How to Fix Your Artist Mindset
Artist mindset is so important for anyone pursuing a visual art career or an art related career. It is necessary to work on improving and fixing your artist mindset so you can get comfortable with sharing your art with the world. Learn how to have an artist mindset by reading more below!
Artist Mindset
What is an Artist Mindset?
An artist mindset is how you think about approach your creative pursuits. Your artist mindset is so important because it gives you confidence and determination to show your art, to keep making art, and to apply to have your art seen. It is hard to maintain a positive artist mindset and keep a positive attitude.
It is so easy to compare yourself to other artists. It is also easy to feel jealous when you see other artists or people in art related professions, accomplishing something that you want.
I like to see that jealous feeling as a sign that it is something that I want and start to investigate that and create a plan for how I can accomplish that too.
When you see someone achieving something that you want, it is a sign for what is possible. If someone is getting something -you can get it too. What’s possible for them is what is possible for you. Remember that!
So, with all of this in mind it is important to continue to work on developing and having a healthy artist mindset so that you keep pushing through even when you are faced with a no or rejections. And rejections will come.
How to Have an Artist Mindset
Be Mindful Negative Thoughts
Negative thoughts will pop into your head. You are human after all! It is important to be aware of your thoughts so that you can prepare yourself for when you have a negative thought.
It’s not so simple to just avoid and ignore your negative thoughts. Doing that will only bring more negative thoughts. It is best to address the negative thoughts that you have as they directly affect your artist mindset.
Pay attention to your thoughts. When you are having negative thoughts about your art, your talent, your skills. Thoughts like - I won’t get accepted -so why should I apply? No one likes my art, my art isn’t good enough. Their art is better… etc.
Then start asking yourself - is this true? You can even talk about your thoughts with someone you trust and who supports you or try journaling and writing about your thoughts. If you are worried and feeling anxious about something- try writing about it so that you can figure out why you are feeling this way and what your plan will be.
Sometimes, it is helpful to journal about the worst case scenario. Write about a plan for your biggest fear. Start by figuring out what is your biggest fear when it comes to your art. Then write about how you could solve the problem. When you have a plan, even for those random and unrealistic fears you won’t feel so scared and anxious because you have already planned how you would solve that fear if it happened.
Here are some common fears related to art:
Fear of having art critiqued -what if other people don’t like it
Fear of art being seen - fear of yourself being on display
Fear of rejection - your art not being accepted and then feeling like a failure
Fear of not getting accepted into art school
Fear of being too successful and being in the spotlight
This way when you have a negative thought about your art or yourself you will know it isn’t true and that you have a plan in place for how to handle this negative thought or fear.
Stay Healthy
When your body is healthy it is easier for your mind to be healthy. If you are sleeping well, eating well, and getting some daily exercise - even just moving your body and going for a walk you will feel better emotionally and mentally.
If you have been having a lot of negative feelings and feeling anxious or overwhelmed, figure out a plan for how you can manage stress.
A plan could include:
Going to bed earlier or sleeping in
Taking something off your to-do list
Cutting back on work or volunteering for a bit
Eating more fruits and vegetables and less processed foods or sugar/salt
Drinking less caffeine
Going for a daily walk, doing yoga or other exercise
Finding some time for a mindful activity like: meditation, drawing, listening to music, walking in nature, reading a book for fun, calling a friend or talking to a therapist
When you are feeling healthy and good you will be able to have a healthy artist mindset.
Set Goals -Get Clear on What you Want!
When working on your artist mindset it is important to determine what you want and what are you working for.
Here are some art goal ideas:
Get accepted into an art school of your choice - download my free tips guide to help here!
Sell your art
Have an art exhibition
Have your art in a magazine
Make a full time income from your artwork
For some more ideas on art goals - you can click here.
It is important to really think about your goals and spend time planning your goals. Make sure these are art goals that you really want. Then every month or ideally every week, take some time to refer to your goals. You want to refer to your goals so that you remember them and so that you can take the time to work on achieving them.
If you never look at your goals you will forget them and then you will start to feel bad and have negative thoughts related to your artist mindset.
So have your goals at an accessible space that you can look at every day or every week. The more you look at your goals the more likely you will achieve them.
Once you start hitting your goals and crossing things off your to-do list you will feel and have the momentum to keep going. You will have more confidence to be able to hit bigger art goals that you didn’t even think were possible.
Visualize
Visualizing is a powerful process where you can find a quiet place and actually close your eyes and visualize yourself accomplishing your goals.
Once you can see yourself hitting your art goals you will be able to have more confidence in achieving your goals and take the steps to work towards your goals!
If you want 6 tips for hitting your goals - you can read them here!
Reminders/Affirmations Everywhere
A positive affirmation is a reminder or phrase that you say to yourself or read on a daily basis. It helps your mind start to believe that this phrase is true and is going to happen.
Here are some examples of artist affirmations:
I am a successful artist
I am getting accepted into ______ art program
I am excited for what is next!
The best is yet to come!
I sell my art every month, week or day (whatever you choose)
The nice thing is you get to decide what artist affirmation you want. Choose something that is meaningful to you. You can relate your artist affirmation to a goal that you have.
It’s a great strategy to display reminders or positive affirmations everywhere. You can write your affirmation on a post-it note and hang it on your mirror. You can write an affirmation as your desktop background on your computer or the screen-saver on your phone.
The more affirmations you have posted the more reminders it will send to your brain. At first you might see them or read them and not believe them. But the more your brain gets used to seeing them, the more you will believe that they are true and that they will happen to you.
Embrace Growth Mindset
Part of conquering your artist mindset is understanding that it isn’t going to be perfect and that it is going to take time. That’s where the growth mindset comes in.
A fixed mindset is where individuals believe their abilities are innate and cannot be changed, a growth mindset embraces challenges and sees setbacks as opportunities for learning and growth.
By having a growth mindset you are able to see that you are still developing your skills and you understand that while you may not be good at something now you know that you can be good at something if you continue to practice and work on it.
Keep Learning and Taking Action
A great way to work on your artist mindset is to keep learning about mindset and stress management strategies but to also keep learning about anything you want to work on or anything related to your art goals. The more you learn, the more you can practice and apply and the better you will be.
It’s important to keep learning, but to also apply what you have learned. Reading all the books won’t matter if you never take action and actually try.
That’s why it is great to go to art school because you will learn a lot and will have lots of projects to really push you as an artist and receive many chances to apply all of the things you learned in your program.
Art school gives you the time to learn, research and refine your skills as well as to experiment and really take your art to the next level!
If you are working on making an art portfolio for art school applications click the button below to download my FREE guide of 10 tips to make your art portfolio stand out!
