Getting the New Year in Focus

Heads up: this post is a bit more personal than what I normally post here. I'm writing more about the "artist" than the "art."

You might be tired of the New Year's posts, but I just wanted to share a thought that was new to me. It's not an idea that I thought up as I first heard it in a workshop from Trish Gillam at Gangplank Avondale. I've seen a mention or two since then in other places.

I'm not a fan of resolutions, even if I have written about them in the past. I find that people either "do" or "do not do" projects and ideas in their lives. However, I do like the idea of having a "theme word" for a year. As professional performing artists, I know it's easy for all artists to see grand possibilities about the future but forget that such possibilities need a firm foundation.

Now, my  2014 "theme word" is "organized." I let too much of 2013 get past me, for many legitimate reasons. At other times, I allowed myself to be overwhelmed by ideas and goals and then, in that mess of possibilities, I ended up not making anything happen.

This is not to say that 2013 did not have some good projects and surprises. 2013 did indeed have some unexpected-yet-good events. However, in being honest, I found that I lost momentum by not keeping a better reign on the structures of my work and art. In that, this was a rare year for me.

So, in this year as an artist, coach and family man, I will ask myself a question about the projects I choose and the activities I do: "Will this help me be organized?" An organized (not compulsive) working artist can achieve many goals and get projects done. This is not solely about being "neat" or "housekeeping;" rather it's about being together in mind and purpose.

My word for 2014 is "organized." No lofty resolutions in that one word but rather a need to see the top of my desk again, the transcendent side of my work as an artist expanding, books and projects completed, my calendar better filled with bookings, and my family still moving forward. There is no order to that list as I see it as an overall way of being rather than a list of  resolutions.

I hope this makes sense for you as a fellow artist or entrepreneur. If you chose a word that would describe your goals for 2014 what would your word be?

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The is the official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.