SMART Goals

   President Johns, on the mission, told us about SMART goals. I used to have a much better way to phrase it, and this post was originally a whole lot more detailed, but the computer deleted all my progress on this post even though I'd had it saved and was 90% of the way done, so I'll just be perfunctory about this. I think I reconstructed most of it, but I can't go back and check, and if I could I wouldn't need to. You can get a good definition of a SMART goal elsewhere, though, so, moving on.

   SMART goals. You've probably heard of them, or some variation thereof. A mnemonic device designed to ensure maximal effectiveness of goalplanning.

   President Johns defined S.M.A.R.T. as follows:

• S for SPECIFIC. What specific thing do you want accomplished?
• M for MEASURABLE. In order for a goal to be "good," you have to be able to quantify your progress along it in some way.
• A for ATTAINABLE. The goal, although ideally it should make you stretch, much be relatively realistic.
• R for RECORDED. Writing down a goal changes it from a wish into an actual goal, in conjunction with the other things.
• T President Johns defines as your need to TELL someone. This gives you responsibility over your actions with the specific need to report to another person.

   After that, I was inspired- what would be SMART goals for the artist specifically? Goals relating specifically to content creation, "art." I call them SMARTIST goals. Yeah, like Axe Cop's last name, I guess...? But, no, SMART artist, SMARTIST. Though I don't think it was deliberate at the time. Three more things, things specific to artists...

• I is for INSPIRATION. Without it, no art would, be. So this is key. Why does this particular art need to exist? Out of all the ideas in this world, define why you're picking this particular idea to translate into reality. You hear a lot of artists having manifestos and stuff, which helps define their "whys" of art-- this is it exactly.
• S is for SKILLS. What training or techniques do you need to know in order to maximize on your vision of what you see the art as? This is where the hard work comes in, all the practice that brought you up to this skillset. 
• T is for TOOLS. The right ones for the job. You have your inspiration, but what medium are you specifically looking at that would express your theme the best? What techniques of the medium are needed, and are you proficient at those? Can you drag techniques from one medium to another? And beyond medium, what genre can you use whose tropes are at your disposal, to effectively evoke the response you want? 

   I've also seen R stand for RELEVANT, whether or not your goal fits into your larger life goal or anything, but in the SMARTIST goal that's covered under INSPIRATION. In addition, T most often seems to stand for TIME-BOUND, but President Johns's T definition fits SMARTIST way better: with art, well you can't rush it, and sometimes you labor with it and sometimes it flows, so: tell somebody. Hey I'm making art!