The End Is Near

Tomorrow marks the end of my 730-day challenge to create new artwork every day. Oh, and it’s the start of a new year.

Since this is a time of year when people are more likely to set new goals, start new habits, or try out a new skill, I thought it might be helpful to share some of my observations from this past 2 years.

Start Small and Build

We have all been there. The exciting moment when we declare our goal; “I’m gonna run a marathon,” “This is the year of eating healthy,” or “I will be a world-renowned ventriloquist.” (Hey… no judgment here)

I’m a fan of huge declarations. One day I’ll tell you about the time I gave up listening to my favorite band for Lent and the small, but meaningful, ceremony as I packed away my CDs.

There are definitely different ways to go about reaching a goal, but one thing that made a difference for me this past 2 years was starting small. My original goal wasn’t 730-days, I began with a 30-day commitment. Those first 30-days were a way to dip my toe into the water of this whole idea of creating lettering artwork.

During those first 30-days I established my habit of creating daily. I was able to determine if this was something that I enjoyed and wanted to keep exploring.

After the 30 days, I still wasn’t ready to commit to the 730 days, but wanted to make a commitment and continue stoking the fire, so my next step was for 365 days.

Each step built on the previous one, so that I was able to grow in confidence as I gained clarity about what I really wanted.

By the time I hit the end of the 365-days, I was ready to tackle the second year and had no hesitation about going for it. As you are looking at a goal you want to reach, is it a “go big or go home” situation or would you better serve yourself by breaking down the larger goal into smaller chunks that can build on each other?

Expect Resistance

Ultimately, the shine and excitement fade away and you will find yourself in the “tough middle.” You no longer have the enthusiasm from when you started, and the finish line seems a looooooooong way off.

What I want to say about the “tough middle” is know that it will happen. There will be days when no ideas come or when you would rather do anything besides the one thing you committed to do. I found that it was helpful to know that the struggle was a part of the journey. Instead of viewing it as a sign that something is wrong, you now recognize it actually means you are on track (Presto Change-o!)

I remember when I was pregnant with our first child and Dean & I went to birthing classes. During the class they described the different stages of labor. The length of time for each stage can vary, but every woman goes through each stage. There is a stage when the mom basically says, “I can’t do this,” because pushing a person out of your body is a major endeavor, so that’s when your coach (in this case, Dean) needs to be super-encouraging to help navigate that transition.

After reading about that phenomenon, I let Dean know that wouldn’t be happening. I was going to do all of the work so that I could simply skip that whole despairing part. (I may have been deep in my control issues at that time)

As I’m sure you can guess, I did ultimately find myself in that “I can’t do this” stage and, while it initially hit hard, I do remember being comforted by knowing this was all a part of the process.

So, if you know that you are going to meet resistance or have days that are challenging, put things in place to help yourself; maybe it’s a call to a friend to get some encouragement. Perhaps you can spend time putting things in place while you are in a good spot, that can be of help when hard days happen.

For example, I kept a list of words & phrases I could reference when I had no idea for a particular day. It was a great way to capture ideas when I had them and it felt like a gift to help my future self. (who doesn’t love getting a gift?)

Good Enough Is Just Fine

This last part is for all my fellow perfectionists out there. It is more important to get something out, than for it to be perfect. (pause for a collective gasp)

Keep breathing, friend, it will be OK. “Perfect” is an illusion. There is no such thing. It’s like unicorns or easy parenting; it just doesn’t exist.

This unattainable standard of “perfect” keeps us from moving forward. There were plenty of days where I saw room for improvement in what I posted. Sometimes the color wasn’t quite right or the composition could have been better, but “getting it done” was the important thing.

Once it is done, you have something to work with and improve upon. There were plenty of ideas that I reworked later and I still have a list of previous artwork that I have future plans for. However, you can’t move forward with something that doesn’t exist.

Shake off the idea of making something perfect and just make something.

Those are just a few of my observations from the past 730 days. I hope that you found this helpful and maybe got a little encouragement you can apply to goals and dreams you have for this new year.

As for me, I’m still working out what my next goals will be. This week marks the end for a couple of my goals. Tomorrow is the end of my 730-day goal and Thursday is the end of my “You Buy One, I Send One” goal.

It was an idea I had in response to the historic shift of women’s involvement in government. For every “A Women’s Place is in the House and the Senate” shirt sold by January 3^rd, a second shirt will be sent to a Congresswoman.

There’s still time to participate. And remember, if you like the idea, but don’t really want a shirt, there is an option to pay for a shirt and I’ll ship out two (Click here to see all the options). At this point, I’ve got 25 shirts that will be going out. (Woo Hoo and Thank You!)

Of course, I’d love to get one out to every single female Congresswoman, which is over 100, but I know that’s a tall order. However, it’s not over till it’s over, so if you know of anyone who may want to participate, please forward this along.

Thanks for all of the support, both for this idea as well as for the past 2 years. It’s been so exciting to see this grow and I can’t wait to see what 2019 will bring.