Tiny Steps towards my Goals!
How is everyone doing? It's June, it's lovely and sunny, and a great time to make a fresh start! I've recently been reading a book called "7 Steps to Change Your Life" by John Bird. (Apparently he's the guy that founded The Big Issue - the magazine sold by homeless people for those who don't know). It's a thin book, classed as a "quick read," which is good for me, or I probably wouldn't find time to read it!
The first chapter is called 3%, and it's all about starting your goals by doing just 3%. It's too difficult to concentrate on the 100% and seeing such a huge amount of work to do and thinking I'm nowhere near that! But aiming for just 3% is a great little target that seems easy in reach! A bit like when you're losing weight, say you want to lose 10 stone, you don't lose 2 pounds and think great, only 10 stone and 12 pounds more to go... instead you should aim for just a tiny amount, aim for one stone at a time, saying "I'm going to lose 1 stone" is a lot easier than I'm going to lose 10 stone, isn't it? Tiny Steps are called for!
So I'm going to aim for tiny goals, to make up a big goal! I want to be an artist, well I am an artist, but I want to be a better artist, and I want to get my work published one day. To start with, I need to improve my skills, and nothing improves them better than practice (practice makes perfect), so I'm going to keep a daily sketchbook. I'm going to aim for 15 minutes a day (coffee break time) to sketch. I'm going to rip the cellophane off my brand-new sketchbook, (which has been waiting to be used for quite some time now), and I'm going carry it with me for my 15 minute daily sketch. And if it grows to over 15 minutes, that's great, but if not, then I'll have accomplished my 15 minute goal. Chances are I'll get into it and continue to sketch, which I find so relaxing.
So I'm going to sketch with my coffee after my evening meal when I get home from work. And any good little sketches I can post on here! I've seen so many other artist's blogs where they post new art every few days, and I don't produce anywhere near that amount of art! I have a free www.artwanted.com gallery, which only allows you to upload 3 new images a month, but I'm not even producing that. So I'm going to start with 15 minutes a day.
Wish me Luck!