Shortly after dusk, the sky began to clear revealing a tiny waxing crescent moon. In what had been a hectic but pleasant day, I actually paused to admire such a beautiful sight in sky. A new beginning….
It seems that the New Year is an appropriate time to discuss setting goals. I took a class in sales eons ago before I started my graphics business. One of the things that I learned was that if you plan to achieve goals they need to be S.M.A.R.T. goals:
- Specific – What it is you want to achieve in detail
- Measurable – Set a deadline for when the goal should be achieved. If it is a big goal, you might want to break it up into smaller, more manageable parts
- Achievable – You are prepared to do what is required to attain your objective
- Realistic -Make sure you set goals that are realistic for you. To fail to be realistic is setting yourself up to fail unnecessarily
- Tangeable – There is an end product that you can clearly touch or experience
Last year, one of my main goals was to set goals instead of expectations… and I think I came a long way with that. This time last year, I was terrified of what to do with the show. It took some time, but I forgot about the show and started painting, rediscovered a passion and accomplished things I would have considered next to impossible the year before. I learned about myself, about the business of art and I met a lot of people through the experience of blogging. To maintain the blog was a specific goal for the show that has, happily, become part of a larger picture. I cleaned house of the things that were no longer working for me – at first with intensity and later with gentle release….
So what do I set as goals for 2009? Here is a general list (in no particular order!):
- Experiment, try new techniques, new materials and mediums
- Finalize my marketing plan and implement it
- Plan and implement a new way to make my website and blog more valuable to my readers.
- Do something innovative – something never done before or done in a completely new way
- Spend more time focusing on my art ‘clan’
- Travel a little further afield and find more stories and places and practice my photography
- Spend more time drawing and writing
- Read more poetry and classical literature
- Share as much as I can about what I learn with others
- Shorten the time it takes to finish a painting – I need to stop my hesitation. “Squint–Observe–Select–Aim–Stroke”(Dianne Mize) Thanks Dianne!!
- Enjoy every minute I can get with my friends and family – of course!
- Explore the Spirit within
- Have more FUN
My list above is pretty general and doesn’t include the details but if you are writing your own make sure you have them. In my journal I have my detailed marketing plan; a book list; some workshops and their dates for trying new painting techniques; a new sketchbook and the fancy pouch that I made for it (below); and I will share both my ideas and my progress from time to time as the year unfolds.
I cannot wait to get started. The process of setting goals can be very motivating! I wish everyone the best of luck with your goals for 2009 and Happy New Year!
Sketchbook Pouch to hold my Moleskine and the pens together
Michelle, Thanks for sharing your goals.
Happy New Year to you and yours. And by the way, I WANT that pouch. It’s awesome.
Excellent goals Michelle, but you left pursuing photography off, unless I read it wrong. I feel that photography combined with writing is a very powerful skill for you and should be developed professionally.
Happy new year!
Love,
Linda
Hum, how can you make your blog more valuable than it already is? 😉
Great set of goals. Look forward to another year of seeing what you are up to.
all the best
Happy New Year Michelle!
We can all benefit from taking some pages from your playbook!
I love your “pouch”! Beautiful!
Did you change the banner? I LIKE it!
*blushes* Thanks Janelle!
Linda – I will most certainly add that as it is integral to my travel! 🙂
Thanks so much Corrine! 😀
Thanks, Kinsey! And yes – I changed the banner for winter. I resisted as long as I could… LOL!
Added a couple of goals – thanks Linda and Dianne!
I prefer goals instead of “resolutions” myself.
I will add some of your goals to my list for this year.
Happy New Year
Happy New Year Michelle…
love your list of goals 🙂
in fact…I’ll borrow that shorten goal .. 😉
That pouch is gorgeous! Its a good thing to have and hold everything needed to sketch 🙂
Terry – Goals feel like they have action behind them!
Thanks, Kim! That ‘shorten’ one will do the rounds I think as I too found it on another artist’s list!
Thanks, Jennifer! 🙂
Oooh thats a good list Michelle. I do think I should come up with a little plan for myself, thanks for the inspiration 🙂
Dear Michelle, I am just blown away by both the painting at the top of this page and your list here. The painting brought instant tears to my eyes. So much of you work takes me back to my childhood and growing up in Maine. The buildings, the skies, the snow, the trees are things I saw every single day. I especially love the way you paint the houses. You have captured more than just a house; you have captured the “feeling” of these old houses, often they are closed up or abandoned in Maine. I have been inside so many that are just like your paintings that I just look at the houses here and I can not only see what they look like inside but how they smell and “feel”.
I also found your list very inspiring and solid…practical. It’s definitely coming from someone who “knows”. I like that. It is useful to me as a writer. Thank you so much for taking the time to share it.
I wish you a great year filled inspiration and creativity and much success with your beautiful art.
The sketchbook pouch is beautiful! I love your list, too. Wish I was feeling that inspired, myself. Been in a bit of a slump lately. Perhaps seeing my financial bottom line for 2008 was too much of a blow. Ah well…we’ll see what 2009 brings! My best to you & yours, of course. 🙂
Thanks, Chrissy! 🙂
Wow! Thanks for the compliments, Robin! You really made my day. I suppose it wouldn’t surprise you that I am a fan of Andrew Wyeth…!
Thanks, Lana! 😀 I understand slump – it’s what caused me to pick up beads and make the pouch! It’s amazing what can get you going again…
Inspiring post, Michelle. I am doing the same this week, as well as clearing up all of what needs it from 2008. Getting into present time, and you have helped me greatly by your detailed list.
I agree that goals work, and I made it a goal for 2008 to set goals. Now it is a comfortable thing to do.
I also love the pouch, beautiful. Happy New Year to you. I look forward to seeing more of you in 2009!
Thanks, Kris! Great to see you…
Hi Michelle ~ I use a Moleskine notebook as well and I think the pouch looks great
You seem so organised (I’m an Aquarian)
Are you a Virgo? – It’s just that my boss is a Virgo and he and I are like a comedy act. “Virgo likes to create order out of chaos – Aquarius likes to create chaos out of order…:)
I think your artwork and blog are exceptional.
I’ll be back 🙂
henry
Thanks, Henry… I am a Cancer sun, actually, but I have several signs and planets in all the right places for organization and Aquarius and Pisces in the right places to screw myself up! LOL!
very insightful and inspirational words. your list of goals inspires me!
Thanks, Julie! I am so glad to be able to share the inspiration! I guess I am well on my way to achieving one of those goals… 🙂
Wonderful list of goals…I’ve never felt the need to do such a list in the past but I’m finding this year may be a first for me…I think I will come back a couple of times and read your list over again, including the S.M.A.R.T. list!
By the way…your pouch is beautiful…such a talented artist!
I wish you a year filled with joy, creativity, and success!
Cheers
Heather, I have found that goals have been very useful – especially when they are SMART!
Wow. That’s a full plate of goals. A very good idea though. I think I’ll start with a goal of ‘make a sketch pouch’ because now I’m jealous. I’m sure might won’t be half so nice…
I have a year and a couple of those things should be complete in February! Making the pouch was a great way to get me over the ‘hump’!