A Template for Goal Setting

Goal setting. Sounds simple. Is it really? What makes the difference between wishing for a dream and actually getting it? If you are like me, you may be very familiar with to do lists. But once upon a time I read a book on setting goals that really made a difference in how I actually made those lists. One word, one tweak in perspective made a huge, huge difference for me.
We've all heard of visualization. Imagination is the ability to not only see ourselves there, but to feel it as though it is already real. Visualization is very , very important, but that wasn't the word. I had been visualizing forever.
Plans. Yep, I had 1 year, 5 year, 10 year perspectives. That wasn't the word either.
Perseverance. Important. Endurance. Very good words. Any artist knows we need these. Still not the word.
The tweak, the word that I needed to hear, or actually to read, and understand was the word operational. Not a very fancy word. Not that mysterious. But that word changed the template I use totally. And it kicks off the 7 steps I use to set goals.

1) Define goals operationally.
This is literally taking time to walk through the goal and the behaviors that go with it. What specific behaviors or operations (functions) will exist that make up this goal? What will I be doing or not doing when I am living the goal? How will I recognize it when I have it? How will I feel when I have it? The more clearly and specifically you do this part and break it down into almost tangible parts, the better off you are. But focus on the doing parts, the behaviors this time.Picturing yourself in place is fabulous. Picturing your actions, even better.

Why is that different? Because it makes your goal instantly attainable in some respects. It means that some of our goals are about having, but most of our goals are about doing. How we would spend our time and our efforts if we are "living the dream".

No matter what the goal is, it has a set of behaviors and circumstances that we desire. Once those are identified, bringing those behaviors into our now begins the actuality of the dream. It becomes part of our now. The more we engage in those behaviors, the more that feeling of having our goal is reinforced.

Want to be a professional artist? Up your game? Be a tennis pro? Rockstar? Art collector? Writer? Work from home? What behaviors make up that goal? Start defining your goal in terms of that and you find actionable steps to take in your behavior. You begin to play like you belong there. And that is huge. HUGE.

I started doing this years ago. What changed? The way people perceived me. And if you think that is a small thing, think again. What else changed? I moved some ladders off the wrong walls. My focus became targeted on the how I structured 6 facets of my life. Everything became focused on how I could live the way I saw myself living when I reached my goal. I sought people and places where my dream was accepted and encouraged even more. In short, because I was putting in place the activities and behaviors of "what if I had my dream", in small but sure ways I actually began living it.

My 3 Most Important Tasks this week include a trip to what I call my war room to review and revise the goal sheets. It's time for a strategy check. I consistently have 6 goal sheets in place to cover 6 facets of my life. I update them as things change, or revise them when my target shifts a bit, the goal is reached, or it no longer applies.

Next Monday I'll go over some more of the 7 parts of this template.. It's my version from Dr. Phil's Life Strategies, a book I highly recommend.

Yes, you guessed it ...Organizing Monday is here.

Lines Are Lyrical

Next come the lines and circles of plants piercing the surface.

Not this kind of plant, but follow the lines in this photo. They set up a rhythm.

I'll usually do a drawing similar to this one...

... Or this one, to find the rhythm. Not sure I will this time.

But these blobs will become all kinds of greens.

This painting is about layers and the play between them. I don't want to say too much. We'll let it develop and see what happens. But I will be playing with that blue rag some more, maybe finger painting a bit. I want to delight in the textures and rhythms. Pick colors, push glazes, and splat where I need to splat. You know, try some new ways to put on the paint and make it flow and float. Just like those clouds in the sky.
In part, I have to thank Sonia, for reinforcing this play. Even though I was headed this way, she helped push me over that edge... In a good way. So thanks. You are a remarkable friend, darling.

Oh yes, we need music. It is Naughty Friday, go soak up some fun.



Ahh, time to lighten up ....have a good weekend.

Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Ahhh, a breath of fresh air.

And here is some blue.

Yep, there's that rag.

I needed to make blue sky. And I needed to get so into it that I was practically finger painting. Remember finger painting? Seriously, remember how good that felt to pick up full-bodied color and smear it around on slick paper? It didn't matter what you ended up with , the doing of it was pure response and process.

That's what I wanted. Except I am not a kid, and I was after something specific. Well, not too specific, but I wanted floating clouds and sky. And I wanted smooth, so the rag of pure cotton worked really well.

How much did I want it? Well, I didn't have a rag, so I cut up one of my cotton tops. Since I don't have many clothes anymore, the very act of cutting the front out of one of the first purchases of clothing after the storm is not insignificant. But I needed the rag more than I needed the top which was stretched now from all the washing. Snip, snip.

How much did I want it? I stopped everything else to spread newspapers out on the table and mixed a solution to thin the paint for spreading consistency. I guessed. Oh, I put the right three things in it. I have been to school, but I have not studied with Frankenthaler. I have seen her paintings and prints up close at the National Gallery and at the home of a neighbor. So I guessed.

How much did I want it? I tuned everything out. Everything, well, except George Harrison singing "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea". And pulled up the photo from my friend. I have similar photos and have walked these edges of puddles and wet places lots and lots. So I am quite at home there. But this photo, her photo reminded me of something I loved and was missing.

But here is the difference for this oil painting. I want the medium, to work as freely in oil as in watercolor. I've been trying for awhile to deal with thick paint. I love the richness of it. But the flow. I missed the flow. Okay, I have a thing for viscosity. And one of my favorite painters in the world is Cy Twombly. Go to the Twombly Gallery at the De Menil Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif in Houston. The skies and light are let in a bit overhead so the paintings are experienced differently as the day progresses and the light changes. They breathe. I want that for this piece. I want every mark to be fluid. So the sharp marks and the shadows that are crisp will be like notes on sheet of music.

This piece is for me at this point. And I like that. I want this painting to feel like a clear running stream while I am working on it. It is a performance piece, but it is also faith and movement, just like finger painting. Sometimes art is hard. This is not an easy profession. Sometimes it feels like being trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea. Sometimes you have to just work through it and sometimes you just have to jump into that deep blue sea and swim.

I think a little Jack Johnson ...might be nice.



Yes, he's surfing through the waves and there's ukelele. Hm. I seem to like that at the moment.
Back to the blue for me....

A Little Progress is a Good Thing

One step closer to goal.

Already the next piece is calling.

Oops, I broke the seal.

This morning I woke up with a relentless need to make a diluted cobalt blue glaze and pull it across a clean canvas with a rag, not a brush. Huh? Yes, right in the middle of my horizontal gonna get up in a sec planning, this tap, tap, tap, you know you wanna, would not go away. It started yesterday. In the middle of my diligent work on the shady undersides of the palms, the image of me applying the blue, caressing the canvas almost, kept popping up.

I blame my friend Patti. It's pretty much her fault. Hers and the Phillips Museum. And Julian Merrow Smith. Sure why not blame him too. And John. Yes, let's get a whole blame posse going.

Remember this week is more about staying out of my head, staying in the moment and just getting one thing done after another? 2 minutes, 1 most fabulous thing, all that. Just being present in the moment, not over thinking. Just doing for gosh sakes. How hard can that be?

Hmph. Hands on hips, the artist taps foot and tilts head. Well, actually that is the point at which I broke the silly seal on the next canvas. My muse is not shutting up.

A photo from Patti, a summer show of Diebenkorn's work from his Albuquerque years, Julian's play with edges and John's proclivity for "random is good", are all talking to me.

There will be blue on that canvas by dinnertime tonight. And I will move to the next little part of the palms. Oh, my to do list is still good, very, very good, but this blue is pulling me into a flow...and THAT is exactly what I was after.

Moral of the story? Sometimes a little progress and a luxurious blue are the next right thing to do. We are playing with edges and flow. A musical muse for this? Yes, here we go:



Ahh, come on Brush let's go find that rag and paint some blue. What you thought art was easy?

The 1 Thing Today

This is a 2 minute post. Today, the 1 thing that would make me happiest to accomplish ( my horizontal planning worked this morning) is this part of the painting will be refined. It needs to go darker. It's a tucked away spot that needs to be subdued, but strong. This morning it spoke to me loudest. The other 2 on my list of 3 Most Important tasks are steaming the silks and wading through the mountain of email. I am making tea, my delete finger is ready, the paint is practically mixing itself, and the cheesecloth for wrapping the silks is on its way into the house. But this little piece of the painting, that's what will make me happy today. I'll update later this afternoon.

Tell Me Oh Little Buddha

I am looking for freshness and peace.

And this little guy ain't talking.

I'll try my spa routine in a minute.

Hm, passion or the toss of a coin?

I had one of those dreams last night. No, not one of those dreams. I like those. This was one of those dreams that made me furiously angry and unsettled. Ever have those? The scenario goes along, things are kind of weird, but passably believable and somewhat curious, and then one thing tips the scale. Suddenly there I am throwing everything I could get my hands on and being rather vocal about my, uh, displeasure. I was so angry I woke up trying to catch my breath.

Yep. Not my favorite way to wake up on a Monday.

This is a day for clarity, for 2 minute wonders, and for those Most Important Tasks to be all lined up. Hmph. Usually right before I get up, I think of the one most important thing I need to get done that day. What's the one thing that will make the biggest difference that day? That thing that when I lay down that night will make me feel happiest to have accomplished? Well, that wasn't happening. Couldn't picture it. I was still anxious, confused and provoked. As I lay there in bed, I tried another trick, calling the stillness as Eckhardt Tolle suggests to be totally present in the moment. I opened an eye. Nope. No stillness. I was totally present and in a really pissy mood. What now Eckhardt? Maybe that little gem from Leo's comment thread about making tea. Yeah, just get into the zen of ritual, make some tea, and get on to my post for Organizing Monday.

My thoughts were having none of that. They were more like a herd of kittens just sprayed with a water hose.

Okay. It was just a dream. It is absolutely ridiculous to let something like that intrude on my day. But it is here and now, tapping me on the shoulder, no, pinching me viciously, saying, "Hey, look at me. It's important." "Okay", I say. "I'll look at you, but Mister, you will not get anymore of my day than you deserve." As my dear friend Patti knows, I process things as they present. Keeps the stream unpolluted as much as possible. Kind of like picking up litter before it can become a massive blockage in a clear running brook. I tend to like the way light trickles and gurgles as it passes over smooth river stone.

You see the things that make an artist really good at what we do, also make us vulnerable. When we open up to be responsive, let our muse run free, get in our zone, it makes us open to other input too. Not all of that is good. It can be overwhelming. What to do? I could follow my passion which is now muddied a bit, or I could toss a coin and pick any one thing on my list of important things to do. Today, it would not make too much difference. BUT, and here's the big but, as I move into these things that I do, these rituals, and get anything done, all the while considering the message that is trying to get through, the flow is getting clearer. Some of the dream and the issues with it are starting to make sense. And yes, the message is important.

So little Buddha is smiling at me. His silence made me toss a coin. Coffee won, not tea. This post, not the other. Now spa shower, and then a random pick from the list of Most Important Tasks and one that may seem insignificant, yep, I am tossing that one in too. The dream is not winning, any one of these is going to make a difference. Randomness is a strong ally at times. It gets us out of our heads. But now I know what was bothering me. Hm. Now how to deal with that?

Damn, little buddha is silent again. Aughh, I am heading to that spa shower. Yep. It is Organizing Monday.

Artist As Personal Trainer

Back to the jungle, this tangle of palms.

This area must go much darker.

This area I must leave alone.

And this I must tame a bit, but not too much.

I was getting too tight with this painting and the small blackberry piece as well. Progressing, but getting tight and tense. That is not good. This tangle of greens is to be a meditative piece with hints of the call of the wild. The lavenders are celestial. The browns are grounded to earth. All the bits here and there are to call to primal self. And somehow it must have transcendence. So even when refining, even when being exact, tight is not good.

A few years ago, I had a personal trainer. Ahh, life was good. Neal kicked my butt, repeatedly. We did Super Slow weight training. In a 30 minute session we would work my muscles to total exhaustion. I mean total exhaustion, the kind where you have to sit down afterwards or fall over like a little baby. Each machine we used was loaded and set so that in just a few ( read grueling) reps, we had shaking, quivering,"Uh, Neal , I can't do any more", me. That's when Neal would lean in a little closer, look me in the eye, and say, "Jan, I know you can do it, just one more." Neal lied. There was always one more after that, and then another. We only stopped when the muscles would not move. My mind wanted to go on, my heart wanted to continue, but my muscles were having no more. That's when nice Neal (as opposed to devil Neal) would reappear, and say, "Whoa, we're there." (Don't even get me started telling you about crunches and squats.)

I miss Neal. Not only was my body in great shape, but my mind was right there with it. After those sessions came the water, the rest, the recuperation that gave me springy, relaxed muscles that could move mountains. And Neal believed in me so much, that I did too, even if I wasn't a superjock. That's powerful, that belief.

So here we have me, no personal trainer, and painting muscles that are way too wonky and tight, and a mind that is quickly going there too. What to do, what to do? I don't want so so paintings. I want fabulous work. So I set about artistically and physically loosening up. Painting silk is a physical task. Oh, it is artistic and free for me, but very physical. So after a few days of painting big, loose, and abstract for long hours, I am a bit, hm, fatigued, but in a good way. And I feel looser. Tired. Well, really tired, but ready for water, rest, and recuperation. And the palms and blackberries, I am excited about them again. I see some new things there. Some ideas for transcendence.

Sometimes artists have to be their own personal trainers. We have to keep ourselves fluid. Work out the kinks. So, a little water, a small rest, some recuperation and I'll be good to paint again. And yes, I hear Neal saying,"Jan, you can do it." Yep, belief, is a powerful thing. (Thanks Neal)

Don't forget, it is Naughty Friday, go get up to some mischief.