If you think great-big things only happen to “other people,” I’m here to tell you that they will happen for you, too.
Great-big things are game-changers, the things that up-level your art career, the events that can transform your life.
Things like: Writing a best-selling book, having a museum or airport feature your work, selling your first $20,000 painting, signing a million dollar deal, or creating that charity program you’ve been dreaming about.
There is a formula for making great-big things happen, and I’m going to share it with you.
But first, I want to share a great-big thing that just happened for me and my husband, Drew.
Two weeks ago Drew and I and the kids drove across country from California to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to put on Drew’s first ever museum exhibit.
On the opening day of the MAKING WAVES – A Drew Brophy Retrospective Exhibit, over 1,000 people attended. It was a huge success and a dream come true for both of us!
But nothing great happens by accident. You have to dream it first, and we did.
Nearly 15 years ago, Drew and I set a long-term goal for his work to be exhibited in a museum retrospective. And while we had no idea at all how it was going to happen, we planned for it.
We saved Drew’s sketches. We kept records of his buyers and we maintained a master list on the details of all his paintings and sculptures.
We also kept the copyrights to all of Drew’s artwork so that we wouldn’t have to get permission to use any of his iconic images. We were able to sell Drew’s best images on various types of merchandise in the museum gift store.
This planning came in handy when it was time to pull nearly 100 pieces of art from various buyers for the exhibit, showing a 30 year career that began when Drew was 17 years old.
We had originally imagined that Drew’s retrospective would be held at the Laguna Beach Art Museum, as it is near our home and they often feature surf inspired artists. But, dreams don’t always come to you in the way that you imagine, and you have to be open to all possibilities. The Myrtle Beach Art Museum contacted us a few years ago, asking Drew to do his first retrospective there. It worked out great, because Drew grew up in Myrtle Beach South Carolina and it was where he got his early inspiration and his start to being an artist.
THE FORMULA FOR MAKING GREAT-BIG THINGS HAPPEN:
1 – SET A LONG-TERM GOAL: For something great and big to happen, first you have to DREAM IT. Roll it around in your mind. Think about what you want. And then decide that this dream is your long-term goal.
2 – BE OKAY WITH NOT KNOWING HOW IT WILL HAPPEN: Let go of the need to know how it will come about. Sometimes, things come to us in a very different way than we imagined. Be open to all possibilities.
3 – WRITE IT DOWN ON PAPER: Get a pen and a piece of paper, and write down your long-term goal. When we use pen on paper, we access a part of our brain that wants to solve problems. Your brain will work on this “problem” for you when you aren’t even thinking about it!
4 – KEEP YOUR GOAL IN MIND WHEN MAKING DECISIONS: If a decision you are about to make impacts your long-term goal in a negative way, be mindful of that.
Every decision you make will take you either closer to your long-term goal, or further away from it.
With every decision, ask yourself: “Does this take me closer to my long-term goal?” And if the answer is no, then choose accordingly.
Here’s a few examples: If your long-term goal is to travel the world, don’t buy a puppy! If it is to print a coffee table book of all of your art, be sure to keep all of your copyrights.
5 – BE COMMITTED AND PREPARE FOR IT: Commit to your long-term goal and be patient while you prepare yourself for it. The great-big thing you dream of will come to you when you’re ready. Start getting ready for it!
An example: If you dream of being a speaker on a TED stage, you would start giving talks in your local community. You would learn how to be a great speaker, by booking speaking engagements every week.
The bigger ideas take longer; have patience and don’t give up until it happens.
One last thing: Start telling people about your long-term goal! Some will want to help you bring it to life. Over time, if you continue to hold the vision of a long-term goal in your mind, opportunities and people will come to you that will help make it happen.
Please share in the comments, what is one great-big long-term goal that you are committed to? I’d love to know, share with me! (I included mine in the comments!)
Maria xxoo
22 Responses
My new Long-Term Goal is this: Team up with Drew to build an educational program for artists young and old, one that will inspire and guide them to create art from the heart. I want this program to be implemented in public school systems all over the USA.
I love your idea of building an educational program for artists and being implemented in public schools systems all over. It would indeed be great for artists to get more help for the business aspect of art as well. No one really teaches this aspect much, or if they do, they aren’t doing it very well…. until you came along! You are helping so many people with your new book and your You Tube videos! I am learning from you for sure, and am very excited to learn more!
Thank you Sanndi, I appreciate the kind words! 🙂
We share a similar long term goal Maria. Mine has always been to open up an affordable art school for children. Been dreaming about it for over 10 years. My hope was to use the sale of my own artwork to help fund the school, but haven’t had much luck. Hopefully things will change soon and that lucky break will come along.
Ralph, instead of using your art to fund the school, why not get a sponsor with deep-pockets and a similar goal? Take that route – it will be easier and a good sponsor will have other resources also, that will help make your dream a reality.
Hey Maria! I share the goal of having a school/camp type thing of art for kids as well, and I created a little art program for local foster kids a couple years ago. I see them a couple times a month and it looks to be growing some this summer…so this is a step in the direction of the larger goal.
An extension from this is my brand “Perfect for Awesomeness” will grow and support more community outreach programs, sponsor athletes and people doing exceptional things…uplift passionate people! I also volunteer taking disabled people out to catch waves with SurfQuest, so the plan is the brand will sponsor things like this as well. This is one of a few I’m taking steps towards 🙂
Nice article!
Kyle, I love this goal that you have. It’s surely needed. Thanks for sharing in the comments. I hope we see each other again one day soon. It’s been too long!
What a great post! It couldn’t have come at a better time for me. I’ve had this goal in my head for about a year now and I finally feel I’m ready to do more than just think about it. I’m moving forward. Reading this confirmed to me that I’m on the right track. I’ve committed to my plan in writing. I’ve told several people of my intentions and it’s been very affirming. I’m currently working on a painting, a vision board of sorts. The intention for this is that it will become my poster to introduce the project. I want to represent a group of talented artists including myself, based here in Las Vegas and do a pop up show in the L.A. area and then get a group of L.A. artists to do the same here in Vegas. …scary to put it out there,
Committed
Annie, so good to hear from you! Gosh, we have known each other for so long – I almost want to say nearly 10 years or so?! I love your long-term goal. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Maria,
Love the long-term goal…WOW! This has given us something BIG to think about. Thanks!
Thanks Steve! 🙂
One big goal I have is to pay off all of the debt. It would make other goals I have a lot easier to achieve.
My big long term goal is to have a fiber arts camp on our place, which is out in the middle of the forest. A place where one can connect with Nature while learning new skills, or just having a relaxing weekend spinning, weaving, knitting, etc.
Love the simple idea of formulating your specific long-term goal. As you said, even if you don’t yet know HOW you can make it happen, just knowing exactly WHAT you eventually want to occur will help direct all those tiny choices and decisions along the way to someday bring your dream to life.
What a good question you have planted in my mind! Never thought about it. It will be amazing to think about it and set that long term goal. Thanks a lot Maria.
Loved the article. Thak again!
My big long term goal rigjt now seems a little btoad and general. I want to be nationally recognized as a portrait painter who expresses the subject’s inner strength through their creative pursuit. Right now it involves four sub-goals: signature membership in the Portrait Society of America and Oil Painters of America; an article about my art and my vision in American Art Collector; successful representation in three high end galleries; to sell my work regularly at the $5,000 level for at least 10 years (I’m 70 years old). So maybe I need to start with one and build on that. I think the signature member status might be the best place to start, to get the credibility from respected organizations needed for the other goals. What do you think?
Hey Maria, I dream of matching or exceeding my husband’s income through my artwork, thereby empowering him to follow his dreams too. He currently makes $100K per annum. I also want to show my children they can make a good income doing what they love if they work hard and make smart decisions. We have four young children, ages 2,4,5 and 7. Thank you so much for your book and blog posts. Your positivity means the world to me!
I make pottery and ceramics that is inspired by historical styles and shapes. So far my audience is almost exclusively hobbyist re-enactors who want to experience other cultures and other times, and my work helps them do that.
My long term goal is for my work to reach an audience at the high-end art market with my history-based ceramic wares.
I think it would be amazing to have a joint art exhibit with my brother in San Diego. We’re both from there and share a passion for abstraction, creativity, and connecting with others through our art. I love the idea of setting an intention, writing this down, and moving in that direction. Thanks Maria for your steadfast leadership. I’m putting your suggestions to work, and I’m gradually moving the ball forward. Thank you!
My goal is to be able to support my son and I as a bad ass single Mom who is an artist, by going children’s books, and children’s books for adults, illustrating and writing them. These books talk about the Ascension happening on the planet. Also to do Ascension furniture, where I infuse my love, prayers and blessings into the pieces, much like I do now into the walls of the homeowners I work for now. To do these furniture lines for online companies like wayfair.com, overstock.com, Ikea, Costco etc. Maybe even Restoration hardware, my friend told me the owner opened a restaurant in Napa valley. I’d like to also sell painted floorcloths, placemats, canvas transfers and giclees on my ecommerce website- doing drop shipments. I’ve researched this, have about 13 paintings to finish, seem to get tripped up in finishing them. But bought your book Maria, Art, money success, and am very inspired!!
Thank you so much!
Please check out sarahpaintseverything.com, and can you give me some tips?
Thank you!!
My long term goal is to have a story book published either as the illustrator or writer and illustrator. I have started the journey. I am a professional artist and have attended an illustration course. I’ve written and illustrated a self published book but the next step is to find an agent and have more self belief.
My dream is to build and manage an Artist Haven – I want to name it “The Haven”, a place on a beautiful property with a vegetable and butterfly/meditation garden, probably some alpacas!, and a space for painters, musicians, poets, sculptors, the curious, to come together and exchange ideas, be enriched through education, delicious wholesome food, and community, and to help bring out the powerful healing of creative practice. Like a perpetual dinner party for artists 🙂 That’s what I envision and the kind of place I wish existed – so I want to make it happen!