Creative Goal Setting

As a creative free spirit, just the idea of goals can be somewhat uninspiring. Lorraine Blackley explores a creative approach to goal setting - to make it an adventure rather than a corporate exercise.

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Setting Goals Feels Like Losing My Freedom

Being a creative free spirit, just the idea of goals is somewhat uninspiring. Then there is that word “setting” which, when I associate with goals, I am afraid I might be setting something in concrete. I am afraid of losing my freedom and autonomy. The creatively inspired part of me is not prepared to do that. Besides I have a different creative idea every day. How can I tie myself down to goals when my creative inspiration keeps moving? By now I am disconnecting from the idea of setting goals and starting to drift off to some other activity.

Here I am as an artist up against massive conditioning to what feels like a grown up business world, left brain, uninspired task. Yet I want to get on in life and everywhere I look I come across the fact that if I want to go anywhere in life I have to set goals. I read about the study they did in the 80’s with the Harvard MBA graduates. It showed when the class was followed up ten years later that the 3 percent who set goals and reviewed them regularly achieved massively in regard to what they wanted, compared to the 14 percent who didn’t set goals. The other 83 percent were somewhere in the middle and so were their results. I wanted to be able to set goals but I have a real block around it.

It’s What You Want in Life That Moves You Through It

After 20 years of going around in circles not really getting any traction I discovered that it is what you want in life that draws you through it. I checked this idea out. Yes it seemed to hold true. I would get out of bed because I wanted a cup of tea. I would ring up a friend to go to a movie because I wanted company and entertainment. I would go to work because I wanted money. Apparently if you don’t want anything you simply don’t move. This was true of my depressed friend who hardly got out of bed. No wonder I was going nowhere. When it came to life goals, I really didn’t know what I wanted.

Over the years I have found myself in various goal setting workshops. When it came to the part of deciding on what goals I wanted to set I would find myself writing down things like: Make $100,000 per annum, find the love of my life and take a one month overseas trip somewhere exotic before the end of the year.

Trouble was they felt like a standard order and not really specific enough for me. They didn’t seem to have any pulling power and before the end of the week I would have forgotten them.

A Creative Approach to Goal Setting

Then I came across a book by Robert Fritz called, The Path of Least Resistance. This book talked about creating what mattered. To create anything whether it was an artwork or a business, a holiday or an intimate relationship it had to be something that I really wanted. Something that made my heart sing. Something I wanted so much that I would do whatever it took to bring it into being. That felt more exciting. I asked myself, what could that be?

I had always hated my day job, doing the nine to five. That was it; I wanted work that was enjoyable and engaging. Something that used my gifts and talents and I could look forward to each day. I wanted to create livelihood doing what I loved. Now I felt like I had a goal that made my heart sing and yes I was prepared to do whatever it took to bring it about. That is until, right on that point of taking action the old feelings around goals would start to creep in again. This was the point I would come unstuck. Nice pipe dream but it is not realistic and how would I bring it about anyway? The urge to chuck my new goal was strong.

It is all about WHAT. Forget about HOW.

Here is where Fritz was speaking to me again. I didn’t have to know how I was going to bring this about. Phew well that was a relief. I just had to focus on what I wanted- every minute of every day. At the same time he advised me to be really honest about where I was in relation to my goal. Yeah right, not even off the starting block. In so doing I would be creating the tension between what I wanted and my current reality. Creating and holding this tension he suggested would fuel the creative process of my goal manifestation. He suggested that the movement towards my goal realisation would have a life of its own. Chance encounters and synchronicity would mark the way.

All I had to do was keep in action by taking one small step after the other. All the time staying focused on my goal. I could do that. And I have.

It has been a ten year journey since that point in time. I have work that I love. I have been through many reconfigurations as this goal has continued to take shape. What I love about the approach is that I don’t have to work out how I am going to make my goals happen. Instead I simply allow a natural unfolding as I take one small step after another. Remembering to keep my focus very firmly on my goal and allow the laws of physics to do the rest as energy follows my focus.

I Could Never Have Planned It That Perfectly

Looking back I could never have planned what happened from the outset. Much of the journey ended up being way beyond anything I might have been able to imagine from the point I started out. I would only have limited my possibilities had I approached goal setting in a traditional way. This way was much more fun. Goal setting suddenly felt more like an adventure than a corporate exercise.

Since that point in time I have decided on many exciting things I have wanted. Always I set about it in the same way and watch the unfolding dynamic. Sometimes I change my mind before I get to the end result and other times I reach my prize. Nothing is set in concrete and I can change as my life changes. I can have a number of goals on the go at any one time. I can be going for big things that take years to bring to fruition, like my work that I love or I can go for little things like get at least five film festival films in this season.

I am able to direct my life towards what I want. I am able to create more of what matters to me. I am able to set inspiring goals and stay on track towards them.

* * * The Next Step * * *

Goal Achievement Is About Doing

There are two exercises I have written as part of this goal setting series that take you into the specifics of what I do to get started.

One you can use to help you to work out what you want in the first place and the other helps you to get specific enough to identify your starting point.

Once you get started it is always possible to work out the next few steps. That is all that is required – to always identify your next few steps and take them. Eventually you'll find yourself having achieved what you want.

FEATURES:

Inspiring Goals: Claire Cowan

EXERCISES:

Getting Started

SMART Goals

DISCUSSION:

Q&A: Your Inspiring Goals

RESOURCES:

How To Keep Focused And Motivated: Goal Setting

Goal Setting for Creatives: Staying (or Getting) on Track with Your Goals, Part 4 of 4

Goal setting with mind mapping

43 things - show your goals online