No matter who you are, you can always get better. You’ll notice that successful athletes do better with certain coaches than others. A good coach gets the best out of his players.
The same goes for real life. I’ve always hired coaches to help me with life. I hire coaches for everything from weightlifting to diet. I also hire people to do the things that I’m weak at.
Knowing yourself is powerful. You get to know what you’re naturally good at. What you’re naturally bad at. And what you can improve.
Contrary to what a lot of people believe, I don’t believe in wasting time at what I’m naturally bad at. I feel like it’s simply a waste of time. Especially if I don’t like doing it in the first place.
Now my natural strengths? I believe in playing to my strengths.
Tom Brady is a pocket passer. He’d get killed if he tried to be a mobile quarterback like Lamar Jackson. So he plays to his strengths. He stays in the pocket.
The same thing with life.
Artistically, what am I good at? Still life? Hell no! I hate that stuff to begin with so I’m not even going to bother.
I like women
I like women. I play to my strengths. Sunday, I’ll work with Allie. She’ll be topless, looking out in the distance. I’m going to paint her as a Siren, you know, the femme fatale Siren?
Roxy is currently busy. I haven’t worked with her in months. Great news for her, but I’m supposed to keep it private. She’s still one of my besties and if you’re wondering what happened to her, she’s doing fantastic.
So in the meantime, I hired Sophia to replace Roxy temporarily. And you know what? Sophia is such an awesome pinup model that it won’t be temporary. I already know I’ll work with Sophia for years. She’s cool AF in real life! I didn’t expect her to be this cool.
Once again, play to your strengths. I do fantasy pinups because I love fantasy and I love women. Strengths plus passion equals long-term success.
That doesn’t just go for art. That goes for everything.
If you find out what you’re really good at and you feel passion for it, you will kick ass. Guaranteed. You may even reach the upper 1% of the field. But you’ll reach at least the upper 10% and that’s enough to get paid doing it. No matter the field.
Goals
Some folks love to set New Years Resolutions. Some don’t.
Either way is fine.
I’m constantly setting goals. I don’t care what time of the year it is.
But for 2020, I already have some goals set. I have a certain financial goal that I want to meet. I also already paid for a vacation to see two new countries that I haven’t been to yet. My wife loves traveling and she got me into it as well.
I’m also learning Romanian. I was speaking Spanish last night with my buddy’s girlfriend and I blurted out loud “damn, I wish I spoke Romanian as well as I do Spanish.” Yeah. Definitely need to study more.
Musically, I’m going to release Volume II. If you haven’t heard it yet, definitely give Opium Tales Volume I a listen. It’s only $5 and I’m very sure you’ll like at least one song in there. I wrote two dance numbers, two waltzes, and one ballad. All orchestrated.
You could even preview the whole Princess for the Night song and a sample of Lizzie’s Opium Waltz if you’re wondering what to expect. On your laptop, they’re on the right column. On your phone, go to almost the bottom of this page.
I’ll release one more EP next year with new songs. Same singers.
Artistically, I want to get better at ink. I’m going to release an eBook of my short stories with brand new illustrations. Most of them will be ink only. A few will have watercolors. I’d love to get better at ink.
You get better by doing
This applies for everything. You get better by doing.
The absolute best thing I could do for my art is to get even better at drawing. I love the way I draw women now. But you know what? I could get better at backgrounds. I could draw better trees and better rocks.
There’s always some aspect that you can get better at.
I also want to get better at marketing. I haven’t sold enough of my EP to break even yet. I’m paying real orchestral musicians. Damn good ones. But as expected, good orchestral musicians cost money. And I’m still in the hole.
I need to learn to market my music better. It’s good music. I’ve yet to have anyone tell me they didn’t love at least one song. So far, I’ve heard Princess for the Night, Lizzie’s Opium Waltz, and One More Serenade are everyone’s favorite songs on the EP. I got people emailing me about the songs. I absolutely love hearing what they have to say!
But marketing? Still could get way better. I want to hear Princess of the Night blasting in a dance club. Until then, my marketing isn’t good enough. It’s a damn good dance song and deserves to be danced to.
What about you?
What about you? What are your goals for 2020?
Did you meet your expectations for 2019? I certainly did. I loved 2019 and will look back fondly on this year.
But I know what I could have done better and I’ll be doing those things in 2020.
It’s important to think what you could have done better. Then, you need to act. You can’t just make a list of things to improve then not do it.
Good luck in 2020. May next year be spectacular for you!
