There’s very little motivation in the daily grind: check Facebook, post to Instagram, send a newsletter, write a blog post, work in studio. If you’re not careful, you’ll continue to go through the motions of life without doing something extraordinary for your art and for yourself.

Give yourself a challenge that motivates you to get out of bed and into the studio every day. Take on a quest.

Anatomy of a Quest (with Examples)

According to Chris Guillebeau, author of The Happiness of Pursuit: Finding the Quest That Will Bring Purpose to Your Life, a quest has the following elements.

1. A clear goal and specific end point.

Chris’s personal quest, which he accomplished in 2013, was to visit every country in the world by the time he was 35. A woman in his book that couldn’t travel as much as she’d like, cooks a meal from a different country every week to teach her children about other cultures.

2. Presents a clear challenge.

You can’t complete a quest in a week or even a month. Make something every day for 30 days? Most artists could do this. What about doing it for 1 year? Or a lifetime?

A quest would be along the line of what artist Kirsty Hall did for The Diary Project. For one year (2007), she drew on one envelope every day, inserted something secret inside, and mailed it to herself. All 365 envelopes remain sealed until they can be exhibited as a whole artwork.

In 2011, Kirsty filled a new jar every day with drawings, objects, and tiny pieces of art before going on a walk to “release an art jar into the wild.” She then kept track of who found which jar.

Kirsty, who calls herself a purveyor of mad obsessive projects, says, “I have discovered that I will do pretty much anything as long as it’s for an art project.”

3. Requires sacrifice of some kind.

Chris writes, “To pursue a big dream, you must give something up along the way.”

It’s impossible to have it all. We can build a little balance into our lives, but when your goal is quest-sized, you must make hard choices about what is important to you.

Photographer Thomas Hawk, featured in The Happiness of Pursuit, defines his quest like this:

I’m trying to publish a library of 1,000,000 hand crafted, lovingly created, individually finished and processed photographs before I die.

This big goal means he has to forego other activities. “It’s a constant tug-of-war between competing interests in my life. I deal with it the best I can and try to roll with the tension as best I can.”

4. Is driven by a calling or sense of mission.

“It is often expressed simply as a deep sense of internal purpose,” as Chris says. The people in the book are deeply committed to their quests.

You can’t begin a quest without being pumped to get going. You can certainly change the quest, but your chances of success are slim if you’re not excited about it, and if it’s not a little scary.

Chris cautioned us in his author talk: “The goal is to find meaning in the quest, not to succeed at any cost. If it sucks, give up.”

5. Requires a series of small steps and incremental progress toward the goal.

The tracking of numbers seems to be a valuable aspect of successful quests since numbers show progress.

For years Elise Blaha Cripe wrote on her blog  e v e r y   s i n g l e   d a y – sharing her art and creative business. She writes:

I love this entrepreneur life. I’ve signed on to it because it’s inspiring to be working towards a finish line that moves. If that finish line stops moving, I’ll know it’s time to pack up my desk and find a new career path.

Your Quest

So, what’s it going to be? Where is your next finish line?

As you go through your week, pay attention to what motivates you, especially if a few butterflies land in your tummy. Yep, it’s scary, so it must be worth doing.

I’ve helped many artists forge their paths and find clarity about their direction at our live workshops and I’d love to help you!

The post Schedule a Scary and Extraordinary Art Project appeared first on Art Biz Success.

Identify Your Projects

Spend a couple of hours this week assessing all of the projects on your plate.
Projects are undertakings that require multiple steps to complete. You can’t finish a project in one sitting.
You might not be actively working on certain projects, but they are on your radar. You want to stay on top of them.
Here are some examples of projects:

• Overhauling your website or blog
• Creating a new series of work
• Moving 
• Organizing an exhibition
• Planning an opening
• Arranging an event
• Marketing campaigns
• Writing an article or book
• Teaching classes or workshops
• Scheduling travel

It’s likely that you have 10-15 projects or more at any one time. Each exhibition is a separate project. Each article is a separate project. Each teaching gig is a separate project.
This first step is simply to capture all of your current and future projects in one place. You can do this on paper, in a document, on Evernote, or in a project-management system.
It doesn’t count to do it in your head. You must write them down.

Add The Tasks

After you have a good idea of your major responsibilities for the year (and beyond), you can add the tasks associated with each project.
Remember that a task is a single action, which might be dependent on an earlier action. Be sure you drill down your tasks so that each one requires only one step.
Add deadlines to your list.
This is a running list that you will update continuously in order to stay focused, so it’s worth checking it twice.

Sleep Well

If you’ve done a thorough job, reward yourself with a good night’s sleep. You’ll rest easier knowing that you have everything in one place.
There is no doubt that peace of mind is the primary benefit of this exercise.
And who knows? If you do a good job – and if you’ve been nice – in 12 months you might get a call from the North Pole asking you to throw on a pair of green tights and assist a bearded VIP with his very important project.

Merry Christmas!

The post Making Your List and Checking It Twice appeared first on Art Biz Success.

Here are seven tips to help you maneuver around those barriers.

1. Know your priorities.

Dang it! You wrote them down somewhere. Where are those priorities?

You shouldn’t have to look them up. You should know your priorities and trust in them. They are beacons that guide your every move.

Your top business priorities are those things that will have the biggest positive impact on your career and business. Then you have essential personal priorities like family, health, and spiritual practices.

You need both business and personal priorities to do your best work and live your best life.

2. Share your priorities with those close to you.

Those who love you should want to support you in reaching your goals, but they won’t know how to do that until you have explained it.

Telling people what you want for yourself will make it easier to set boundaries around your time. When you say, “I’m sorry I can’t have lunch, that is my studio time,” they will better understand why.

3. Let it go.

Saying Yes to your big goals means that you must say No to other things. Decide what can or should be eliminated from your schedule.

This might be socializing, spending time on social media, getting caught up in funny videos on YouTube, or watching television.

But it might also be that you need to pull back from venues that aren’t serving you or marketing methods that haven’t paid off after consistent effort.

4. Practice a standard “rejection line.”

A “rejection line” is what you’ll use to say No, Thank You to requests for your time and energy.

I tend to favor the one I learned from writers: “I’m sorry I can’t do that with/for you. I’m on deadline.”

Another favorite of mine is “Let me think about it and get back to you.” This is more about postponing a response rather than delivering an outright rejection. It’s perfect to use when you’re tempted.

5. Believe.

Trust that you can reach your big goals. They wouldn’t have occurred to you if the Universe wasn’t ready to deliver.

There will be people and circumstances that try to separate you from your dreams. The more you have faith in your direction, the more likely you will be to stand up for what is important.

6. Hang a sign on your door.

Post a sign on your door with the name of your studio and hours of operation. Add the date of establishment if that helps.
A sign reminds you (and potential interrupters) that you are at work.

7. Ask yourself: “What If . . . ?”

When I was writing my book, my coach asked me, “What if you go into a bookstore and see your book on the shelf—only it’s been written by someone else?”

The thought that someone else would write my book before me helped me stay on task.

What is your “What If” question that will help you stay focused on your priorities?

The post 7 Tips For Staying Focused On Your Goals appeared first on Art Biz Success.