December 2005
When someone posted on the Another Girl at Play Discussion List that they had just gone freelance and were in need of some advice, I had a simple offering:
If you truly believe you will struggle with paying rent, you will struggle with paying rent. If all you ever do is dream but never take any action, you will stay in an office job and never see your potential.
If you believe you can make unlimited money and enjoy great things (I mean, really believe this from your core) and follow this belief with action (working, networking, taking risks, following up on all your ideas, baby steps and leaps), you will have unlimited money and enjoy great things. All it really takes is a true belief backed with plenty of action to get you to where you want to go.
While the formula for success is simple (belief + action = success), it's the following up that is often hard. So many people get caught up in their fears or in limiting themselves with their beliefs that they are not able to do anything and therefore can't get anywhere. Instead of taking their beliefs and moving forward with action, they run on the same treadmill propelled by self-sabatoge, excuses, fears, bad beliefs. These people generally have lots of great ideas but little to show for it. They need to step off the treadmill, think about their beliefs and then follow up with action. But the trick is not to just believing anything and doing everything but instead really understanding your beliefs (both personal and professional) and taking actions that match.
That is why it is so important to really take the time to really understand what you believe about yourself, your work, and your life. Ask yourself, what do you believe is your value? What do you believe you are entitled to? What do you believe you can accomplish? What do you believe you can do? What do you believe your future holds? What to you believe is your benefit to others? What do you believe is in you that needs to come out? And your beliefs need to come from your core, your gut, your soul and not from what you've read, have been told by your family or media or the part of the brain that makes you rationalise away what your heart is saying.
It is important to note that beliefs are very, very different than wants. You can want something but if you don't truly believe it, no amount of action can manifest it. And ideas are very, very different than action. If you have lots of great thoughts but take not even one little action, you'll always be standing in the same place.
So always be very careful and conscious about what you believe and the actions you take. If you don't believe you can do more than struggle, guess what, that's what you'll manifest. If you believe artists starve, you will manifest that. If you don't believe you can do anything, you won't. Be mindful of the language you use; instead of staying, "I'll never have an art career like so and so" say "I'm going to have a great career that I'm working on right now". Also, don't ever play yourself or abilities down. I find a lot of artists almost apologise for what they're doing or their talents so people don't "hate" them. These same artists are almost always struggling and tend to feel guilty for a life they've worked very hard for. It is very important to stand up for yourself because if you keep yourself down, no one will want to help you stand up.
Don't undersell yourself. Really define your worth. Be conscious of who you are, what you're doing, where you want to go long term. And by taking action accordingly, things will fall into place. You don't have to have all the answers or money right now or with each step but you do have to have a strong belief system and the desire for action.
The one last thing I would offer is to enjoy your work as you can but if you find down the line it turns out not to be what you thought or it isn't working the way you want to not get stuck on a path just because you think you have to. Success is also based on happiness and so sometimes one has to be flexible in their ideas to keep achieving success instead of holding tight to something that's not working. If you start out as a artist that works from home but one day decide you'd rather teach art to school children or you begin as a writer and then want to become a photographer, do it. Don't stick to a title, habit or idea that no longer works. Art and soul are so connected and both should constantly evolve so let them affect each other. Change is not only OK, it's natural and important.
The Holidays, I think, are mostly about hope - hope that it will snow, Santa will come by, things will be easier, we'll connect with others and that next year will be different. So I offer to you instead of picking up yet another self-help book and just having information, to really invest in yourself, discover what you really believe and then manifest it with action in 2006. There is no gadget, no stocking stuffer and no elf that can give you that.
So give yourself the gift of you this year and rock out during the next.
A warm holiday to you all from all of us here.
ARTIST NEWS:
* Katherine Dunn's site now has an on-line store where you can buy her greeting cards, archive prints and select original paintings, as well as her "Shepherd Girl" line of framed 3" prints. She also has launched a fun new product line at Cafe Press that is an extension of "Shepherd Girl" featuring her farm animals [including goats for peace, a ram too busy to be nice and a gassy pug, to name a few]. And finally, "Apifera Farm - Where Animals, Art and Lavender Collide" , her new blog is now online!
* Sharyn Sowell's book, Papercutting Techniques for Scrapbooks and Cards is now at stores nationwide and available online at Barnes & Noble and Amazon. In it Sharyn shows how you can make your scrapbook pages, jourals and greeting cards special by adding delicate cut paper elements. With this book near your workspace, you'll never run out of ideas for cool embellishments and projects that can be applied to your
home decor.
* Summer Pierre is selling her annual Great Gal Calendar. Celebrate great women 365 days a year--with exhuberant hand drawn art! Perfect for the great gal in your life or just for your great self! Go to her blog for more info!
* Jenny Hart at Sublime Stitching has a new crop of designs just in time for Christmas! SUSHI BAR - ROCK 'N ROLL - WINTERLAND - KRAZY KITCHEN! And did you know that Jenny Hart's Stitch-It Kit won a prestigious design award? It was included in the Regional Annual of PRINT Magazine. Yay! Get the award-winning kit for yourself!
In Brooklyn? Jenny will be signing copies of her Stitch-It Kit at the BUST Holiday Craftacular, Sat. December 17th, 7pm at Warsaw.
* Tammy Raybould is on her way to Hawaii on December 6th to do the Honolulu Marathon raising money for diabetes. She's part of a team called Team Diabetes, in which everyone raises between $5900 and $6200 (depending on race destination) and all the proceeds go towards finding a cure for diabetes, education, advocacy, and making life just a bit easier for all diabetics, Type 1 and Type 2. Tammy is running in honour of her brother, who's been diabetic since he was 11 years old. He's since been on insulin needles every day and is now on approximately 6-7 needles every day at 22 years old. If anyone would like to donate to the cause, please email Tammy and she'll give you step-by-step instructions on how to donate. Tammy's new CD is almost complete as well, in which a portion of sales will also go towards the Canadian Diabetes Association. If you'd like to be emailed as to when the CD is ready for sale, again, email Tammy and she'll add you to the email list, or go to her website and click "send Tammy a message". Also, email her for holiday specials she has on CD's and other merchandise. Happy holidays everyone!"
* Jennifer Griggs Sebastian has her ScoutDog Studios Holiday Barktique is now open in time for holiday shopping. Order holiday cards featuring your favorite pooch or feline pal as well as some gifts for the pet lover on your list. Happy Holidays from ScoutDog Studios.