Planning Creative Goals on Artist Strong
Today I just had a wonderful conversation with a dear friend that reminded me how important connection is. She is writing this amazing, fun, interesting book that she has been working on for quite some time and has come back to it after I connected her with an editor. We talked about how we put our creativity on the backburner when other things happen and how it creates this ebb and flow, despite the fact that being creative sustains our spirit.
Clearly, we all need to make our creativity a greater, more valued, priority. Why don’t we? I think sometimes it happens because we don’t have a specific plan of action. If we create a plan and timeline of goals, we have something to work toward and remind us of our passion and interest. When I first started this blog two years ago I talked about SMART goals, and how creating specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely goals can help you reach your creative dreams.
There are many ways to set goals or help direct yourself. I also am a big fan of mind-mapping (link to another article on mind-mapping). Included here I am showing you my 6 month Mind Map. I won’t judge myself (working on it anyway) if I don’t reach all of these goals but I have it in my journal/sketchbook space to remind me of what I am working towards, and it helps keep the big picture fresh in my mind.
Artist Strong mind Map
Another way to help you plan your creative success is to use a business plan as a model. Google Search free business plans and you will see you have all kinds of templates you can modify and build off of as a template for creative reflection.
An important consideration is what I first mentioned in the start of this post: the importance of connection. It is because of meaningful friendships who help inspire me and encourage me through my dry times and offer me feedback and support that I manage to create. The right people in your mental creative space is extremely important. Your friends can be a rock to help you build towards your goals!
Yes, all of these strategies take time away from the actual creative process, but the time you spend on your artwork will be more meaningful and directed if you do some planning and reflection before creation. I guarantee you will be closer to your hoped for creative goals if you take one of these steps. A reminder of what you hope to accomplish and what makes your heart happy is something worth prioritizing, and reminding yourself about, don’t you think?
BE COURAGEOUSLY CREATIVE: Pick one strategy I mentioned today and give yourself 15 minutes to reflect on your creative project using that strategy. What have you now learned or aim to do?
I think the downfall of many brilliant creatives is lack of focus. In my experience, having goals and a plan made the difference between art as a hobby and a career. Your idea of a 6 month mind map to work out my goals is interesting…i am going to give that a try. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Ken! I agree, I see that in the students I teach as well as my adult friends that are creative. It’s always the what ifs or whens, which happen because people, sometimes myself included, don’t make their art a priority (and then don’t reflect and set goals or tasks to work towards their creative dream). I hope it helps! Cheers.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the creative process. I really need to use the mind map more often. Right now,with three kids, I find my best ideas in silence…usually in the middle of the night! 😉
I’m glad you enjoyed the post! I can only imagine with three kids when you might find some quiet. I like Mindmaps because you don’t have to have a linear thought process, which I certainly don’t have and I’m sure is harder to think through when there are lots of little people about!
First of all, Wow! I can only hope to hold up my blog for two years. Second of all, I’m the kind of person who does well with setting goals and mapping things out, but somehow I haven’t thought of doing that in a personal time span way. I’m not sure how long it would have taken me to come up with a six month map-out on my own, so thank you. I really think it could be good for me
Hi there Ella! I’m glad you enjoyed the post and I hope the mind-mapping helps you! The 6 month timeline for my grounds the goals so I can have some perspective and I feel more grounded in my timeline. When its a year long process I put a lot of pressure on myself. At the same point in time doing a mindmap makes it more flexible for my A Type personality so I can reflect and see where I’m at in 6 months instead of judging myself for not reaching everything. By simply writing it down and keeping it close by I keep thinking on it and work toward it when I have time and space.
You mention blogging for two years. Really, the hard part of that is making time and being consistent, but if you are already goal-minded, I’m sure you will do a great job building your blog and keeping at it! Thanks for visiting Artist Think 🙂
Yes thats what I do, working my creative plan off. The problem somethimes is keeping faith in the result.
I completely agree! Maintaining faith in our creativity and process can be really difficult. Sharing it with others or teaming up with someone who also needs that support and reinforcement to keep going can help everyone get closer to their goals. Sharing it publicly can give you accountability and make you feel pressure to continue on even when you are personally discouraged. I know my blog does that for me!