Motivation for a New Year

I always like to map out my lovely, pristine, new calendar each year so that stuff doesn’t happen my random luck but on purpose.  I usually take my new calendar in November or December and plot out what short-term goals I’d like to complete to push me toward my ultimate long-term goals.  But this year was different.  I was needed to help out with family and my goal plans took a back seat to more immediate concerns.  So here I am, knee-deep in January and no plans in my new 2015 calendar.  No problem, I can still salvage my goal making routine and decide what kind of year this will be.

Digital painting of Jonathan Gregory 

Because of my goals and mapping out short-term goals, I have completed and self-published 5 books, 3 of them last year; I have completed many personal paintings and projects, one of which got me the Portrait Award in the SWA Annual San Francisco show and one got Best of Show in the local chapter SWA Annual Fall show.  I managed to get 2 semesters and 4 classes closer to my Master’s Degree in Illustration from Academy of Art University online.  I have completed several children’s book illustrations and even some book covers.   I have also written and published 50 articles for HubPages and other online magazines.  These are the things that make me very happy and satisfied with myself.

 

Digital painting of Nataly Enero

As I look back over my year, sure there were times when I just wasted time watching TV or digital movies and accomplished very little besides relaxing.  But for the most part, I was productive and kept active, learned many things, created things, wrote and published things, and did my best to make the world a better place, one creation, one article at a time.  Isn’t that our ultimate goal in life?  To make the world a better place and not a worse place to live than we found it?  I know that will let me sleep soundly when I take that ultimate dirt nap.