Setting Goals As an Artist

It is easy to mix up the ideas of artistry and absent-mindedness. We think that to be creative means being disorganized, flighty and generally unreliable. "It is the nature of the artist" we tell ourselves as we miss appointments or show up an hour late.

But being organized and setting goals for the future are of the utmost importance if we wish to actually harness our creative powers and put them to work for us. How many creative types do you know who drift with the wind, waiting for opportunities while cursing the obtuseness of a world who doesn't understand them?

These are artists who have failed to claim ownership of their lives and art. If only they were to determine what their art means to them and what it means to be successful, they would be well on the path to a full life as an artist.

What does success mean to you? Do you need to be on an episode of MTV Cribs? Do you need to win a prestigious award like an Oscar or a Grammy? Do you need to make enough from your art to support yourself and your family?

Without goals of our own - benchmarks and directions that we desire for our own progress and self-worth - we are subject to the fickle perceptions of other people. Our own sense of value is then determined by what they think of us.

When we set goals to strive toward we are basically taking ownership of our progress and success. Goals establish the rules by which we then play the game.