A little under two weeks ago I left a rewarding 10 year career in the software games industry to focus full time on painting. One of the especially great things about where I worked was what I've learned about how to set goals and achieve results.
So here's the part of the plan for my first year. I've broken it into three sections, the first is personal stuff (New year's resolutions) and the other two are career related.
Resolutions
1. Paint everyday (1 hour minimum)
2. Create at least two editions of an art journal
3. Meet with family and/or friends at least once every week
4. Get 5 professional massages (this is actually a carryover from last year; I only got one)
5. Read a Dickens novel
6. Take a picture of myself with a stuffed (taxidermy wise) animal (carryover from last year)
7. Walk 2 miles at least once a week
8. Have six parties/get togethers
9. Learn enough to know (and remember) what f stop, exposure, and such mean; get a better handle on my photography skills.
10. Work in a medium I'm not terribly familiar with (linocut, screenprint, etc)
Career oriented stuff.
Remember, goals (and commitments too) should be S.M.A.R.T.
Goals
Have 5 shows (gallery or non traditional venue) in 2008
Get work into 3 new galleries
Sell enough work to support at least 1/3 of my yearly spend
Commitments
Post a new small (8 X 10 inches or under) painting for sale to the blog everyday
Paint 50 16 X 20 or larger canvases
Paint 50 11 X 14 canvases
Draw at least 200 pages in sketchbook
Draw 50 +2 hour drawings
Apply 10 hours a week to learning and development (follow the 70/20/10 model)
Apply to 10 juried shows
Write a post mortem review towards goals and commitments each month
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
2008 Resolutions, Goals, and Commitments
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24 comments:
Hey Jason, I found your blog via a post on linesandcolors.com. This post here is quite helpful and thanks for the links.
Happy New Year Jason, Good luck with your goals and good for you for taking the leap to quit your "job" and paint full time.
I read Charley's post about you today too. Way to go.
I already check your blog daily, but it is good to see that you are getting noticed.
Idle,
Thank you for stopping by! Happy New Year!
Frank,
Thanks, and Happy New Year to you too! I loved the masking tape nativity...!
Cheers,
Jason
Jason - wow, that's quite some list!
How are you planning on splitting your time (daily or weekly) between painting and marketing?
Excellent, Jason. Great looking list.
Getting organized about it works very well for me too.
Very best of luck,
Paul
HI Katherine, thank you for stopping by!
I'm fan of your site, and I think your 'Making A Mark in 2008 - The Plan' post is great. I encourage everyone to stop by:
Katherine Tyrrell/Making a MarkI'm a spreadsheet person too!
To answer your question about marketing efforts...
I have daily marketing goals and long term goals that are more along a per month basis.
Marketing/communication efforts account for about 15%-20% of my work week.
Happy New Year!
Jason
Thanks Paul!
Excellent goals! I made a few for myself as well. Happy New year from Boston!
Hey Jason, what a great bunch of goals! I love that 70/20/10 plan, thanks for the link to that. You are such an inspiration--but you should really walk more than 2 miles a week. :)
Beader,
Thanks for stopping by, and Happy New Year! The beaded skull you did is super cool...
Kathryn,
You can thank Microsoft training for exposure to the 70/20/10 thing.
And yes, I *do* usually walk more than that in a week, but there are weeks here and there where is doesn't happen... :)
Happy New Year!
Jason, please add "eating and sleeping" to your list... we'd like to see you make it to '09.
Inspiring list... you can do it!
That's a great list Jason. Found you through lines & colors as well. Your background & work ethic will be a great advantage in this new year and focus.
(from a teaching cyanotypist in Hong Kong)
Justin,
Yes, well, we'll see how the first few milestone reviews go-- I set the goals and commitments as ambitious and aggressive. I will scale appropriately as time goes on. I could probably afford to drop five pounds though, so maybe there's a trade off there.
Elizabeth:
Wow! That cyanotyping is pretty fascinating, and percolates some ideas for sure.
Your blog itself is fascinating!
Elizabeth's blog
Thanks for stopping by!
First of all, congratulations on leaving behind your day job! Leaving my engineering career was the best decision I ever made - I'm sure you won't regret it =) It's also amazing how much I rely on the business skills I learned during my six years working in industry - like you said, it goes a long way in making it possible to effectively set and achieve goals.
Best of luck in 2008 - I'm sure you'll have a successful year.
Thanks you Stacey! Your experience (and work!) is inspiring-- especially what with your husband also following his bliss.
I'll be following the progress on your goals through the year!
Oooh! I can help with the stuffed animal! Here is a list of animals with which you could have your photo taken:
-Mountain Goat (goat!)
-Bear (Polar, Grizzly, Black, or Brown)
-Moose (numerous)
-Elk (numerous)
-Buffalo (numerous)
-Some sort of rare sheep
-Various small woodland critters
See how it helps to know a gal from Texas??
I loved your list. I'm catching up on your blog this morning, which I feel is just as important as work. Possibly more so.
Anyhow, your list as just as fantastic as you are!
Boo:
Do you have all of those things handy? Where do you keep them, and why do you have such a fascination with dead things?
I'm mean getting a photo with one is quirky, but your list is just creepy...
I totally want pictures with a stuffed bear.
These things *are* handy, if you don't mind trekking out to Montana. My father is a hunter and actually built a "trophy room" for his kills.
Granted, his trophy room is more a *house* in the backyard of his real house.
And it's terrifying.
So yeah! Just let me know when you want to go to Montana and you can cross that resolution off your list!
Also, you da creepy.
Jason,
so happy for you. and for all of us who may engage in more of your work now.
i enjoy seeing life through your eyes. great to visit your gallery and see the painting journal. thank you for sharing your work in such a public forum. process is fascinating. i love your figurative work--the colors and the quiet, mood caught in subtle ways, energy subtle. moments.
my best to you in 2008!
Thank you Mariah!
Jason - Congrats on getting out of the corporate grind!!
I'm working towards getting out of my graphic design job to paint full-time so I'm glad to see it can be done.
I enjoyed your list very much, goals are definitely something I'm working on to make the transition out of my design job possible.
Nowhere man:
Thanks Casey! Looks like the studio is coming along...!
Jason,
These are well-thought out goals. I am impressed with how organized you are in your thinking, planning and monthly follow-up procedures--I could learn a lot here.
I especially love your figure paintings on your website--wow,VERY nice work.
Cheers to you!
Faye:
Thanks! I will say though, that I can't really take any credit for organization-- it's all a legacy of my former job at Microsoft.
First month's review will be up this weekend...!
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