Sunday, January 1, 2012

Acknowledge & Celebrate Your Accomplishments

Happy New Year 2012! Did you meet your artistic goals for 2011? Every year I like to go through this exercise from Alyson Stanfield's blog:

Acknowledge & Celebrate Your Accomplishments

The end of the year is often accompanied by a tinge of regret. Maybe you didn’t stick to your New Year’s Resolution or accomplish all of your goals.

I’ll bet you did more than you think.

Take time to write down all you accomplished.

This is a ritual I’ve implemented for a number of years and shared it with newsletter subscribers each December. People who do this exercise are happy they took the time. Most are amazed by all they got done.

Get a pen and paper or open up a document on your computer and start counting your feats. I’ll be working on mine during the afternoon of December 22 if you care to join me at that time.

Here are some prompts to get you started on your business accomplishments, but customize it to make it your list. Add you personal accomplishments as well.

In 2011 . . .

Connections
How many people did you add to your mailing list?
How many Twitter followers or Facebook fans did you gain?
Whom did you mentor or help out?
What organizations were you involved with?
Who were the top ten cool or influential people you met?

Marketing & Business
Where did you exhibit or sell your art?
How did you promote your art?
What did you do to enhance your online presence?
How many blog posts or articles did you write? How many did you write for other blogs or publications?
When did you ask for help or hire someone?
What new marketing material did you develop and use?
What did you try that was completely new?
How did you increase your income?

Education & Exploration
What new art events, galleries, cities, and museums did you visit?
What resources did you discover?
What medium or skill did you attempt or master?
How did you improve your studio habits?
What books did you read to help your career? What videos or films were useful?
What seminars/workshops/lectures did you attend or teach?
What technological skills did you learn or improve?
What did you try that was uncomfortable but helped you grow?

Recognition
What grants did you apply for?
What grants/honors/awards did you receive?
What articles were written about your work?
Who shared or featured your art?
Where did you exhibit or retail your art?
Where did you save a wad of money?
What was the single best thing that happened to your art career in 2011?

Miscellaneous
What worthy cause did you support?
How did you enhance your office or studio environment?

It’s easy to feel down about what didn’t get done. Instead of falling into that abyss, celebrate your accomplishments. You deserve the praise.

What 2011 accomplishment are you most proud of? Brag! Tell us about it and how you’re celebrating on the Art Biz Blog.

http://artbizblog.com/accomplishments2011

As for me: Goals that I met this year were adding more teaching jobs to my calendar. I set a range of income I'd like to make from doing so. Happy to say, I hit the top of the range! I woefully missed my goal on sales of jewelry, but only did 2 shows this year. I entered a local art show on my goal list and won first prize for one of my precious metal jewelry (PMC) pendants. I also showed that piece in an art gallery show I had not been in before. I never seem to have a problem finding training opportiunities. This year I attended a class with Cynthia Eid at Metalwerx in Boston, learning corrugating & forming of copper and Argentium sterling silver. I took Level 3 PMC certification with popular jewelry making author Irina Meich.

Let us know what goals you accomplished in 2011!

3 comments:

  1. Gee - this works a lot better than it used to!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is great...always a good reminder at any time of the year...

    Thanks for the post.
    Rhonda

    ReplyDelete