I am in the process of reading a book about job hunting titled “48 Days to the Work You Love”. So far it is a great book about the process of how to conduct a fruitful job hunt. I am only in the beginning portions of the book so check back in with a few months from now to see if it proves good. That being said in chapter 4 of the book which is all about goal setting the author, Dan Miller, introduces a cool concept and chart that I am using to help set my personal goals for 2012. Below is Dan Miller’s Wheel of Life Chart. In the book he describes seven areas of achievement and then has the reader shade in the corresponding area on the wheel to the degree that one feels that area of your life is great. 10 being great and 1, in the center, meaning you need a lot of work there. Below is the chart as I viewed my current life situations, and in using this self-knowledge/reflection I have create goals for myself in each of these 7 areas hoping to better round out my wheel because as Dan Miller points out, “You know what an unbalanced wheel does. An unbalanced life does much the same.”(56)
My 2012 Goals:
As for my goals in personal development I plan to maintain a sketchbook, which I sort of failed at last year. I will monitor this by forcing myself to have at least one sketchbook blog post a month and will fill 2 sketchbooks by the end of the year. My sketchbook is separate from the notebook I use to do my thumb-nailing and brainstorming in; the sketchbook will be a place for the practice and study of drawing. I will also pick back up my study of Japanese, which I have missed with the goal of being back to the place I was at when I left off studying two years ago. Back then I was able to speak in polite form quite easily, write in Hiragana & Katakana just fine, and was beginning my study of Kanji. Lastly, I will begin to seriously develop my graphic novel idea with the goal of having a solid detailed plot and a majority of the concept art done by the end of the year.
Spiritually I need to serve others more and to actively seek out opportunities to do so; putting other people ahead of myself. To this end I have already created a list of local charities that could possibly use volunteers and will be calling them this month to inquire about volunteering. Plus, I will pay more attention to those around me in my daily life and be aware of their needs. I will continue with the goal to read the Bible and pray daily.
I need to find a better paying and more creative day job so I can pay my student loans and move out. This will not only allow me to move into the next stage in my life, but hopefully help me to better focus on my freelance, which is my long term career goal. For my freelance I plan to land work with the top two clients I am targeting, namely Paizo and Wizards of the Coast. This means creating new and better samples for these companies, which I am currently in the process of doing. I will maintain this blog weekly. I will make more art this year then I have in any past year. Lastly, I would like to have one freelance job a month at least, which would begin to build the habit of looking for clients & actual freelance work vs. always doing personal work or samples.
My financial goals are very much hinged upon me completing my career goals. No work, no income, no finances. But via having a new job and more freelance work I will attack my Debt Snowball. I will continue to keep a written budget and stick to the plan I established in Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University this past winter. As for my Debt Snowball my minimum goal is to have paid off top three loans on the list by the end of the year. I will also begin a sinking fund for a cheap used motorcycle or a laptop.
Physical goals…one of the areas I struggle with the most on the wheel. I will keep these simple and straight forward. I will begin with a daily stretch routine like I used to have. Then once that is established (say by March or April) add in push-ups and sit ups, plus a little time with weights. Then once I move out I will find a personal trainer or someone who can help me setup a full blown workout routine.
I intend to move my friendships a little higher on the priority list in working towards my social goals. I will spend more time with them, and work to build those relationships because I neglected them badly this past year. To that end I have scheduled a trip to Grand Rapids this month and hopefully a trip to Chicago next month to visit my two best friends and their families.
Family goals: I need to move out of my parent’s home, which is hinged upon me finding a better job. That way I can begin to socialize more and entertain ideas of beginning to build my own family. Similar to my social goals I want to spend more focused time with various family members including my cousins and grandparents.
In Conclusion:
As a freelance illustrator I have found maintaining balance in one’s life is a constant struggle because there are always more paintings and illustrations to create and I am always at my work area, home. Plus, being that I currently work a retail job where my work hours constantly change each week setting up a work routine is not possible. That is why I found this chart and the idea of classifying my goals, applying some to each area of my life, so intriguing. I keep my goals posted on the wall of my studio, so that they are always on my mind. I hope you too have goals for yourself this year and work towards them with all your effort.
I would like to leave you with these words from the book “Talent is Never Enough” by John Maxwell in which he quotes the orator and attorney William Jennings Bryan:
“Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”
See you all later this week with a two new paintings!
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