If you ask different artists who have built a success business out of their Art what their secret is you will get a whole array of different answers. No matter what all those secrets are … one of the biggest keys I have found, in my own businesses and those of my clients, that produces a massive difference in success is CONSISTENCY.
Consistent Actions Over Time = Results!
Beaming with constant new ideas, excited by lots of new shiny objects, mind going 1000 miles a minute … it is so easy to be all over the place from day to day. Add to that all the different directions you can take the business of your Art and the multitude of different ways to market yourself. Now add your life with it’s never ending fluctuations … whew … it can become overwhelming and we can often feel like we are getting nowhere!
We may find ourselves jumping from thing to thing; trying this and trying that, bouncing around and always be asking ourselves, “What’s next?” What if we simply slow it down for a moment and pick several things and do them well and do them consistently? Before I go any further … let’s just get rid of any conversation about time … there is much more time available when we do things consistently than when we wing it.
As an artist, for example, one of the key things to do consistently is create and fine-tune the craft of your Art. If you are a writer do you write everyday? If you are a painter or photographer do you paint or photograph everyday? If you are dancer or musician do you practice everyday? Perhaps you do (Yeahhhhhhhhhh for you!!!!) but if you don’t then it is time to find a way to do that.
Even if you fit in only 30 minutes of your Art expression each day it will provide something new for you. What if you got up and wrote or painted every morning before you start work? What if you practiced your dance or music each evening before you went to bed? What if you took 5 photos everyday? Can’t do your exact medium every day – then do something creative!
Let go of that it has to be something you need to be engaged in for 10 hours straight in order to do it … consistency is the key. I know you may not be used to thinking this way … but it is much more important that you work consistently vs. “waiting” for that perfect moment. And for longer periods of time decide when you will create those times and do it consistently also (i.e. every Sunday for 6 hours in addition to your 30 minutes a day)
When it comes to the money side of your Art … Do you know where your money is? Do you plan where it will come from? Add some consistency … for example: What if every day you spend 15 minutes on your finances keeping it all clear and organized? What if each week on Saturday you took 30 – 60 minutes and project your money for the upcoming week and look at what you need for the month and make a list of what you need to do this week to make that happen?
When it comes to the marketing side of your Art … What can you do consistently? Pick several things and do them consistently vs. trying to do it all in a haphazard way. Say you decide to make a commitment to update your website and use a few social media platforms that you choose consistently.
Then schedule it out and pick your consistent times. For example: update your website 1x a week on Tuesday, check FB for 15 minutes and post something new each day, check Linkedin & connect with people for 15 minutes every Monday, Wednesday & Friday or upload a new video on YouTube every Thursday.
The point is that the consistency is more important than the actual time you spend. Anything practiced consistently over time becomes easier AND produces results. It builds. It expands. It progresses. We simply cannot do it all … so choose the important things to focus on and stick with it day after day and week after week and month after month.
Find the JOY in those things, find the excitement in those things, learn them deeply, and make it your mission to stay committed to the consistency. Once you have conquered doing X amount of things consistently then you will probably find that you can add other things. I promise that if you try this that your life will become much easier and you will find that you accomplish much more!
What in your life, Art and Art business can you add consistency to?
Please feel free to share with me/us … I love to hear from you and I am always here to offer any guidance that I can! I want you and your Art to flourish!
Of course it is a good thing to be consistent. Could it be boring? Could it mean that one never changes one’s outlook & opinions?
I used to have a saying when my sister would say about a certain person, ” you always know where you stand with that person. They are always the same”.
My reply to that if only in my head was “I am inconsistently consistent”.
Fay – Great questions – I remember a time when my greatest fear was that I would be boring (God forbid!) & that my “free spirit” would be stymied – so consistency never came up as something I would ever want to engage in. At this stage of life I chuckle at all of it. I have found those things that consistency helps me forward the action (i.e. my work, my business, etc.) & clearly distinguish those from the things that I have no interest in being consistent with (i.e. what inspires me, what I create, when I laugh, etc.) … those I choose to be consistently inconsistent at. 🙂 Fay …. I love your ArtTopplingTobacco site … thank you for your contribution to the world through what you have been creating!
Of course your work can not be hidden. If your work is in a drawer it will never succeed. Try to show real art is not only a need, but a Must.
I found very clever your articles.
Thanks
Valentin – YES!!!! That is what I so want … for each artist to get their work into the world and out of the drawers, closets, studios, etc. Thank you again for your great contribution!!! I went to your website and looked at your work – I so love the colors, the fluid-ness, the vibrant aliveness of your work – Thank you for getting your art out in the world for us to see!
Yes, Dolcci, you sure have a point. For 27 years I did a daily political cartoon. Then, things changed, I left the newspaper, the market shrunk and I had to do a thousand things just to keep on going. The discipline and consistency of doing a daily drawing kept me on my best;losing it, made me think that I could not find enough time to make things work better. Your text made me wonder and I think you’re right. I always thought that I had to do anything straight from beginning to end. Other people had told me that I could make a change but your explanation makes a lot of sense. I’ll keep it and read it every once in a while. Thank you and may you receive the best from Life. My regards, from Brazil.
Lailson – Thank you so much for letting me know that my post provided you with a view to think about. I can so understand how large changes in our lives (like you going from doing your daily political cartoons to no longer doing them) can shift our perspective to have us feel like there is not enough time to make things work better. I hope you can find the inspiration to go back to creating every day in some way! I wish you the experience of freedom, Lailson!