David Limrite-Artist, Coach, Mentor, Teacher

Me working on a new series of pieces. I will discuss these “Mourning Gowns” in a future post soon. How they were created might surprise you. Stay tuned.

“Every time I paint, I throw myself into the water in order to learn how to swim.”

~Edouard Manet

If you are in the process of setting creativity goals for yourself for 2015, do yourself a favor and set realistic goals. Set goals that are realistically attainable. Achieving some simpler goals early on in the year will build confidence and momentum, and inspire you to reach further, and dig deeper. Setting goals that are too far out of reach will only demoralize you and lead to disappointment.

I have the lofty goal of writing a book on creativity. Setting the goal of “writing my book” does not inspire me. It is too big and seems out of reach. In fact, it scares me to death. However, if I set smaller, more attainable goals such as:

1. Research my topic and make notes.

2. Create an outline.

3. Come up with my chapter titles.

4. Write for one hour every day.

….then “writing a book” does not seem so daunting. As I complete each of the smaller, more attainable goals, I will become more and more inspired to set new goals. And I will have the energy, motivation and momentum to reach them.

The goal of writing the first sentence for my book seems a lot more attainable (and far less scary) than setting the goal of “writing an entire book.”

Think about how you could apply this kind of goal setting to your next series of paintings, to learning a new technique, to developing a new style, to finding a new venue to show your work, or to setting up a regular painting schedule. Break your larger goals down into smaller, more attainable goals.

One sentence at a time. One brushstroke at a time.

Best,

David