It’s outreach Wednesday!
Today let's talk about keeping focused as an artist. Please read the following article I wrote and please feel free to ask questions or make comments! Like and share!
Thanks!
Peri Charlfu - CAG Guild Primus
Art of the long game:
Sure it’s easy to be super motivated when yours business is brand new! But keeping momentum is hard, especially with set backs and unexpected problems that face every artist. I want to talk a little about keeping your head above water and staying productive in the long run.
Setting goal and making plans:
The first thing you need to do is set some reasonable goals. You can’t be focused if you don’t know what you’re focused on. Your goals should be set in stages, its fine to have the goal of making 100K a year, but its not a realistic goal for your brand new business. Unless you found a gold mine!
Without primary and intermediary goals, you will never reach such a lofty result. Setting reasonable goals will allow you to succeed, setting unrealistic goals will become frustrating and frustration is the antithesis of a goal oriented plan.
I like to use a one year plan, broken into three month goals. Three month goals are easier to meet, and you can gauge your progress better that way. It also allows you to adapt your goals, without feeling like you’re throwing everything to the wind. Remember that you can and should change your goals if you are having trouble meeting expectations or if you are meeting your goals so quickly that you find yourself with a great deal of time on your hands. Every minute you’re not working and producing a product, you are losing money and inventory. Yes, even writers have inventory. Word count is your unit of production.
Setting up a schedule and workflow:
Once you have determined what you want to accomplished, you need to form a plan that will allow you to achieve these goals with as little distraction as possible.
There are different ways to do this, but it all comes down to being organized and focused. I use a regimented workflow (My marketing class goes in-depth with this).
A systematic schedule that you can live with is key. Don’t construct a schedule that you can’t follow. If you set up a workflow schedule you can’t abide by, you will become frustrated and this is counter-productive.
You’re self employed, work when you want, just as long as you’re working. Keep your eye on the prize, in other words, remember why your’e doing what your’e doing. Being self employed is hard, you are your own boss. TREAT IT LIKE A JOB! You have to be disciplined, discipline is the most important attribute, right after tenaciousness for a successful artist.
If hard work, long hours and set backs make you so frustrated you can’t work, you need to reevaluate your work habits. We are trained from a very young age to work in a structured environment, schools are structured so that they condition us to enter the work force. Without that structure, many artist will fail at being self employed. You MUST impose structure on your own, on your work habits and the way you approach your art.
Realizing your limitations:
You need to be kind to yourself, DO NOT measure your work, your success, your technical skill, your Facebook followers, or any other part of your art or personality against anyone else! We are all on a different journey and we all progress in our own way. We all have strengths and we all have weaknesses!
You can eat away any confidence you have by playing the compare game. Its destructive to you and to your relationships. And most importantly to your art!
Remember that everybody fails! No one is perfect, and no one just woke up one morning and was a famous artist. When you see a successful artist, that person didn’t just become an over night sensation, they paid their dues, they struggled, failed, struggled some more and eventually broke though.
Allow yourself to grow, to fail, to learn, to cry and most importantly, relish your successes! If your’e not having a fulfilling and joyous life, you are doing something wrong. Being able to take the downs with the ups is vital for an artist. You must have a thick skin.
Please forgive yourself when you screw up and learn from it. Always try to make your failings into a positive experience. Its true that we learn more from our failures than from our successes.
Hope for the best, but plan for the worst:
Another thing that will help you avoid frustration and panic, is to plan ahead. Think about the things that might happen. Always stock your studio with the materials you need, so you are never caught with your pencils down.
Remember that things happen beyond your control. A show might lose your work, a venue might cancel, never put all your eggs in one basket. Think about medical issues that might come up, having a nest egg is vital. It’s also a great idea to try to get ahead of your production, in case of market problems, illness or injury. If you have work stockpiled, you have a buffer for shows and orders.
This isn’t always easy, but it is a good goal to set, even if its just one or two pieces a week. Remember that there will be things beyond your control, material shortages, injury, or a global pandemic…
Networking and exploring:
It’s easy to become myopic in your own little world, its vital to have a group of peers you can communicate with, people that can offer you support, critique and a sounding board to bounce ideas off of.
Explore your world, we can’t make art in a bubble. Looking at other artists work, natural beauty, or even the ugliness of life, can all provide inspiration.
You must avoid becoming stale and board. Once you lose the spark and love for your art, it will show. The best way to avoid this is to constantly try to expand your comfort zone. Try new media, try new techniques, play! Not to the exclusion of being productive, but if you make your work challenging and interesting, you will be more likely to engage more often and have less artist block.
The most important thing, is to think in terms of the future, the big plan. Don’t let a bad sale devastate you, we all have them, don’t let a great sale set unrealistic expectations either. Look at your work over the course of time, keep track of what you sell, where you sell it. An over all average will let you know how you’re doing. This can help you to gage your progress and help you make a smart and informed strategy to improve your art and stay focused for the future! But most of all, and this is the most important thing of all, keep making art! I wish you all the best and please feel free to reach out to me or anyone else in the Guild for advice and information.