Rod Jones Artist-Writer
There is only one thing shorter than the longevity of a New Year’s resolution, it’s the time it takes the person behind you at a stoplight…
There is only one thing shorter than the longevity of a New Year’s resolution, it’s the time it takes the person behind you at a stoplight to honk their horn when the signal light turns green. Well, maybe some resolutions can last longer, but then you have to cozy up to the word commitment. Resolving the pros and cons to that commitment can turn into a resolution in time.
Creative people including the greatest amongst us, start out every year with a beautiful set of plans. Planning to paint more, planning to write more, planning to sculpt more, planning to sing more, and a whole bunch of others. The one that seems to be on everyone’s mind, is marketing their creative talent; especially nowadays. A way to make some money off of their creative efforts seems like a most admirable resolution. But is it the proverbial Catch-22? Marketing your talent can be overwhelming, and often leads to obsessiveness, which in turn detracts from authenticity and originality.
“Time steals from itself, and leaves little
time for error.”
Rod Jones artist
Circumstances rule when it comes to resolutions, it’s solution driven. More creative projects rarely equals more compensation. Unless you create a market, the demand, and that gets back to your use of time. Time well spent? You be the judge. The time that allows you a certain amount of freedom. Freedom from the stress and anxiety of lack, could lighten the load of trying to live up to and fulfill all of your resolutions.
Resolutions in time are filled with great expectations. Which brings us back to that word commitment. This is one of those cases where you don’t know what you don’t know. Effort requires emotional and physical work. There is never a guarantee of success, but conversantley; if you don’t try, you are guaranteed one outcome for sure: a “big fat zero.” To use a very tired cliché, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” You must pick a resolution that you can commit to, with at least a favorable chance it will succeed, and most importantly feel like your efforts were worth the commitment and drive you invested.
There are probably 1001 New Year’s resolutions committed to every year, and you can be sure losing weight is probably number one. But after that, they’re all over the place. There are some very popular ones: exercise more, get organized, live life to the fullest, spend more time with family and friends, read more, and of course, save more money/spend less money.
New Year’s resolutions for creative people? Yes, there actually is a list, just Google it. But rather than me stealing their ideas, I’m going to make some new suggestions. Please note: you most likely will come up with your own list that is applicable to you. I’m just hitting this broadly, and a little bit boldly. There’s no such thing as the perfect New Year’s resolution, every single one of them comes with multiple efforts, in multiple directions, even if the resolution is clearly defined in three words or less. An example, learn Adobe Creative Cloud. On the surface it seems doable. Requires a doable commitment, but it also requires follow thru. You need a place to work where you will be uninterrupted. You will need time, most likely borrowed from something more pleasurable that you might want to be doing instead. Like hanging out with your family. You will need a computer and not just any old computer, it has to be up-to-date and have the power to run the various programs for photography, design, editing and a whole bunch more. Now you could just focus on just one of their many useful programs, and find the one that will make your life easier. The one that may be more applicable to its intended use in your creative life. There’s a whole list of things you’ll need to do just to fulfill this New Year’s resolution commitment.
In my list, there are some resolutions that are easier than others. Many of these are quite easy and don’t require complex and in some cases mundane tasks to achieve they are:
The time for us all, to create resolutions accompanied by realistic commitment has no numerological schedule. Every day you are presented with opportunities to express yourself in so many ways. Choose wisely! Time is fleeting. A New Year’s resolution is the beginning of a fresh year, but it should not be the only time you commit to resolutions. If you reminisce on your successes and your failures, you can quickly make adjustments. You can call them my ‘New Day Resolutions’ some you’ll even want to write down others will just get you through the day.
Creative people are lucky. Although I fervently believe everyone is creative, but in this case. Creative people have a way of focusing visually on what they want to achieve. That can be a blessing and forever will be your resolutions in time.
“I resolved my resolutions, only to find out
they begin with no end.”
Rod Jones Artist
Originally published at https://rodjonesartist.com on January 6, 2021.