How to Set a Goal That Actually Works (for Creative People)

Creativity loves structure, so here's a free worksheet for you to play with this week

Photo by Rifqi Ali Ridho on Unsplash

When I was in business school, I attended a talk by Eric Ries, the author of The Lean Startup methodology. The idea that you could iterate, test and learn, and roll out a minimal viable product (aka something that’s kinda half baked and mostly works, but embraces an imperfect nature in order to get something out and improve over time), seemed pretty great. One of the trickle down effects was the popularity of the “one page business plan,” a tool for rapid iteration. They look something like this:

I’ve always loved a good one-pager, and so this week I wanted to make one, but for creative goal setting. A key differentiator for creatives is that we’re not driven by the same motives (not exactly, anyway). We often resist being told, hey, create your art — and then make things based on operational excellence, productivity, or profit. Well, we can try, but it usually fails. There is a secondary vein, a creative muse that must arrive, an invisible well of inspiration that needs to be tapped into.

So, I grabbed a pen and a piece of paper, and started to sketch out some ideas. How could I help people bring their ideas (their writing, their drawing, their acting, their creative projects) to life, in a way that felt both practical and inviting? I iterated on the idea itself, posing sample questions to myself and then sketching out the answers, looking for missing parts and gaps:

Let’s go through this worksheet together, which starts with goal setting and then is organized into six steps. Here’s what the final worksheet looks like, and you can download it for free here. It’s just a regular Google Drive link, you don’t need to type in your email address or anything for access (we are practicing abundance).

Pre-step: Write your goal in the big, fat heart. Try to make it a goal that you actually want to do, not something your mom wants you to do, or something you think you should do. It has to be something weird and personal and creative, okay? Some possible goals:

• Write chapter one of my great American novel

• Finish my watercolor series that I started in 2016

• Upload one video to YouTube and continue to grow my channel

• Start a greeting card business and design my first five cards

Step 1 (starting at the top left): My Past Successes

Start by writing down a list of how you’ve succeeded in this area in the past. So if your goal is to write your first novel, think into your past about a few times that you were writerly. When you wrote stories as a kid. When you wrote for a magazine in college. I don’t care if it’s an example from high school AP English class! Creativity is timeless and exists outside of linearity. If you did it before, in any capacity, then there is still a part of that greatness that lives inside you. Write it down so you don’t forget. You’re just picking up a thread that you’ve held in your hands before.

Step 2: Things to Say No To:

Remember that sometimes we have to say no, before we can say yes. In order to focus on your goal and give it the necessary attention. What are the things that you will have to politely decline in order to lean into your dream? These are, frankly, probably things that you were on the fence about anyway, so now you have a valid reason to say no! Write down your list of “no’s” here.

Step 3: Steps in My Creative Process

Part of the reason why creativity is so hard is because it requires the orchestration of so many moving parts. “I want to be a writer,” you say, but then you realize you have to turn your computer on, turn your phone off, find the last file you were working on, find the perfect Spotify playlist to set the mood, get a snack, get yourself hyped up, write an okay first draft, digest it, come back to it, edit it, etc. You get the idea.

When I first started my YouTube channel, I thought it would be easy. But in fact, there were many components to the process, including:

• Ideation

• Title and thumbnail writing and design

• Scripting

• Filming

• Editing

• Uploading

• Responding to comments

I just want you to see all of the parts that your creativity requires, so that a) you can give yourself credit for the incredibly diverse set of creative, intellectual, and business muscles that you are exercising at every stage, and b) you can tap into / call the various creative higher powers that are needed for each step and mentally prepare for the genius that is about to happen.

just pasting this here again so you don’t have to scroll :0)

Step 4: To Do This Week

Even if you are super motivated and absolutely pumped to get started, sometimes all of that hype lives a couple of feet above our heads. Then when it comes time to actually do the work, we sort of forget what we are supposed to do. You see the dream and the vision, but the day to day gets a little hazy. This is why, as you are brainstorming and working on this idea, you’re going to be continually jotting down your tactical, practical, boring, every day tasks that you have to do. Make yourself a little checklist so that when you’re not feeling particularly motivated, you already have your marching orders and can just put your head down and execute. Do not underestimate the power of the little boost that you get from checking things off your to do list! They can create a snowball effect.

Step 5: Creative Mantras, or meditations of creative energy

Here is where we go a little deep. You’re going to write down your beliefs about creativity. How will creativity heal you? Why are you drawn to it? What are the issues that matter to you? Who are you, really? What kind of sexy, weird shadow wants to come from behind the curtain and make itself known? Some potential creative mantras are:

• The world is always looking out for me and my success

• My art wants to be born

• I am safe and protected and am at my highest when I am creating

• Progress over perfection, I will be supported and not judged

Write your truth here. No one has to see this but you.

Step 6: Big Picture Milestones

As creatives, sometimes we can get tunnel vision, or fall down the rabbit hole and simply forget that time and space exist, lol. This is why you need to write down sign markers and milestones for yourself as a reminder of how far you’ve come. So you can celebrate your mini-wins! You want to write the first chapter of your novel, and you’re already 50% of the way there? That’s a win! You want to get back into dance, and you actually went to your first adult class? That IS A WIN.

I would take your goal and split it into maybe 4 sections, the 25% mark, 50% mark, 75%, and then of course reaching your goal. Write out what each step of progress might look like. And don’t change the goal! The important thing is that the goal stays perfectly still; if the goalpost keeps moving, you’ll live in a state of always-reaching and we try not to live in that anxious place anymore, you know?

OK, that’s it! Again, here’s the link to get the free worksheet:

I hope you use it and love it. Let me know! Also, make it yours! If there’s a seventh step or something that you feel is missing, just cross it out and write your own prompt. I’m so excited for you!!!

Lastly, if you’re more of a visual learner, you can follow along on the YouTube video that I just posted here:

xoxo

Mandy aka Career Coach Mandy