every day, so I cut it in half.) I’ll post three times this week in the virtual world, so this makes one time. And I’ll prep three new, small canvases…. just prep, no committment to paint. i’ll report and post images newt week.
Thanks for the goal setting challenge Suzanne – teensy-weensy is good!
I leave for a week long family visit to LA tomorrow morning so my goal will be about staying connected to art even though I will not be in my studio. So a trip to the Getty Museum is my goal for this week.
I want your goal! Nice to hear from you, Lauri. I know that your Pie-Eyed weekends were a success. Great idea! Suzanne
Okay. Three tiny goals. I am engaged in the dubious adventure of singing for pay up to six days a week, so my challenge is to get art time that is just for me. So, let’s see:1) I will listen to one song carefully two days this week. 2) I will practice (as opposed to busking) two times this week. That’s as far as I can go, committing to those little bits of listening and practicing. I’ll add #3 if I think of a do-able third goal.
Fantastic… that’s perfect. Sounds do-able. Are you cold busking on these super-chilly days? Suzanne
Oh yeah, I am cold. The worst thing is the wind, though, which sends my strings out of tune fast: today I spent as much time tuning as playing (not good for income). I’m wearing full winter regalia except for my coat.
Thanks, Suzanne, for an inspiringly do-able approach. Just what I need!
So what’s your mini-goal, Rosi? And a happy New Year!
I’ve now been traveling for one month on a three month trip; NYC, DC, Princeton, Bahamas and we have just arrived in Sarasota, FL where we’ll be for two months. Exhausted. Unpacked. First day out I found an artists guild. I’m catching my breath and by the end of the week I will set my goals. This is not easy when I am uprooted and in one week expecting guests. But somehow do-able. First up, I have a 4 hour meeting with my writing group on skype, Florida to Norway, this week Thursday, so that’s a beginning. I will let you know how I figure this out. Thanks for asking! You are having a great start to your new year! Congratulations on selling your beautiful painting.
My goals for this week are to successfully hang 13 pieces of my art at Bank of the West in Sebastopol (9 am), and the same day successfully take the minutes of the Artists of the West County meeting as their new secretary. Plus, find time to get in the studio!
Wow, Kathryn, fabulous! Congratulations on the show! When is the reception? Please post it here or in the Caerus group. Sounds like just getting in the studio this week might fulfill the mini-goal. Good to hear from you… Suzanne
THis is great! But I can’t play, because I just signed up for an online course that is going to be keeping my art hopping for the next month. . .even though last night I dreamed that I’d overbooked myself with dire consequences. . .which is why this challenge makes soooo much sense, as yours usually do Suzanne.
Sounds good. I look forward to hearing about it. My own experience with online courses is good, but extreme. Either I do everything or sort of fizzle out. Love and support from here! Since the “tiny goals” are ideal, by making zero goals you may get oodles of art done. I enjoyed your last mixed media piece (the lunar one). Love and support. Suzanne