Why Is Goal Setting So Important For Artists? How To Set And Stay Organized With Your Artistic Goals?

First of all, we want to wish you a Happy New Year 2023! 

As an artist, have you thought about goal setting to improve your career? If you haven’t taken time to establish artistic goals you’ll want to read on. We will share some inspiring goal-setting strategies to help you grow your career or business. 
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Maybe you have already worked on setting your Artistic Goals, but you struggle with actually achieving those goals. This article will have some tips for you too. When working on your goals it is important to have a lot of patience and passion, while staying motivated. Having goals with proper strategies, and a supportive community can make a big difference in your career. 

Why Is Goal Setting So Important For Artists?

​Goal setting provides you with a sense of purpose and direction in your work and therefore increases productivity. It also helps you to stay motivated and focused in your career.
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In order to set artistic goals, you should consider what you want to achieve in your career or business. You should also focus on what you want to produce as an artist, such as the number of paintings in a year, or any big projects. Setting and tracking goals can also help you identify weak or underperforming parts of your art business so you can make a plan to improve.

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​At CGA we always remind artists that running their business without a plan or goals is like setting out on a trip without a destination. You might accidentally get somewhere cool, but most likely you will end up somewhere terrible, or mediocre.

What Good Goal Setting Looks Like “Smart?

​A goal like “completing a piece every week” or “selling 50 paintings this year.” may be achievable for some, but for others, this would be unrealistic. We all have different capacities and resources, and it is important to be aware of those. Most of the time people set goals but then fail to achieve their goals. One reason is that they haven’t set SMART goals. SMART goal setting is a popular technique for setting and achieving your goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. These are the five important characteristics of good goal setting.

​Specific: Your goal needs to be specific. It should be clear what the goal is and what you want to accomplish. 

Measurable: Always remember to set measurable goals so that you know if you are achieving them. This can also include milestones for the goal.

Attainable: You know your capacity, right? You know how many paintings you can create in a month. Based on your ability and resources, always set goals that are achievable for you otherwise, there is no point in setting them. (It is okay to push yourself, but just remember to be realistic.)

Relevant: The goal needs to be relevant to your business direction, values, and interests.

Time-bound: Goals need a time limit or they will never get done. 

Here’s an example of a SMART Goal: 
“I will maintain a business account for my artwork on Facebook and Instagram. I have to post at least 3 posts per week. I will start with one post per week and increase this by one post per week for the next 2 months.”
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Pro Artist Tip: Goals that are important, but reoccur (so it feels like there is no time limit) can be broken down into years or quarters.

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How To Determine What Artistic Goals To Take On And What To Let Go Of?

Maybe you have a ton of goals that feel important to you, or you just don’t know where to start. The first step in deciding what goals to take on is to determine your priorities. To prioritize, you identify your goals and then rank them by importance. If you are struggling to narrow down your goals, you might find it helpful to create a list of all the things that you want to accomplish and then start ranking them by how important they are or which are the most timely.

The next step is to take a look at the list and identify which tasks are going to propel your business forward, in the direction you want it to go. If there are any tasks on your list that don't fit into your priorities, it's time to let go of those goals for now. Put an X next to them.
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There may be a lot of goals that are important to you, but you have to narrow them down to what you can actually accomplish. If you have a lot of important goals try separating them out into years, months, or quarters. Remember, you don’t have to accomplish everything at once. What is the next logical step? If you are a new artist, it may not be possible to start teaching workshops. However, this goal can be achieved in a few years. Set it aside for now and work on the next most logical goal, at this moment.​

Pro Artist Tip: If you are really struggling to let go of goals, have one page in google docs or a notebook where you idea dump all your goals. Often we are just afraid of forgetting something, but as we move forward we may realize some of the goals are not necessary and we can let them go. If they continually seem important then you can come back to them when the time is right.

How To Track And Stay Organized With Your Artistic Goals?

​Being an artist you may have the freedom to create art on your own time and handle your business as you like. But it is a business, and you need to keep track of your goals and stay organized with them if you want to make significant progress. Here are some tips that are helpful to keep track of and stay aligned with your goals!​

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1. Make a list of your artistic goals in a diary. You can create a chart of those goals and hang it on your studio wall so you will see it often. Your list can be divided by months or quarters. You may want to mark goals off as you accomplish them.
2. Visualize and imagine your goals. Research shows that visualizing goals makes you more likely to accomplish them. (“Energy flows where attention goes.” Tony Robbins)
3. Check-in on your goals weekly, monthly, or quarterly to make sure you are staying on track and accomplishing your goals. 
4. Learn new skills that are helpful to improve your art career. You can be a great artist and still not know how to sell your artwork on different platforms. Maybe you don’t know how to increase your followers on your social media accounts. Develop a mindset of learning. In order to achieve the success you want it is helpful to stay up-to-date with skills and resources relevant to your goals.
5. Connect with artists who inspire you. Connecting with other artists by joining an artist community will help you to gain more knowledge and stay inspired to reach your goals and push yourself further. In fact, we at Cowgirl Artists of America just launched our new member’s space and have a step by step “Planning for Creatives” workshop! If you are a member make sure you log into the new member platform and check it out. 
6. Have fun! Don’t worry about comparing your journey to someone else’s. Appreciate the journey you are on. Go all in, explore, create, and develop a career you love. ​

“Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay.” — Simone de Beauvoir

Conclusion and Wrap-Up

​As an artist, you may face a lot of challenges in your field. But, you can overcome those challenges, identify problems, and set your SMART goals with the proper goal setting strategies we shared today. Good goal setting can help you see tremendous success in your career! 

Have you made any artistic goals list for this year? Drop the list in the comments below! I love to hear from you.