Measurable Creative Goals

Measurable Creative Goals for Finishing Art Projcts © Cherry Jeffs 2011
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http://www.dialogvisual.com2
Measurable Creat ive Goals for Fini shing Ar t Projcts © Cher ry Jef fs 2011
PART 1:
Setting
Measurable
Creative
Goals
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What is a
MEASURABLE
CREATIVE GOAL?

A MEASURABLE
CREATIVE GOAL
is when as artists we voice
or write down realistic,
achievable goals to help
define the parameters of our
next artwork or series

Why Would I Want To

Set Goals For An Art
Project?

Setting goals is a
way establishing at
the outset of a
project what it will
achieve when it is
completed.

Setting goals is
invaluable in helping
us to decide when to
put down the brush.

Criteria
In Fearless Creating Eric

Maisel calls this
"setting criteria
for finishing"
Tarcher/Putnam, 1995

Setting these goals or

parameters FREES us to
concentrate solely on the
process and let go of
worries about our ability
to do the work well.

Isn't Intuition
a Better Guide
for Managing
Art Projects?

Defining parameters for

completion is a vastly
underrated practice
amongst artists!

As artists we often
shun any sort of
analytical process
about our work!

Maybe it brings
back bad memories
of art school
critiques?

Or we simply
believe everything
to do with our art
should happen
'intuitively'?

In the famous book on life

and time-management:
Getting Things
Done:
How to Achieve
Stress-Free
Productivity
Penguin Books, 2001

Productivity guru David Allen

repeatedly comes back to the
necessity of knowing
"what DONE looks

like"

i.e. having
specific outcomes
for projects

This idea applies

as much in the
artist's studio
as anywhere...

Rather than intuition, it

is the experience of
having reached "DONE" many
times before that helps us
recognise it is time to
put down our brush.

What's the
best way of
setting these
goals?

Based on an exercise from

Fearless Creation, the
following exercise
illustrates how to develop
completion criteria for art
projects.
There are two versions, one

for experience artists and
one for beginners...

Exercise for Beginners

1. Think about the work of
artists you love
2. Choose three of these works
3. Taking each work in turn, make
a list of criteria that the
artist might have used to judge
its rightness or completeness.
These criteria could include concepts such as resonance,
unity, intensity, simplicity, honesty, harmony, clarity,
ambiguity, coherence etc etc. But be brave in discovering
more!

Beginners' Ex cont.
4. Reflect on your own

current projects in the
light of these criteria
and make a list of
completion criteria that
you could apply to this
work.

Exercise for Experienced Artists
Choose four of your

completed works - two
that you feel turned
out successfully, two
you feel were
unsuccessful.

Ex for Experienced Artists cont.

Create two lists for each work
in turn:
List 1 - criteria you might have
set for the piece when you made
it, what you might have asked of
it back then.
List 2 - criteria you might
better choose now looking in
retrospect.

Ex for Experienced Artists cont.

When you have completed your lists,
ask yourself:
Did your successful works seemed

to be based on sounder criteria?
In what way?
In the light of this, make a

list of completion criteria that
you could use with your current
work.

But...
BEWARE!
When setting these
goals it's crucial to
avoid falling into the
trap of adding a
subliminal subtext!

This might be something like:
"I want to do a
(brilliant)
piece using materials I

haven't used before
(that everyone will be

wowed by)."

If we do this we are
adding outcomes that are
NOT measurable
and attainable

How will we define
"Brilliant"?
Who is "Everyone?"

Of course sometimes we
feel a piece has
turned out badly and
it makes us
unhappy :(

But satisfaction at
having attained our
basic goal helps boost
our morale and keep us
moving forward

This is part of the

process of coming to
terms with ourselves as
artists!

The Artist we really

are...
...At the stage we are

at in our artistic
development

This is better than

having a distorted
picture of our level
of accomplishment!

This in turn feeds

back to the beginning
of the circle

Allowing us to
clearly identify
meaningful
achievable
goals for ourselves

PART 2:
The
Benefits
of
Finishing
Art
Projects

Why is it important
for us as artists to
FINISH
our creative projects?

...even when
motivation and
inspiration have
deserted us...

Having lots of unfinished

creative projects is:
Unsatisfying
Demoralising
Unprofessional

Unfinished projects
Hamper our Progress
as Artists...

FINISHING
each piece of work or
series is a very good
habit for us to form...

In Linchpin Seth Godin says
"The habit that

successful
artists have
developed is
simple...
Portfolio/Piatkus 2010

"...they thrash a
lot at the start,
because starting
means they are
going to finish...."

"...Not maybe,
not probably,
but
going to."

Repeatedly finishing
what we start sets up
the expectation of
being able to do it
again...

We've come up against

the difficult patches
before and come out
the other side!

Repeated finishing
teaches us where our
personal pitfalls lie
and lets us develop
strategies to deal
with them.

Conversely, if we
leave enough pieces
unfinished we start to
believe ourselves
incapable of finishing
anything!

When we
FINISH
we learn lessons that
can't be learnt if the
project remains
incomplete.

This might be:
A practical lesson like

making sure proportions
are correct at the
beginning of the work...

...Or something more

personal about our own
process...

...such as:
How/when we work best
Where our sticking

points are
What causes us to lose/

gain confidence
"What you need to

know about the next
piece is contained in
the last piece."
Art and Fear:

Observations on the
Perils (and Rewards) of
Artmaking - David Bayles
and Ted Orland (Image
Continuum Press 2001)
FINISHING
a project is really the
second stage of a process of
Monitoring & Evaluation

we began when we set the
goals for the project...

Developing Objectives
For Artistic Development
Having established our
reasonable "criteria for
completion" at the
beginning of the project,
we can now step back and
assess how close we came
to achieving them.

This evaluation may suggest:
A theme needing more exploration
A technique to be improved
A new direction that we were

unaware of
The consolidation of an existing

direction

This process of evaluation

boosts our self-confidence...
...We see ourselves as more

accomplished and 'serious'
about our work.

Completing a project can

be something to really
look forward to...

A moment for us
to pause and take
stock of the (CC)
Davi
d Mo
rris
http
journey we have ://w

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just made and

assess future
possibilities...

...An opportunity to
reward ourselves
with a few days
out...

...A chance to change

our chip and catch up
with some other parts of
life's business that get
neglected in the frenzy
of creative work...

Do We Need
to Finish
EVERY
Project?
No! Let's be reasonable!
There will be some

projects that we start
and realise along the way
that...

Our hearts aren't in it
We have better and more

important work to
concentrate on
It's beyond our capabilities

at this time...

In these cases INTUITION

IS our best friend!
We need to Get Quiet and

listen to what our
subconscious is telling
us.

But when taking the

decision to leave
something unfinished we
must
BEWARE!

We must make sure:

It's not our inner critic
whispering to us that
we're incapable...
We've not hit a bout of
Resistance which can be
overcome by a bit of
Persistance...

We need to:
Pause
Take Stock
Ask ourselves:
Do the benefits of Letting Go of
the project outweigh those gained
by Finishing?

If we can honestly
answer:
YES!
Then we can
Let go Move on
So by developing
MEASURABLE
CREATIVE GOALS
for the outcome of our

art projects, we...

Prioritize
FINISHING
over
'being happy with the result'
And so..

That terrible
FEAR
of our work not being
'good enough'

...which haunts every

artist no matter how
Accomplished
Experienced
Famous...

...Is
DEALT WITH
Before it arises!

By
FINISHING
the projects we begin,
we...

Complete the process of

Monitoring and Evaluation
Learn the Lessons - technical or
personal - that this particular
piece has to teach us
Identify our Future Direction.
Increase our Self-Confidence,
Belief in our own
Professionalism and Abilty to
'Ship'.

Fresh Perspective
We usually feel more at peace

with the result of our work
when we view it with a fresh
perspective after an
interval, rather than at the
time of finishing...

...But only by
FINISHING
the work will we have
that possibility

So let's make things

easy on ourselves as
artists...
Let's...

Establish
MEASURABLE
CREATIVE GOALS
at the beginning of our
projects - with...
No Subliminal Subtexts!

FINISH
our Projects
(Ship)

PAUSE & ASSESS

our projects
dispassionately
in the light of how close

we came to reaching our
GOALS
IDENTIFY
our
Future Direction

MOVE ON!

Measurable Creative Goals for Finishing Art Projcts © Cherry Jeffs 2011
© Cher ry Jef fs 2011
ht tp: / /www . dialogvisual . com
emai l : dialogvi sual (at ) gmai l (dot ) com
http://www.dialogvisual.com88

Measurable Creative Goals

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Measurable Creative Goals for Finishing Art Projcts © Cherry Jeffs 2011

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Why Would I Want To

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In Fearless Creating Eric

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Setting these goals or

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Defining parameters for

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In the famous book on life

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Productivity guru David Allen

"what DONE looks

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This idea applies

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Rather than intuition, it

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Based on an exercise from

There are two versions, one

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Exercise for Beginners

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4. Reflect on your own

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Exercise for Experienced Artists

Choose four of your

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Ex for Experienced Artists cont.

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Ex for Experienced Artists cont.

Did your successful works seemed

In the light of this, make a

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This might be something like:

piece using materials I

(that everyone will be

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How will we define

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This is part of the

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The Artist we really

...At the stage we are

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This is better than

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This in turn feeds

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