Motivation Monday

 

"Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."  Henry David Thoreau

Motivation Monday

What if we artists owned our power?

I am reading a book entitled How to Survive and Prosper as An Artist, Selling Yourself Without Selling Your Soul, written by Caroll Michels. This notion of artists needing to own their power comes from her introduction to the book.

Caroll gives examples of artists who are badly dealt with by art dealers and others. When counselling artists, she finds that these situations occur because artists are not aware of their bargaining power. She comments that these unnecessary dilemmas and frustrations are created by middlepeople who have usurped power from artists and by artists who allow their power to be usurped.

"Artists, by the fact that they are artists, have power. Artists provide thousands of nonartists with jobs! Examples of nonartists who depend on artists for jobs include dealers, gallery staff, curators, museum staff, art administrators, critics and journalists, corporate art consultants and advisors, federal, state and municipal employees, teachers, framers, accountants, lawyers and art suppliers. Yet more nonartists than artists make a living from art and nonartists make more money from art than artists! This inequity exists because artists, the "employers", individually and collectively have not yet recognized their power." (Caroll Michels)

Did you have a 'well heck yeah', moment when you read the above quote? Are you feeling some righteous anger surging up? Well folks, I say it is time we take back our power!!!!


[Caroll offers a website of helpful resources here (click the highlighted text) and she also has a website.]

Motivation Monday

When times are tough economically, inevitably the outlook becomes grim and the tone negative and we are all familiar with the starving artist myth. Negativity can drain the life out of our dreams and our enthusiasm. Without either of these, our motivation to do the work vanishes. So today, lets get a hope adjustment.

  
I am a firm believer in the notion that if someone else is out there doing what you would like to do, then it is possible. There is living proof!

Regardless of the current state of the economy there are artists that are making it. You know this, but maybe it is time for a gentle reminder.

I was recently encouraged by fellow artists. I am a new member on the executive of a Studio Tour. I attended a meeting during which we would be jurying in new artists. One artist arrived a bit late and breathless. She had lost track of time in her studio. Teresa had been up early on a very cold morning, working in her underheated garage/pottery studio with her hands in cold water making pots. The thrill of recent creation was evident in her pumped up energy and when the noon hour meeting was over she was dashing back for more of the same. A cancellation for the upcoming tour occurred due to a date conflict and last week another painter and I headed back to the coordinator's house to critique the work of a replacement applicant. When offered a cup of coffee or tea, Karl replied that no he couldn't stay, he had to get back to his studio and back to work. And he meant it.

I went home, back to my own studio and drafting table and as I sat there colouring away, I noted how I was surrounded by artists who were making it. Karl is a family man who earns his living by painting. Teresa works full time as a potter. I thought of my friend Myra who is a talented silver smith and she is busy year round with jewelry commissions. Then there is my friend Margaret, a single mom of two girls that earns a living painting and teaching art.

It is being done folks. What are these people doing that is so successful? First of all they have their noses to the grindstone and they are doing the work. They don't sit around examining the odds for success, they do the work.  You can't have a good reputation and a great body of art if you don't do the work. And I might also add that these people are doing it their own way. Three of the four artists mentioned do not have websites. Amazing yes, but true. They don't do any social media, no time on Facebook, Twitter, no blogs, nothing for sale on-line, heck Karl barely reads his email! :-) What they do have is body of work behind them that speaks for itself. Over time they have honed their skills and their craft and they have satisfied clients. Word of mouth is often the best form of advertising. Of course these people stay visible, they participate in quality exhibitions and so on but most importantly they each have terrific work ethics, they do the work.

Look around you. I'll bet you will find successful artists (and if you don't know any, may I suggest you get yourself out there and get connected to fellow artists - you might wish to read my posts under Finding Support  - click highlighted text for the link or look in right sidebar for the 'button'). Don't let the doom and gloom of the headlines drag you down and take you out. Yes, people have found themselves unemployed or underemployed, galleries have closed and artists are feeling the pinch. BUT, there are artists out there who are selling their art. Focus on the possibilities. Work hard. You may have to refresh your marketing strategy. It may not be easy but then again, much worth having isn't. So, turn off the news, stay away from the papers, get positive and head to your studio now. Do the work. The bonus is that it simply feels better to be working! Finally, may I suggest that you strive to, by your example, to become someone else's inspiration. Time to pay it forward!

Motivation Monday

Dealing with loss can mess with our motivation.

Whether the loss of a loved one, or perhaps the loss of an aspect of our health, the loss of a job or perhaps the loss of a dream that we have held onto for years...loss comes in many forms. We all experience loss in one way or another.

How do we keep pressing on when we feel burdened by the weight of loss?

George Sand wrote "One knows what one has lost, but not what one may find." That's it in a nutshell. We simply don't know what we may find. The truth is most of us deal with painful situations at various times in our lives, yet it would serve us well to remember that life is also filled with a lot of good. As this year progresses, I am hanging onto this wonderous promise - that right now I can't possibly know all of the good that is coming my way. So, I ask you, are you looking forward to what you may find?

Motivation Monday

Do you ever feel like you have too many dreams and too little time? Does it sometimes feel like where you want to go with all of your creative goals and plans is simply too far off - so far off that it starts to seem unattainable?

All of the time you have invested in pursuing your dreams is not wasted. A simple way to boost your motivation is to look at how far you have come with your dreams already. 

Remember when you were a student and you dreamed of the day that you would be out working and your school loans would be paid off? Remember when you rented an apartment, how you longed to buy your own place so you could do what you wanted to with the paint on the walls and you wanted to have a yard? Remember how you were so tired of having to get everywhere by bus and you longed to own car? Remember how you dreamed of being in a relationship, perhaps dreamed of having a family? No matter what we have wanted in our past, chances are we have realized a lot of our dreams over the years. It is easy to take all of this for granted. But have a look around you. I'll bet you will see that your life now is full of fulfilled dreams.

And so will your life in the future! Simply keep pursuing those creative goals, keep making those plans and crafting ideas. Do the work and sooner than you think you will find you have more dreams to add to your fulfilled list. Stop looking at the clock and the calendar, just do what you can today...it all happens one step at a time anyway, right? 

(for convenient reading, all previous Motivation Monday posts can be located in one spot, simply click the Motivation Monday banner in the right hand side bar)

Motivation Monday

Are you scared by your artwork? Humm, maybe you should be!

I hope you will be inspired and motivated by the following quotes from artist Sharon Knettell:

"I think life is so freaking short, I don't care if anybody doesn't like my art. When you get older, you lose your fear of the audience, the critics. You have to go to the point where your ideas scare and challenge you. 'I can't do that' - well why not? There are so many images you dismiss because you think you can't do it or it won't work. You just have to say, 'What the hell!' and leap."

I couldn't agree more with Sharon. Why not get committed to losing your fear of the viewer of your art and instead get scared by your challenging ideas? I promise you that when you stretch yourself to reach for what you think isn't possible, you will experience new levels of energy, aliveness and motivation. You might just scare yourself right into your next masterpiece!

(Sharon's quote is from the March 2010 issue of the Artist's Magazine.)

Motivation Monday

Goals are great but don't forget to dream!

These days it seems hardly anyone makes new year's resolutions but goal setting appears to be all the rage. And why not? Establishing specific, measurable, attainable objectives is a good thing to do. Ah, but there can be a downside to goal setting. The downside is that we can become so focused on the goals that we lose sight of our dreams.

In the past few months I have been doing quite a bit of thinking about what I spend my time on and why. I began to realize that some of my goals had become disconnected from my dreams. In fact my goals had become more like items on a to do list. I realized it was time to reconnect with my dreams. To remedy the disconnect, I have consciously spent time pondering the visions that I have for my life, my art and my business. I discovered that some of my dreams have been realized (yeah!) and that some of my dreams have changed. No wonder chasing after certain goals no longer inspired me. These thoughts have led me on an interesting journey of self discovery.

So how about you? Are your goals connected to your dreams? Are you sure you know what your dreams are? How about your motivation level? Did your motivation wane during the past year? If so, maybe it is time for you to reconnect with your dreams too. Reconnecting with the why behind the what of what you do will take your motivation level to new heights.

Dreams can and do change. That's because we change and grow. As you look ahead at this new year and you prepare to set goals, I encourage you to take the time to get reacquainted with your dreams. What is your vision for your life and art? Where would you like to be a year from now or five years from now? Perhaps you will find that your answers are somewhat different than what you would have come up with a few years ago. That's okay. Celebrate how you have changed and dare to make new goals. Just remember that it is a lot easier for us to reach our destination if we actually know where we are going. :-) I wish you all the best on your journey!

If you are new to my blog, please note that there are other Motivation Monday posts. You can locate and read them all by clicking on the Motivation Monday button in the right hand sidebar.

Motivation Monday

September...humm, are you ready?

Tomorrow we enter the final quarter of 2009. Amazing isn't it? Are you ready for a fresh start?

September is a great time to shift gears and to get into new routines. New beginnings are all around us. Children and young adults return to school. Vacations are over and a new season of recreational activities start up. There is a sense of change outside our doors as the daylight hours get shorter and the leaves start turning colour. There is also a sense of change inside our homes as we look at our calendars once again filling up with activities.

This is a perfect time to review your goals. What had you hoped to accomplish in 2009? As you revisit your list, start to think about the 122 days you have until January 31st. Review and refresh your plans. Maybe you have new priorities and interests. Perhaps you need to prune out some of those goals and ideas that can wait until next year.

Feeling overwhelmed by our tasks can cause our motivation to vanish. One way to feel less overwhelmed is to get organized. I suggest you grab a cup of your favourite beverage and sit down with a pen and a sheet of paper. Think about what is really important to you. Perhaps you would like to sign up for a fall class or perhaps now is a good time to join that local art group you have been meaning to check out. Whether you are making a fresh commitment to sketching more often, carving out regular art time, getting more exercise or healthy eating, September is a great time to refocus our direction. There are a whole 122 days ahead...I encourage you to 'seize the day' in these last four months of 2009. May these be the most satisfying days and weeks of the entire year. Go for it!

Motivation Monday

Are you fierce about your art?

Like you, my inspiration comes from many sources. Something I read recently had an impact on me and I would like to share it with you.

On the last page of The Ark magazine, summer 2009 issue, (a publication of the Nature Conservancy of Canada) there is a feature article of someone who is an important volunteer. The text that grabbed me is this: "So fierce is Mabel's conviction that this is a special place that for the past several years she has worked to ensure that the Musquash Estuary would be protected for others to enjoy." Humm...fierce, such a powerful word. A fierce conviction...Wouldn't it be extraordinary to have someone define you as fierce?

A dictionary definition of fierce states this: savage and violent in nature, ferocious, extremely severe, very ardent or intense - now this last one sounds right. Very ardent, intense. I started to ponder what am I 'fierce' about?

Let me ask you again, are you fierce about your art? Can you honestly say that you are very ardent and intense about creating your art as well as honing your skills as an artist? Don't we all wish to be deeply devoted to our art not to mention passionate about it? Perhaps you aren't as fierce as you would like to be. Maybe you have let things get stale and routine. Maybe you have let other tasks get in the way of making your art. Don't settle for that. Now is the time to make a change. Bump your motivation level up to the heights of ardent intensity. Go on, choose to be fierce!

(If you are new to my blog, you can check out other Motivation Monday posts by clicking on the button in the sidebar. I recommend scrolling down to the very bottom and reading up as the posts tend to follow on from the previous one. May you be inspired!)

Motivation Monday

Motivation is simply the reason for an action. It is the why behind what we do.

Three months ago, on February 2nd, 2009, I started this series on motivation. My thoughts stemmed from the definition above. During the past twelve posts, we looked at how important it was to have a strong why behind what we do. In order to maintain a high level of motivation, we need to consciously make a strong connection between what we want and the reasons why. The reasons why need to be compelling in order for them to be powerful.

Therefore, on February 9th my post encouraged you to really think about what you want and why. I also asked you to think about how badly you want what you say you want. The following week, Feb. 16th, it was time to examine why we don't take action - to really look at what is in it for us if we don't do the things we need to do, in order to have the life we say we want. On February 23rd the focus was on what we gain when we say yes to your dreams and passions.

March started off having you look for inspiration. The idea was to identify who has or is living the life you desire and to look for traits they possess that you could develop. March 9th was all about celebrating our greatest asset - a positive attitude. March 16th's post shared my thoughts on how we handle waiting for our big break. On March 23rd, I asked whether or not you would hire yourself. I asked you to think about how you could start being your own best employee. My advice March 30th was to become a passionate pursuer of knowledge, to embrace learning. Successful, happy people are willing to grow and learn new things.

How we can achieve balance in our busy lives was discussed in the April 6th post while the April 13th post looked at how you could get motivated to do all of those necessary non-art tasks. Finally last week, April 20th, I encouraged you to pursue your dreams NOW!

This Motivation Monday series is finished for the time being. Now would be a good opportunity to read any posts you missed or to reread some of your favourites. All of these posts are conveniently located in one spot - just click on the Motivation Monday button in the Featured Writings section of this blog, in the right hand side bar.

Motivation Monday posts will reappear from time to time. Just look for the colourful letter M. I sincerely hope this series has been encouraging and helpful. I appreciate the feedback I have received and the comments that readers have shared. I have ideas for another series in the coming months so stay tuned and most importantly, stay motivated!

Motivation Monday

Going after your dreams...what are you waiting for?

When you think of pursuing your dreams, are you waiting for a better time? Perhaps you are waiting until your kids are in school, or until your children require less taxi driving. Perhaps you are waiting until your life is less busy or you are waiting until you have more money saved up. Are you waiting until you retire?

"There are people who put their dreams in a little box and say, "Yes, I've got dreams, of course I've got dreams." Then they put the box away and bring it out once in a while to look in it, and yep, they're still there." Erma Bombeck

Isn't it time you took your dreams out of the box and put them into action? Just how long do you think you have?

"Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it, I say! Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows." Pope Paul VI

You have no doubt heard the sentiment that we should live like we are dying. Do you? We have all known someone who has had their life tragically cut short by disease or an accident. What if we don't live to a wonderful old age? The reality is that there probably isn't going to be a perfect time to chase your dreams. The economy goes into a recession, your kids move back home, or your elderly parents take more care than you had expected. Life happens.

I would like to encourage you to start chasing your dreams now! Don't wait for a time in the future that you hope will be better...do it now.

"I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I have just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well." Diane Ackerman

"Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life." Ralph Waldo Emerson

I encourage you to use your spare moments to live the width of your life. Live your life to the limit every minute of the day and don't let your dreams decay in a box. Don't wait to start living your dreams.

Motivation Monday

As an artist, do you need help getting motivated to do all those non-art tasks that are piling up and making you feel guilty? Well keep reading, because help is on the way!

Last week, we looked at how important it was to have the perspective that as artists we are running small businesses. Yet many artists avoid the non-art stuff because well, it isn't art. So this week the goal of this post is to encourage you to shift your thinking once again. This time, you are going to change the way you think about non-art tasks.

How can you get excited about the business side of art? Simply start to see business tasks as creative tasks! As an artist, you love creativity. Stop limiting creativity to your art and start viewing all of your tasks as inherently creative. Do you believe that one can cook creatively, decorate a house creatively, raise children creatively, and garden creatively? Of course you do. Then, why can't someone run a business creatively? The truth is, the more successful a business is, the more creative it is.

Perhaps some examples might help. Think about designing a website. An artist needs to make all sorts of creative decisions as to the layout, fonts, content, and colours. Think of how diverse blogs are. Again, each one expresses the creative choices of the artist. Designing business cards, media cards and brochures are very creative endeavours. Here again as the artist and business owner you get to determine the content, colours, layout, fonts and so on. Do you have to create a display for doing shows? You will need to creatively choose the backdrops, display grids, lighting, and tables that will present your art in the best possible way. If you teach art, creating content for courses is a very creative thing to do.

Are you making the connection now? You love creativity and you enjoy having the opportunity to express yourself creatively. Well yippee, those business tasks you have been dreading and putting off are actually more opportunities to get creative!

Of course there are a few exceptions. Keeping your accounts in order - humm, maybe you can get creative and use multi-coloured pens?... Not recommended for tax forms. :-) But if we are honest, there are also exceptions on the art side...like cleaning paint brushes or spending hours tweaking lighting, fabric and objects to get the perfect still life reference...dampens my creativity just to type it! Indeed, creative cooks have to grate carrots and chop onions and creative gardeners have to endlessly battle weeds.

Yes creating a new blog and creating course content might feel more like work than creating your art does. But, it can be enjoyable! Simply focus on the creative aspects of what you are doing. I encourage you to really make a determined effort to change your thinking about your non-art tasks. Consciously become aware of how these tasks require you to be creative. As soon as you do, you will find that these tasks are not a variety of horrible things that take you away from your creative journey as an artist. In fact you will find that they are part of your creative journey as an artist and as a successful business person. Honestly, just make the shift...

Motivation Monday

Balance comes from priorities and priorities come from perspective.

This week's topic comes from a comment that Laure Ferlita made in response to the previous post. Laure asked for some thoughts on how to balance it all - being an artist, producing work, being our own marketing person, and being someone who is constantly learning. And as she noted, this was the short list!

Balance is very important because without it, we run the risk of becoming worn out, unproductive, overwhelmed and unmotivated.

The key to balance is to look at all of your goals and tasks and prioritize. Many people are good at goal setting but they are not so good at establishing realistic priorities and achievable time lines. Some people end up working on the goals that they like, for example they know they need to establish a body of work and they like making their art so they spend a lot of their time on this goal, while not spending enough time on other important tasks. Other people tackle all of their goals at once, doing a bit of each regardless of the urgency of individual goals. The result is that artists end up exerting a great deal of effort but they don't have the results they need for that particular time.

So where does perspective come into this? Step back and look at the big picture. How do you perceive yourself and what you are doing? Are you an artist? Would you like to sell your work to the public? Are you a small business owner?... Did I get you on this last question? Here is where your perspective might need to shift. If you are an artist and you intend to sell your work, you need to start thinking of yourself as the owner of a business. This simple paradigm shift in your thinking is what you need in order to enable you to prioritize your goals properly. Shifting your perspective from one in which you are an artist that occasionally, hopefully sells some work to that of someone who owns a business in which art is the product for sale, is the key to obtaining balance.

Many artists resent the time that the business side of things takes. These tasks are many and they eat into our studio time. But they are necessary. If you wish to remain a hobby artist that might sell a piece from time to time, then your priorities are different. But if you truly wish to make a living at your art, you must realize that you are running a business. Imagine owning some sort of business - it could be a coffee bar, a pizzeria, a clothing store, anything...Do you think that you could successfully run these sorts of business without dealing with marketing, customers, advertising, staff, doing things like ordering stock and materials, managing inventory, cleaning the store everyday, etc.? Of course you couldn't. The truth is that you can't run an art business successfully without dedicating a significant amount of time to non-art tasks. Unless you hire an agent to promote you or you have galleries that will sell all of your work, you will need to roll up your sleeves and get to work yourself.

Once you have had the revelation that you are running a business, it makes it easier to prioritize your goals. Which are the tasks that need to be done next in order to run your business successfully? Balance will come once you have defined a manageable lists of goals, along with a realistic time line. It takes time to build a successful business so take a longer view of things. We tend to get out of balance when we have a false sense of urgency, that feeling that everything has to happen at once. Artists often feel pressure to be doing it all. We can become overwhelmed when we are convinced that we need to have a fabulous website, a successful blog, a line of note cards and reproductions, a large body of work consisting of several interesting series, several art shows lined up, art entered into several juried competitions, etc. and we think it has to all happen NOW! These are all worthwhile aspects to running a successful business, but give yourself time to develop them. Determine which tasks are most important and focus on these first. You can work on things concurrently, but don't feel that you need to be doing them all. Relax, breathe.

Next week I will continue with more thoughts on running an art business and how you can remain motivated when doing all of that non-art related stuff...

Motivation Monday

Become a passionate pursuer of knowledge.

Do you have the knowledge you need in order to make your dreams come true? Last week, I asked you to define your ideal employee. Probably one of the characteristics of your ideal employee is that they would be someone who possessed the knowledge, information, training or education needed to allow them to perform their job function well. So let me ask you, how well trained are you for the jobs you need to do?

Perhaps you feel that your progress towards your goals is stalled because you don't know how to do something. Let me encourage you to start seeking the information you need. The good news is that there are many ways to obtain knowledge.

First of all, clearly define what you need to know, then prioritize. For example you don't need to know where to get great giclee reproductions done when you don't have work ready to reproduce. Don't become overwhelmed by everything you don't know. Ask yourself "What do I need to know now?"

While learning by doing is great, don't fall into the trap of having to reinvent the wheel. Many artists end up frustrated when they paint and paint and their art work doesn't seem to improve. What artists often need at that point is new knowledge. Instead of just mastering how to get the pigment onto the surface, perhaps you need to explore colour (temperature, intensity, hue, relationships). You could study hard and soft edges and how to see value changes. Perhaps you need to study more about composition. Maybe you don't need to learn something entirely new, perhaps you just need to refresh what you have already learned.

So whether you have decided to learn how to take better reference photos, or decided to find out where to get a great brochure produced, or you have decided to learn more about the painting process, there are many resources available. You could consider enrolling in a course, you could do research online or you could sign out books from your library. Ask other artists what workshops or books they would recommend. Perhaps you have some books on a shelf waiting to be read! Once you have acquired new knowledge, apply it. You have to go beyond reading a book or taking a course. In order to benefit from what you know, start using this knowledge. You will experience the joy of becoming better at your craft.

The amazing thing is that in the process of learning and acquiring the knowledge you want to have, you will find that your motivation is strengthened and your enthusiasm grows. We exchange the frustration of not knowing how to do something for the satisfaction of mastering new skills.

As we pursue our dreams, all of us find ourselves having to learn new things. Embrace learning. Seek knowledge. Successful people are people who are willing to grow and learn new things. So stir up you passion and start pursuing knowledge...

Motivation Monday

Would you hire yourself?

The answers to this question will hopefully reveal some things you can do to help make your dreams come true.

So here is the exercise: Imagine that you are the owner of a business and you need to hire someone. Think of what your ideal employee would be like. Write down the attributes and characteristics that come to mind.

When I decided to work at my art full time, I realized that in order to succeed I was going to have to give my business my all and my best. I took the time to do the exercise above. I wrote out a list of the attributes I would most want to have in an employee. My ideal employee would:

- be very enthusiastic about their work

- have a positive attitude

- be able to handle change, be adaptable

- have a high standard of personal ethics (honest, operate with integrity)

- be professional and would desire to do excellent work

- have a strong sense of responsibility

- have the ability to plan and manage time, money and resources toward the accomplishment of goals

- be a diligent, productive worker

- be willing to take on new challenges, to learn new skills if necessary

- have a "no problem" attitude, someone who would find a way to get things done

- be passionate about their work and their life

- be a giver, someone who would be concerned about adding value to the lives around them, co-workers and customers

- be interested in making my company a success. Their focus would not be limited to getting a paycheque.

Does your list look a bit like mine?

So how can you make this work for you? Simply ask yourself if you bring these attributes and characteristics to your own personal endeavours. When the going gets a bit rough, do you stay positive and are you open to change? When you need to learn new skills, do you whine and complain or do you roll up your sleeves and start learning? Can you say that you manage your time, money and resources well? Are you willing to work hard? Are you as passionate or enthusiastic as you need to be? Are you honestly giving your dreams your best and your all?

This exercise helped me define exactly who I wanted and needed myself to be in order to make my dreams come true. When I resist learning necessary skills (usually computer stuff), when I hesitate before tackling something completely new for me, or when I am not handling my time as well as I should, I think back to this list. I can readily see that at times like this I am not being my best employee. This knowledge empowers me to make the necessary changes in my attitude and my behaviour.

Remember that motivation is simply the reason for an action. Why not make the decision to be your own best employee the reason and motivation to make whatever changes you need to make?

Motivation Monday

Are you waiting for your big break? What is the one big opportunity that you are waiting for? Is it that all important commission, your work being discovered by a major art magazine editor, a wealthy art collector finding your work irresistible or perhaps that oh so prestigious award?

Big breaks are wonderful - but what are you doing while you wait? Are you continuing to stretch and grow? Are you creating and moving forward?

A downside to big breaks is that we don't know when they will happen. Waiting can have an adverse effect on our motivation level. The longer we wait, the greater the chance that we will allow discouragement and doubt to creep in. The antidote for this is to keep in mind that we don't need to passively wait for our big break. As I mentioned, big breaks are wonderful, but they aren't necessary. It is possible to achieve our dreams by just staying the course. The road to achieving our dreams is most often traveled one step at a time. By staying active and doing the work before us, we move closer and closer to realizing our goals. The good news is that by staying active and working while we wait, we actually increase the likelihood that we will get a big break! Either way we win.

Also, keep in mind that your work will continue after your big break. After winning that award, you will strive to win another one. After selling your art to a wealthy collector, you will want to paint even better paintings. Our successes are momentary. Once we have experienced one, we desire another accomplishment. Expect this and embrace this. It is what makes the journey interesting and exciting. There are always fresh challenges and opportunities just around the bend. So don't let waiting for your big chance to shine get you down. Make a decision to enjoy your journey and enjoy doing your work.

Motivation Monday

What do think your greatest asset might be? What do you think you would need in order to achieve your dreams?

Would you be surprised if I said that your greatest asset isn't your bank account, who you know, your natural talent, your studio space, or your education?

Your greatest asset is your positive attitude! Do you doubt how powerful an attitude can be? Consider this - successful people have positive attitudes. Think of all the people that you would define as successful at what they do. Ask yourself if you think they are positive people or negative people. I am sure you would define them as people with positive attitudes.

Your dreams are what you are passionate about but what sort of effect would a negative attitude have on your passion? People who think negatively end up with a "what's the use" perspective. They give up and quit when faced with obstacles and challenges. They fail to use their creativity to solve problems and they lose their energy and their focus. On the other hand, people who are positive, adopt an "I can do this" perspective. They become people who persevere in the face of challenging circumstances. Their positive approach results in commitment and diligence. People who have a positive attitude believe that success is possible. They believe that by working hard and never giving up, it is possible to achieve one's dreams.

So which are you? Do you have a positive attitude? The good news is that you choose your perspective and you can choose to be positive.

Let me challenge you this week by asking you to examine your attitude. Work on developing your greatest asset by becoming as positive and as hope filled as you can be. Changing how you think in this one area, will have a profound impact upon your life. I guarantee it. So what are you waiting for, get positive!

Motivation Monday

It is time to get inspired!

Inspire: to have an animating effect upon, especially to stimulate or impel to some creative effort

There are lots of ways to get inspired. One that we will explore this week is by identifying people whose lives inspire us.

I want you to think of someone who is living the life you would like to live. Come up with as many examples as you can. Write down their names and then write down what it is about their life that you admire and aspire to. They can be people you know, people who have lived in centuries past, or people living today that you only know about from reading about them. The amazing thing you need to realize is that your dreams are not unattainable or impossible. Someone has or is right now, living the life you dream of.

I made such a list many years ago and I had an eclectic list of dead illustrators, writers, living painters and potters. What inspired me most about their lives was their dedication to their craft, their hard work, their lifestyle, their determination (all had overcome obstacles to achieve their dreams), the quality of their art and the fact that they made a living from their art. Try to get to know as much about their lives as you can. You will be encouraged to see that ordinary folks can achieve the life that you dream of.

Maybe you are the only one in your family or in your circle of friends to have the dreams you do. Looking to real life examples of people who have blazed a trail similar to the one you wish to be on will be an inspiration to you. May this list truly inspire you, as in 'have an animating effect upon you, especially to stimulate or impel you to some creative effort'! Keep this list handy and refer to it often. When you are feeling discouraged, take the time to really soak in the reality that others have done what you wish to do and your dreams are possible.

I also encourage you to use this exercise as a way to gain insight. By reviewing their lives, can you see areas where you could improve? I'll bet the people who inspire you had dogged determination. Do you think that you give up too easily? What about their work ethic? I'll bet that no matter what was going on in their lives, they found a way to do their work. Were they patient? None of the people on my list were overnight successes, they were in it for the long haul. You get the idea.

Bottom line, you are not the only one to aspire to the dreams that you do. Others have shown that it is possible. Remind yourself of this as often as necessary. Such knowledge can be the motivation required to keep pressing on.

That's it for this week. Your feedback is most welcome. Why not write a comment and share whose life inspires you?

Motivation Monday

So far we have looked at what motivation is and you have been busy defining what it is you want and why. Next I had you identify some of the things that block your motivation. The ouch post. :-) I ended last week's post acknowledging that while it is hard to face the truth about ourselves, it is also painful when we stay stuck.

This week I want you to focus on what you would gain if you were to say yes to your dreams and passions.

What does it feel like when you pursue your dream? Think back to times during which you pursued activities related to your passion. Perhaps you visited a special art exhibit at a gallery, perhaps you attended a workshop or maybe you spent some hours sketching or painting. How did this make you feel? (I suggest you write your thoughts down.) Did you feel energized, excited and more alive than you normally do? Did your life suddenly have a rightness about it, like what you were doing satisfied something deep inside of you? Were you left overflowing with creative ideas and enthusiasm for future projects? Really try to get in touch with the pleasure and joy that you experienced.

To really get a good sense of this, why not plan to spend some time this week pursuing your passion? Maybe you can't get to a workshop or a gallery but at least set aside a few hours to soak in your bliss - play with your art supplies, read some art magazines, go through your photo references and pick out something for your next piece, set up a still life and do a sketch, go to the library and get a few books out, grab a cup of your favourite beverage and read the books.

Think about this experience. How did it make you feel? Did you feel positive, alive, interested, hope filled, full of ideas and creative energy? Did you get so into your activity that you lost track of time?

Now I want you to compare this to how it feels when you live your life when you don't make time for your favourite activities. What does it feel like to not acknowledge your deepest dream? Again, write your feelings down. In comparison, do you feel less energetic, less alive and less hopeful? Maybe you feel bored, discouraged, apathetic, tired or drained. Are you starting to get a sense of what you lose when you allow other things to oppose your motivation? As we saw last week, we do get something from the things that block our actions towards our dreams. But at what price? This is the pain involved in staying stuck. Be honest with yourself and ask yourself if the status quo is worth losing out on a life filled with intensity, joy, hope, contentment, enthusiasm, happiness and energy. My goal here is to get you to realize that a life that doesn't include our deepest desires isn't such a great life after all.

I ask you, isn't it time you said yes to living the life of your dreams?

Have a great week. Feel free to write a comment. What dream chasing things are you going to do this week? Next Monday, we will start looking for ways to keep inspired.

Motivation Monday

If knowledge is power and truth sets us free, then I suggest that by looking at ourselves honestly we can gain insights that will enable us to achieve the things we want to.

Last week, the focus was on looking at what we want and asking why we want it. The goal was to create a strong enough why, the reason for action, which again, is really all motivation is. Acknowledging that motivation often becomes more complicated, I want to start looking at the many ways that our motivation can get blocked, leaving us stuck and not moving towards our goals.

Let's keep it simple - if you cannot get yourself motivated enough to do the things you need to do, in order to have the life you want there must be reasons why and I suggest that it is simply because there is something in it for you if you don't take action. Truth does set us free, but the truth about ourselves can be painful to acknowledge. Let's look at this more carefully...

First of all, in order to have what we want, we have to give up something. Here is where we get stuck. We have to give up something we have attached value to and we end up have opposing desires! So what could some of the things be that we might have to give up? Well, it could be a very long list but here are some examples:

- free time. In order to accomplish what we want to, we may have to give up some of our free time. Given that many people feel they have too little of this as it is, the thought of losing more is painful. The result? Our motivation starts to dissipate.

- time allocated to other things. We may not be required to give up free time, but time we spend doing something we like or something we feel we need to do.

- safety. Going for our dreams will require us to take risks and if we value safety and security, we will have a strong opposing desire.

- money. Achieving our dreams may require us to invest money on tools, supplies, education, marketing materials such as business cards and a website. We value money and if we are afraid to invest it in something that may not pay off, we end up stuck.

- your self image. Perhaps you are afraid that you will fail and you would rather not have to deal with this. Instead, you protect yourself - you don't move forward but then again, you won't look foolish either.

- self pity. Ouch. Yes we can become so addicted to our 'poor me' image and so comfortable with our excuses that we don't really want to step out to experience ourselves as strong and capable.

- passivity. If you are a person that doesn't feel comfortable taking responsibility and being in charge of things then taking charge of your life and being responsible for making your dreams come true isn't something that you will relish doing. It can be easy to drift into a passive life where decisions are made by others and we just go with the flow. Perhaps staying passive means you choose not to make decisions that might upset certain people in your life. Not everyone will stand up and cheer when you decide to claim your life and avoiding this unpleasantness keeps many people blocked.

- being an expert. Perhaps you are comfortable right where you are because you are good at what you currently do. You have invested time and energy in being able to do certain things very well. In order to step out into something new, you will have to go through a time when you are a newbie. If we are not comfortable being a beginner, you will hesitate to move forward. If you compare yourself to others, people who do what you want to do and who do it well, you can become discouraged and defeated before you even get a chance at achieving mastery.

- your current knowledge level. This is linked to the previous one. In order to grow we need to learn and many people strongly resist learning new things. To give up your current knowledge level and to acquire new knowledge, you will have to commit to learning new skills and techniques. Many people feel uncomfortable when they have to learn new things and this could become a significant block to moving forward.

- your current level of effort. To achieve our dreams requires effort and honestly, most of us are just not too keen on working really hard. Perhaps you feel you work hard already at your day job, raising your kids, managing a home. You know that you will have to work even harder if you decide to go after your desires and maybe the idea of this is so unpleasant you find you can't get motivated to do what you need to do.

Do any of these apply to you and your current situation in life? I suggest you take some time this week to really ask yourself some difficult questions. Look at your list of desires. What have you identified as something you really would like to have in your life? Now ask yourself, what might be in it for you if you didn't go for it...write your thought down if it helps. I'm writing a blog post, not a book, so obviously there are things that might be blocking you that are not on the short list above. Try to identify what your particular blocks might be. And don't get discouraged! Just because you have allowed certain things to stop you from moving forward in the past, you can change.

Next week I will start giving you some ideas on how you can break free from these blocks...remember, this isn't rocket science, all you probably need is a few lightbulb moments. Once truth is exposed we can start getting a handle on how to create a new truth for ourselves! So please, I repeat, don't get discouraged. Recognizing all the things we have placed value on, that have been blocking us from having the life we want, can be an overwhelming revelation. Allow me to encourage you - yes this is painful but then so is staying stuck and freedom is just around the corner. Once you know what your blocks are, you can start create strategies to overcome them. See you next week!