If you're not bounding out of bed in the morning, you've got the wrong goal. Email Article Print Article Bookmark RSS Related Content:   Artist Finances   Websites for Artists   Quit Job for Art   Create Your Blog

Then suddenly, I learned that at some unspecified date this year I'll be packing and moving across the Atlantic Ocean. Yikes!

This move has confronted me with a couple of issues, and my new uncertain course is one of the prickliest. But it's also been an opportunity for me to learn some things about my goals - not least of which is that I'm not going to fight for a goal unless it's absolutely my lollipop.

A lollipop was the image that came to me one day as I was waving my hands in the air, trying to find the word that captured that one delicious thing at the end of the rainbow, that thing you'll move heaven and earth to get to, the one that wraps up all your dreams and desires and has been with you so long you can't even remember when you first thought of it. It's not what you think you should be doing, or what seems like the most reasonable thing to do. It's fun and tasty and makes you feel giggly inside. It's absolutely unreasonable and absolutely unnecessary, except that you can't let it go. It's...well, your lollipop.

Whose goal is it, anyway?

Yes, I know there are other sorts of goals that have to do with earning income to pay the bills or getting a new car because the old one's finally conked out. But there should be another name for those kinds of goals. The un-special goals. The ones we do because we have to.

This goal was supposed to be different. When I first came up with it, it was along the lines of making art all day, every day, and still having enough money to live in comfort and fun. But something happened to it along the way.

I started getting ideas about where this money would come from and I incorporated them in the goal itself. So now earning money from a weaving workshop was in my goal. Then coaching artists was in my goal. Then writing lots of books and speaking to audiences were in my goal.

Suddenly, it wasn't my goal any more. It wasn't fun. It didn't make my heart sing. There wasn't a lollipop in sight.

Now, I love weaving, and I love coaching, and I love writing and speaking. That's not really the point. The point is that I'd lost sight of my original desire.

The psychological turmoil of my impending move has given me the opportunity to rethink this goal thing. And believe me, the missing lollipop wasn't the only thing wrong with it. Here are some things I'm reminding myself about setting (or re-evaluating) a goal:

1. Is your goal concrete?

There's nothing more elusive than a goal you can't grab. "Helping people" or "learning to be a good painter" are lovely ideals but pretty useless goals.

A goal is a destination you can actually get to and recognize when you arrive. If you want to help people, set a goal of teaching three free courses by next November. If you want to be a good painter, first define this for yourself -- i.e., what's "good" in your eyes? -- and then set quantifiable, measurable goalposts. The philosopher in you may rebel, but the painter in you will grow like a weed.

2. Have you set a date for your goal?

No one can know for sure when a goal will be achieved. No matter. Set a date that feels right to you. It should be a stretch, maybe a little tighter than seems reasonable, but not so tight it's self-defeating. Emblazon it in your mind.

If the date comes and goes and your goal is unfulfilled, do not change the goal. Simply set a new date. This may seem like a funny game to play, but think about all the work you'll have done in the meantime, bringing you that much closer to your goal. The more thrilling the date, the more work you'll do and the farther ahead you'll be. And who knows? You may just hit it right on the button.

3. Is it what you REALLY want?

Ah yes, the lollipop. No one knows what the Good Lord has in store. The best we can do is ask for what we want and bring our own intentions in line with the greater good. But I happen to think the Good Lord likes lollipops.

So what is it that makes your heart sing? What's the one thing you've always wanted to do? What seems so impossible that you can hardly bare to think about it? That's your goal. As a friend of mine says, if you're not bounding out of bed in the morning, you've got the wrong goal.

Forget gray, forget dreary, forget reasonable, and the last thing you should be thinking about is attainable. If your goal looks attainable to you today, all you're going to get by pursuing it is more of the same. Reach high! Scare yourself! Fall madly in love with your idea!

As for me, my weaving workshop will have to wait a little while. Not forever, but long enough for me to grab my lollipop.

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Durga Keyser is a creativity and prosperity coach living and working in Corsica. She's a weaver, a writer, and somewhat of a visual artist. You can visit her art in abundance website to learn about coaching, subscribe to her free newsletter, and find writings, tips, and links of all kinds at http://www.artinabundance.com.

Her book THE DAY JOB SURVIVAL (& ESCAPE) KIT is planned to be out by
the beginning of March 2006.