Clarity
Cherry Creek State Park, Denver, Colorado
Clarity
When I have clarity of intention I’m able to focus my actions on the things that will bring about my desires more quickly. I believe I am responsible for my own fate and focusing on what I want will result in it transpiring. So best to be very clear about what that is so I’m happy with the results. Hence my previous posts on my artistic success.
When I sit down with my todo list I think about each item and if it will lead to one of the goals on my list. If not I try to get the thing off my list - delegate it, don’t do it, or do it quickly. This is one reason why being clear is so helpful. It allows me to align my actions exactly to the outcomes I most want.
Another thing I meant to mention in my twitter for artists post, but it flittered out of my mind when writing, twitter fits into my long term success strategy. The marketing piece is probably there and it will help me sell art but more immediately I see it as a wonderful community of artists. I’ve meant dozens and dozens of new artists the last few weeks and am going to enjoy getting to know them better through their tweets. If you are trying to decided if twitter is right for you, one way to make that decision is to think about if it fits into your long term vision for your career.
Where Do You See Yourself?
Violette Severin has done a series of artist interviews on her blog and I was asked to participate. You can read my interview here: Interview with Lisa Call.
One of my favorite questions she asked was "Where do you see yourself in 10 years?" I gave a fairly short answer on her blog as I wasn’t yet done working through my definition of success. The list of items from last weeks post, What Does Success Mean To Me, is the more clear answer to that question.
Some people might have a problem with defining success so another way to think about it is with this question. What do you envision yourself doing in the future?
Positive Day Dreaming
I’ve been trying out positive day dreaming and it seems most of the time it goes like this:
I wake up and get to spend the entire day in my studio making art. Then the next day I get to do the same. And the next and the next. I even toss in some marketing activities cause it’s fun now and of course eating good food, making the art in a beautiful studio and spending part of the time with the people I love.
Right now I can think of nothing I would like more than to spend an entire month making art and not going to work. Okay admittedly an entire life doing this would be better, but with the remodel I think I might be working for a few more years now. A tradeoff that will be well worth it.
Still - I think I’m going to figure out how to take a month off work and just make art the entire time. What a perfect use of my vacation time. It puts a huge smile on my face just thinking about it.
Studio Newsletter
It’s time again for my quarterly studio newsletter. I expect the September edition to be sent by end of the week if not sooner. As has become habit, I will have a few ACEOs for sale to my newsletter subscribers.
You can check out a sample here: Lisa Call Studio News.
You can sign up below for the newsletter:
And of course, I will never share or sell your email address and will only use it for the purpose stated above. All emails sent will include a link to unsubscribe should you decide you are no longer interested.
Posted by Lisa in: About Me, Being an Artist
Tagged: clarity, clarity of intention, Focus, goals, Intent, intention, making art, newsletter, success, vacation
Schnoobie said,
September 30, 2008 @ 4:12 pm
A whole entire perfect month would be awesome…and not having to worry about $ or finding a job while making said art…priceless!! As long as we’re daydreaming here….I would like at LEAST one week of that to be at a incredible art-making workshop meeting new artist friends and sopping up energy and inspiration….. creative juices running rampant….!
laura west kong said,
September 30, 2008 @ 10:06 pm
Clarity of intention, that is such an important part of success, especially when there are so many different things out there that can constitute success. You have to know which ones you want the most.
I had to deal with a similar question just today at work, “where do I see myself in 5 years?” Do I really want to still be designing and managing other people’s websites? It’s not such a bad thing really, not like one of those jobs that makes you want to go jump out of a 10-story office window or anything. And that’s the danger. If I were totally miserable it might be more of an incentive to devote myself full-time to my art.
Bill Weaver said,
October 1, 2008 @ 10:43 am
Great Post Lisa!!!
Clarity is probably the most important inner skill to learn and master because once clear about intention you can focus and focus brings result. Sometimes, though the result may not seem to be the one you want or thought you wanted, it may instead open a door that you didn’t or were not able to see.
Thanks.
Lisa Call said,
October 2, 2008 @ 8:57 pm
Schnoobie - yes - week long workshops are awesome! I’ve done several and always love it.
Laura - yes - when my job is really unbearable I come up ideas for how to escape - then it gets okay again and I’m less fired up about leaving immediately.
Bill - yes definitely - sometimes what we create in our lives is sometimes not understood or appreciated right away.