Decide how to decide
“It is our choices…that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” – J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets
Every summer, I used to disappear from the association management scene to indulge my secret life as an artist. For most of August, you could find me at the Penland School of Crafts in the mountains of North Carolina, surrounded by people who aren’t closet artists like me but bold ones. Sometimes I studied hand bookbinding; other times, I learned to use antique printing presses or carve woodblock prints.
There, I’m surrounded by jewelers, blacksmiths, ceramicists, book artists, weavers — passionate people, all of them. They know what they need to do in life, and they do it with great energy and unique vision. I venture into that world much like a child, ecstatic to be showered by the creative sparks of those around me.
But one year I was troubled. At dinner the first night, people start describing what they do. “I’m a potter,” one says. “Sculptor,” announces the next. “I’m a management consultant focusing on diversity and structural inequality.” Silence.
By breakfast, I had revised my statement. “Writer,” I say, and everyone nods appreciatively. I recognize the moment I say it that it’s also a definition that gives me greater clarity, passion, and unique vision.
I always learn a lot about beauty and art at Penland, but I learned much more that year from faculty member Ken Bova. One day, he pulled from his wallet a piece of old, well-folded paper. On it, Bova had listed goals he had developed while considering an earlier career change:
- Have Fun;
- Make Money;
- Provide for the Future;
- Contribute to the Field;
- Meet New People;
- Travel;
- Have Leisure Time;
- Learn; and
- Teach What I Learn.
“What I’ve learned is that if some project or opportunity meets four or more of these criteria, it is always successful in some way. Three or less and it’s usually a bust,” he explains. “For example, if some event allows me to make money, travel, and learn, but that’s all, I come home feeling ‘so what?’ I made no new friends, didn’t have fun, didn’t contribute anything, and just spent four days traveling to someplace I didn’t really get to know. I feel my energy was misplaced.”
The clarity I had found at Penland made me think about how I was — or wasn’t — tying together vision, goals, and action, so once home, I created my own criteria for making decisions:
1. Gut — Do I physically feel good about doing this? Do I feel heaviness or lightness when I think about saying yes?
2. Fun — Will doing this help me consciously enjoy life, savor it, and live it fully? Will it help me approach my work, family, friends, problems, and difficulties from the most positive direction possible?
3. Learn and Teach What I Learn — Will I grow intellectually, emotionally, physically, and spiritually? Will I pass on my experience, repay the gift my teachers have given me, and leave a legacy?
4. Relationships — Will I be aware and alert to the opportunity to make new friends? Will I value the knowledge and experience that others have? Will doing this help remind me of the value of my current and long-term relationships?
5. Commitment to Family — Can I minimize time away from home or take my family with me?
6. Contribute to the Field — Do I believe this project adds to the general knowledge of my art and chosen discipline?
7. Meaningful — Will doing this make a difference in my life or in the lives of others?
8. Make Money and Provide for the Future — Does this fill a real financial need and help me be financially responsible? Does it allow me to value my work, time, and energy, and market it accordingly? Will it enable me to save and work with the end in mind?
9. Real — Will I be saying things that need to be said and that I truly believe?
10. Kindness — Will doing this truly help someone else?
Now, I make sure a potential project meets at least four, hopefully six, of these criteria. You’ll have your own criteria; write them down. If a project, job, or opportunity doesn’t meet your criteria, perhaps you should save your energy, vision, and passion for creating another kind of art.
