Reinvent Your Art in Four Months

Most folks set their goals in January, but here at 3PP, we want to get ahead of the competition. (Not that art is a competition—wink wink.) Getting started today ensures we’re already rocking and rolling on New Year’s Day. 

We love Cal Newport’s framework for reinventing your life in four months and decided to create our own, artist’s edition. This timeline provides a new focus every few weeks, building habits and shifting identity simultaneously until you become a version of yourself you only dreamt of before. 

There are four sections within the timeline: Discipline, Values, Control, and Vision. Let’s jump into them.

1. Discipline: Weeks 1-2
   Lay the groundwork for your new life by providing structure.

• Track your habits. You can use a tracking software like Trello, a pen and paper, or the Notes app on your phone. Log your activity in habits you deem important (such as drawing in your sketchbook). How often are you actually doing them?
• Pick three keystone habits: practices that will help you become the artist you want to be. Choose one for each category: 
  • Output (creative habits, e.g., drawing from reference daily)
  • Organizational (e.g., admin work)
  • Input (anything that fills your creative bank account, e.g., reading poetry or searching for references)
• Begin building your new identity.

2. Values: Weeks 3-6
   What kind of an artist do you want to be? Identify what drives you.

• Reconnect with a philosophy or artwork that changed you. 
• Draft your artist code, a mantra to keep yourself on track (for example, Jake’s is “Finished, not perfect”).
• Establish rituals. 
  • Use music, lighting, locations, or putting on headphones to signal to your brain that creative work is ahead.

3. Control: Weeks 7-10
   Manage your life to serve your goals.

• Start multi-scale planning.
  • Audit your time and projects.
  • Set seasonal goals.
  • Schedule weekly check-ins.
  • Organize your day into time blocks (e.g., creative mornings, admin afternoons, restful evenings).
• Automate, batch, curtail. 
  • Limit email and admin to set times during the day. 
  • Devote whole days to one project to channel focus.
  • Eliminate projects and obligations that distract from your goals and values.

4. Vision: Weeks 11-16
   Make a meaningful change.

• Start with a small overhaul: make something remarkable and aligned with the new you. This could be:
  • A portfolio piece
  • A short comic or zine
  • Applying to a convention or art fair
  • Developing a book proposal
    

• Next is a large overhaul: beginning work on a bigger dream. This could look like:
  • Having a gallery show
  • Landing an agent or book deal
  • Making a graphic novel

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it: 

Write in your sketchbook where you want your art to be in four months. Pick one keystone habit to help you achieve that goal.