This is the fourth post in my artist development series…

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Dreaming doesn’t require action. In fact, endless dreaming is one way of avoiding doing any real work. Seth Godin writes about people who store up notebooks full of ideas they never act on. He says people who stick with simply thinking up ideas get stuck always chasing the next big idea. Ideas are good, and great ideas can make a career, but at some point you have to stop thinking and start doing. It is far easier being the “idea guy” who thinks up things and then complains about everyone else not making things happen. There is little risk of failure when you are the one coming up with ideas instead of the one who has to follow through with them. However, being too afraid to fail is admitting you will never do anything truly awesome. Greatness requires risk.

Part of taking smart risks though is knowing the difference between improbable and impossible. Setting lofty goals is good, it pushes us to reach and stretch and grow. But picking goals we cannot easily define is different from picking goals we cannot easily achieve. For artists who have struggled with not meeting their personal or professional expectations, I would encourage them to avoid goals with sliding scales of completion. “Learn to speak Spanish” is a valuable skill, but its achievement is rather nebulous and can lead to many awkward starts and stops. Instead make the goal a trip to Spain and have “take Spanish class” as an action item. Concrete goals help us stay on focus and make the next steps clear. Learn how to succeed at concrete goals and commitments before moving to abstract goals.

Filed under: Art by Jonathan