Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Planning 2012

I love the New Year period because it gives me an excuse to plan and I love to plan. Any kind of planning really, especially travel planning, but I have also long been an advocate for more formal Life Planning. There are many models for doing this. Lisa Call has a very goal oriented approach on her blog for example which I find inspiring although mine tends to end up more strategic than specific at this stage). This year I stumbled upon and decided to use a free e-book by Michael Hyatt. (You need to sign up to emails to get it but you can always unsubscribe!) This is not a miracle never before seen life sorting method by any means but it is a slightly different format to what I have done in the past.



The gist is that you list 'life account's - basically areas of your life that you wish to plan. Work, family, health etc. For each one you write a Purpose Statement of a sentence or so, write an account for your life would be in that area if it were perfect, write an account of the current reality and then a list of steps you need to take to get to the perfection from the reality. He then writes about a review system.

All fun and good until I got to the account entitled Art Quilting and then I began to struggle. What is my purpose? I know what I do, but why am I so compelled to do it? Pages of journallinng later I have some ideas but am still finding it hard to distill into a sentence or two. (Hard in a fun way you understand!!)

So I thought I'd ask you... Why do you make art? What is your purpose in doing so?
Are those questions easy and obvious to you or do they make you stop and think?

4 comments:

gatheredthreads said...

I view making art as being similar to building relationships or eating more pleasing foods - none of these are strictly necessary to live, but all of them truly enrich my life.

I make art because I am compelled to.

In doing so, I aim to have fun, challenge myself, and never stop learning.

Kristin L said...

Ugh! I find this stuff so hard. Maybe it's because no matter what I plan, things outside my control change said plans. Maybe it's because I grew up knowing I could do anything, but in reality, anything or everything are too much to effectively accomplish yet it's hard to narrow things down -- especially considering wants vs needs vs shoulds. I always suck at those goal forming exercises.

Rachel said...

Why do I make art? Because if I don't I become discontented and anxious.

Joanne S said...

Art is something I do because: I'm good at it. I enjoy it. It relaxes me. I don't have to explain it to any one as it is private and not public. It keeps my hands busy and my mind active. Art makes me happy.

Cooking makes me happy also; the chopping, stirring, mixing etc. Very satisfying. As is ironing a whole pile of shirts.