A Different Way Of Working

Working around what's not put away from the last mixed media project

Making slow progress on the rails quilt. All those quarters are now pressed and arranged and I've begun sewing them into 12 inch blocks. I am getting there. Just short stints, but as they say, those moments when you do get something done add up quicker than if you do nothing at all. Yes, a pep talk, and here's another.

Ran out of room on the table, ironing board steps in

Austin Kleon has once again led me to an artist I am unfamiliar with but who has an interesting outlook on what comprises "success", Steve Albini. I may not recognize his name but he is well-known enough to be interviewed for The Chicago Sun Times. When he was asked, "Do you feel successful," this was his answer:

“To the extent that I could care about that, I would say yes,” he replied. “I’ve lived my whole life without having goals, and I think that’s very valuable, because then I never am in a state of anxiety or dissatisfaction. I never feel I haven’t achieved something. I never feel there is something yet to be accomplished."

Wow, I was not expecting that. No goal setting? When I think about it, setting goals has been something stressed throughout my life - through the examples of others, by my parents and teachers, by the business world when considering a career or even just jobs to pay the bills (a mini-goal in itself), by every bit of advice about being a successful artist . . . I can barely think of any facet of life where one is not pressed to set goals, and I've dutifully complied. But I also recognize experiencing what he says he doesn't sans goals, anxiety and dissatisfaction. And I've always had that aplenty, in exactly how he goes on to describe:

 "I feel like goals are quite counterproductive. They give you a target, and until the moment you reach that target, you are stressed and unsatisfied, and at the moment you reach that specific target you are aimless and have lost the lodestar of your existence."

I'm not sure I totally agree with goals being counterproductive. I've often felt they were quite helpful in moving me along. However, now I'm wondering if this is why I've been a bit happier since stepping away from art quilting and exhibiting and getting back to quilting for myself and others as well as dabbling in things that I have no plans of ever exhibiting or trying to sell. Oh, I still have frustrations and self-induced stress at times, and have often been told I'm too hard on myself but it definitely feels different now since I've given up setting so many goals for myself and try to just do what makes me feel good and happy, working on setting aside pressure from within and without. He continues:

"I’ve always tried to see everything as a process. I want to do things in a certain way that I can be proud of that is sustainable and is fair and equitable to everybody that I interact with. If I can do that, then that’s a success, and success means that I get to do it again tomorrow.”

I've always been a process person too, and wanting to be proud of what I do and the way I strive to support people, and I do think I've been fairly successful at that. But the way he wraps it all up definitely makes me smile and want more, that getting to do it again tomorrow. And the interviewer sums it up similarly after asking Steve about retiring (which he shares will be when his hearing goes): "Until then, he’ll do what he loves, every day. Which is the best definition of success I can imagine." Me too.