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Marcy Nelson-Garrison
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Up a Creek Without a Vision
| Up a Creek Without a Vision Is goal setting and creating a vision for your life and work difficult for you? If so you are not alone.I recently ran across a poll on a web site for artists (theart preneur.com). It was asking about art career goals for the next 6 months. There were 4 responses to choose from on a continuum from; yes I have goals and they are written down to I don't have any idea what's next for me. The last time I checked 1,086 artists had responded to the poll. Only 73, ( less than 7%) had goals that were written down and looked at regularly. A whopping 800 said they haven't really figured out what's next. Yikes! That's like heading into the boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness without a map or a compass – very easy to lose your way. I suspect artists aren't the only group without direction and clear goals – its pretty widespread. There is joy to living in the moment, just wanting to paint or just wanting to help people – or whatever it is for you and I think there is a fear that planning will somehow detract from that. I understand some of the barriers to 'planning'; the perception that the process is too linear, a belief that it would squelch creative freedom and spontaneity, difficulty naming what you truly want and perhaps not even knowing how.I've been there and life with goals and a clear vision is better. It's been my experience that the process of setting goals helps me get more of what I really want. It's pro-active and it's empowering. All of the studies point to the fact that goals facilitate success, especially specific goals. An imporant caveat - you are the one who defines what “success” is for you. Take a minute now and think about this. What would success for you look like? Now amp it up! What's the dream inside you that you hardly dare say out loud? Give yourself permission to claim it and to dream big – imagine working in the perfect setting with the perfect people, doing work that you are uniquely suited to do, contributing to the world and feeling deeply satisfied - what would that look like? Have you written an acclaimed best seller that is changing people's lives? Are you the founder of a successful non-profit? Is a retrospective of your work showing at MOMA? Have you created a world renowned retreat center? Are you the professional of choice for hollywood superstars? Are you a civilian passenger on the next shuttle into outer space? Whatever it is for you, paint this image in your minds eye as vividly and as elaborately as possible. I've always loved the quote by Walt Disney “If you can dream it, you can do it” it is so true. Visioning is creative, organic and energizing. It's what the individual goals are in service of. Once you have a vibrant and powerful picture in mind you have a direction and have taken the first step in a goal setting process. You can now begin to take intentional, focused and inspired action in the direction of that vision. That's what goals are all about - just stepping stones from here to there, not unlike planning a trip. The more specific each goal is the better and to keep things interesting – build some degree of challenge into your goals! They are a lot more fun to celebrate! Marcy Nelson-Garrison is a certified professional co-active coach, artist and founder of www.coachingtoys.com an online store featuring fun creative products for personal growth and professional development. Find out about the best free or almost free resources on the web for personal and professional development in – Top 20 Resources - a free ebook available at www.coachingtoys.com/top20.html Feel free to reprint this article -it must include the full attribution and can not be edited |
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