Do you like drawing or painting? It’s a great hobby to relax and enjoy some creative activities. I am particularly fascinated with the creative process involved in making a piece of painting. Recently I’ve realised that it has many similarities to accomplishing a goal in life.
If you look at the screenshots of different stages of painting a landscape, you may find many inspirations for approaching our goals.
First step, rough sketches
A painter will usually start his or her painting from a rough draft with loose sketches. This will allow the painter to plan and manage where to go next.
When we set a goal, we should also have a general outline of what the success of our goal should look like. Forming this grand vision in our mind makes it easier to come up with plans or ideas on how to approach our goal next.
Next, add more details
Once a painter has a rough outline, she’ll start adding more details to make the initial sketches more finalised and clear. This is similar to when we start to build action plans for our goal. We are getting ready for what we need to do next. At this point, not only do we have a grand vision but also concrete plans for our goal.
Work through each part
The next step may vary for different artists, but most will start working on each part of the initial sketches. Perhaps they will first work with the backdrop, then scenery at far, then things more up close, etc.
We should approach our goal in a similar manner. With our action plans in place, now we can focus on sub goals, milestones, or smaller parts of the plan, and conquer them one by one.
Finishing touches
Once major parts of a painting are completed, an artist may start polishing small areas and adding more details or finishing touches, making any small adjustments needed.
Same applies in our goal process. As we work on our goal, there may be obstacles or setbacks that we need to deal with. Perhaps we may need to change our initial plans or make needed course corrections.
Repaint over canvas
For oil or acrylic paintings, you can usually correct your strokes or painting significantly by repainting over the part you don’t like or doesn’t come out right. This can also be true with our goals. If something turns out not working, be brave enough to discard the old plans and make new ones. Even restart completely if needed.
We can treat our goal like a masterpiece. There are a lot of similarities between painting a masterpiece and accomplishing a great goal. There are always inspirations to be drawn from artistic or creative processes to help us better pursue our goal.
