Planning for the future is different from positive affirmations. Having a clear vision or projection of where you want to go with your career and what you want to achieve will help you get there. I like to create the time for myself where I envision various times and stages of my career and my expectations and success levels.
• Where do you want to be with your creativity in three months?
• Where do you want to be with your creativity in six months?
• What do I want to achieve in one year?
• What do I want to achieve in three years?
• What do I want to achieve in five years?
It is great to have a five-year plan. Go into detail…
• How many exhibitions per year do you want to be having?
• How much income per year by then?
• How much do you want to be selling your work per piece by then?
• Will you own your own house, car, holiday house, and or studio?
• What will your bank balance be by then? Will you have no debt?
All good questions and you can of course tailor them all to suit your own circumstances. Remember there are very wise teachings that have come down through the ages that go along the lines of: “Man proposes God disposes”, or “Be careful of what you wish for, you may get it”… all true.
Once you put the thought together as an idea you send it out to the universe. In some way or another you end up creating your own reality, so why not have a clear picture of what you want and why, and then afterwards, see what comes. A far better way to live than stumbling through random offerings from existence because you weren’t smart enough to create it yourself.
I remember an artist friend of mine who asked my advice about entering a major art award. She was feeling unconfident and generally insecure about the prospect of entering this award as it was a national one and she thought her chances were close to zero of being selected. I broadened her horizons to have her believe she was in fact as good, if not better than most of the other entrants. She used this mentoring session well and in her own way expanded to meet the real possibility in herself that she was that good. She entered the award and discovered to her delight three weeks later that she was selected as a finalist. The fact that she ended up being severely disappointed when the overall prize-winner was announced and she found she didn’t win, was an entirely different matter.