Getting specific about goals and rocks

Hi, I would love some help with nailing down my goal and rocks.

So I loved the summer worksheet and workshop. I just re-read my worksheet and had load more ah-ha moments.

There’s a lot in there about trust, needing approval by other people, and self confidence. I am an artist/illustrator, and just did an MA in Children’s Book Illustration, and by going through this same cycle a few times I have learned that I have a tendency to let my money worries take over, and I start trying to make money (so we can pay rent and stuff, it has been tough), rather than making work. But I have learned over time, and as I say, going through this a few times, that if I make artwork, the rest tends to take care of itself, as my ultimate goal is to write and illustrate books, sell artwork, as well as running workshops, Patreon, and short courses. So in the past, when I’ve stopped trying to make money, and made artwork, I have made money as a byproduct of the work, if you see what I mean.

So here is my goal and rocks:

Goal: to find a daily/weekly/monthly practice that incorporates daily creative work

Rock 1: to make creative work every day

Rock 2: to do a daily worksheet at the beginning of the day before work (a worksheet I have created with daily modelling, thought download and planning).

Rock 3: to allow more space in the day for “gathering” and “filtering”. (A personal language I have created for basically feeding my creativity with inspiration and time and space relaxing.)

My instinct is that they are too wordy and I could neaten up the language. I would be grateful for your help!

Thanks,
Ell

 

 

Answer:

Congratulations on your MA! That’s incredible. Your rocks look great, if you like them, go all in.

When we look at your goal, I want to point something out. You used the words “to find.” These seem like pretty harmless little words, but notice how your goal is more of a search for this practice that’s somewhere out there rather than something you create from inside of you. It’s like when someone wants to be more organized so they spend a lot of time buying the perfect planner thinking it will solve everything. Then after a few weeks it sits and gathers dust because it was never the HOW, it was always the way they were thinking.

The best part of setting intentional goals is we get to decide who we are going to be and what we are going to accomplish without knowing the how.  I love this thought for you: if I make artwork, the rest tends to take care of itself.

If you knew it was guaranteed to come true, what would your goal be?