Tag Archives: goal

art, counter-productive, doubt, motivational, process

Stop beating yourself up!

Sometimes we set impossible goals, or goals we’re not quite ready for, and then we beat ourselves up for not accomplishing them.

It’s good to have a schedule or a plan and to stick with it, but if it’s totally overwhelming it’s going to be counter-productive.

If you discard a goal and feel bad about it, know that today is a new day. How can you modify the goal and feel more at ease? Life is not a race and what others accomplish has nothing to do with you.

I made a goal at the beginning of 2016 to offer something free or paid art-wise to my artist friends.  I followed through until June and when six months were almost up I realized so many things had been counter productive.

I can just give up or beat myself up about it ad nauseam, but that is even more counter productive.

I learned something along the way about the process and that is priceless. If I hadn’t taken the action I would still be in the dark.

It’s not about discarding the dream, but to make it more streamlined to who YOU are, not what people might expect.  Or even bigger still: what you expect of yourself.

Listen to your own drumbeat.

drum beat
The beat of your own drum.

I have always been a doer and sometimes I forget to listen to my own drum. But it’s getting better. Nowadays, I don’t get as far away from myself as I used to do, and I truly want to offer the best me to the world.

I don’t compromise while creating my art, but how I bring it out to the world the best way is still somewhat of a mystery. All I can do is keep exploring and see what responses I get.

One thing I do know. Your dream is important and when you talk about it, you might help someone on the other side of the world as you pursue your own process.

I often get comments like, “oh, I really needed to hear that today, thank you.” Then, what I thought was  a half-assed blog post or art offering, means something. It’s verification that I’m headed in the right direction, and that I inspire others.

That makes every step worth it.

To find the right way sometimes takes many tries, but there are no failures, only experiences.

Believe enough in yourself and keep the dream alive. There really is no other alternative!

So, STOP beating yourself up from now on. 🙂

xo

Maria

P.S. If you’d like to try one of my evergreen art journaling e-courses, go HERE to check them out.

goal, life, motivational, success

Big or small goal?

Basically, there is no difference between a big or a small goal. The only thing that separates them is a person’s mindset.

If you have a big goal, you must have a mindset to match. So if your mindset can only hold a small vision, you will get a small vision.

There is nothing wrong with having a small goal as long as you pursue and accomplish that goal. Otherwise, it will fester in your mind.  Accomplishing small goals will lead to bigger goals.

The only way I know to make a your mindset expand is to do things you don’t normally do.  Examples would be to visit a Ferrari dealership if you want to live a swank, rich lifestyle, or spend some time in a five star hotel.  You could have tea and cucumber sandwiches there while you admire the crisp linen and the polished silverware.  Get the rich feel of things.  Expansion is endless as long as you prove to yourself that you can do it.  People jump out of airplanes to prove to themselves that they dare to do something scary and outrageous.

I just watched a video of a man walking a “slackrope” across two buttes somewhere out west. One misstep and he would plunge to his death.  Not something I would do EVER, but I have my own small world to deal with. Challenge creates resistance and resistance stops us from moving forward.

If I want to paint a mural but only paint small canvases, say, 8X8″ inches, it would be hard to paint a mural. Not impossible, but challenging for sure. I would have to research layout and perspective and how to transfer a small image to a larger size.  That is just the technical side of things.

Would I dare to paint a mural that depicted people or flowers?  An abstract yes, but something realistic would be a real stretch.

But now I paint 8X8″ up to 36×48″ canvases, and painting large opens up to a freedom I don’t feel when painting small.

The point here is to actually DECIDE on a goal, small or big, and go for it. Don’t let anything distract, especially the naysayer within.

Why play it so small when life could be so much more? I ask myself that question every day. Since I’m aware of it, I make conscious choices to stretch my boundaries.

The gain: I have noticed that when I’m with people they often ask me for help or want answers to questions to things I have done, and they haven’t. I don’t mind sharing, and that also shows me that every small goal I have accomplished has a great impact. Results  accumulate quickly.

When you don’t stop and look to see where others are at, you blaze your own trail. The longer you’re blazing away, the farther you get, and that’s when people start asking your for help.

Working with increments really make a HUGE difference.

You accomplish a big goal as easily as a little one–in increments.  What is the biggest goal that you can dream?

reaching a big goal

A big stumbling block to achieving a goal is:

board-786119__180
Just do it now even if it’s not perfect

Just go for the goal and worry about perfection later (as in never.)

Have a creative Wednesday. xo

Maria