{Original Painting from in ameliart on Etsy}
How do you stay motivated over the course of months or years when you’re trying to build new business habits? How do you talk yourself into staying up and working after you’ve put your kids to bed? How do you wake up an hour early to squeeze in more creating time?
In a workshop I led at the Etsy Success Symposium, I talked about a goal setting analogy of the rider and the elephant. I got this analogy from Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard {affiliate link} by Chip and Dan Heath. If you have no idea what I’m talking about when I say the rider and elephant, go back and listen to that workshop.
If you want to reach your long-term goals, you have to acknowledge and celebrate the small goals along the way. This keeps your elephant motivated and reinforces the change.
To build new habits, you’ve got to keep your elephant engaged in the change. One way to do this is to reward him.
Let’s say your long-term creative goal is to quit your day job and run your creative business full-time. There are a lot of little things you’re going to need to do to make that happen.
For instance, you might have to establish multiple revenue streams in case one starts to slow down. So, you decide to sell your jewelry on Etsy and at 6 craft shows per year. You also decide that you’re going to put together hour-long classes that teach people basic jewelry-making techniques and you’ll hold one of those each month.
If at this point, you’re only selling on Etsy, there will be a lot of work involved in developing those other revenue streams, and your elephant might get spooked.
But, you can coax your elephant.
Break down the task of selling at 6 craft shows into smaller tasks such as: finding 6 craft shows within driving distance, downloading the applications and making a list of everything you’ll need to fill them out, filling out the applications….so on and so on.
When you complete each of these smaller tasks, reward yourself.
You don’t have to spend money to celebrate your successes. You could take a 30 minute bubble bath, read a book that has been sitting on your shelf for months, or spend an hour working on a creative project that you’ve been wanting to dive into.
Make a list of 10 things that you really enjoy doing and can be done in under an hour. After you’ve completed one of your “smaller” tasks, pick one thing off your list and do it.
Don’t wait until you’ve actually sold at 6 craft shows to celebrate. Your elephant won’t wait around that long. He’ll get distracted—and you don’t want a distracted elephant.
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This is so true and something I’ve only recently taken to heart. I used to think “time is money” and frantically work around the clock, never giving myself a break for the things I love. But I realized that that’s actually more detrimental, because I would end up tired, not thinking as clearly as I normally would be, and stressed out. Recently I’ve been much better about riding my bike, reading my book, and doing all the little things I love to do and I feel so much better now!
Me too, Sarah! I used to work around the clock and then I realized I was setting myself up for disaster. Once I started investing in myself, everything else improved.
I once heard that the big difference between men and women and their to-do lists is that men made theirs attainable in a few hours work and always took time to celebrate when it was complete. Whereas women made their lists a full front and back side of the page, and when they actually go it finished they simply added more items to do. Celebration makes it more worth while. great post April!
That makes sense Meghan. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks, April. You have made my elephant smile! I have finally subscribed to your blog posts and not just your wonderful newsletter. So now, I have my business goals written down and am much more focused. I needed the ‘keep your elephant happy’ message today before I overdo it. Finally had a sunny day to take some great photos for 2 projects and now I can reward myself with a little break before that elephant starts worrying about where it’s peanuts will be coming from!:) You Rock!
Hahaha–Thanks for your kind words Sarah!
Yes, definitely reward your elephant!!!
Hi April! 🙂
I LOVE the elephant analogy! 🙂 It makes this topic so fun and entertaining. My favorite line was, “And you don’t want a distracted elephant”! lol
This is a great way to break things down and make them more manageable. The example of the craft shows was great, too, as that is something we don’t necessarily think of in those kind of chunks. I do break things down a bit, but could definitely do more. I tend to get so excited about a project, that I just dive right in and try to do it all at once! 😉
Thank you for the encouragement for us to celebrate the small stuff. I’m learning that all of the little things leads us to the bigger things.
“Celebrate the small stuff” nice concept when all you have is small stuff.
I try not to take on too much and use a relaxed approach to my work. I don’t
want to stop loving what I do.
My Mom has the best advice using an elephant in her analogy. Don’t try to eat the entire elephant at one time; take small bites.
I discovered this week that distraction is my friend. After years of a linear working life–making lists, setting goals, doing projects step-by-step–I have discovered the freedom of working in a distracted fashion. I have found that if I think of something that needs to be done, if I don’t stop and do it immediately I forget to do it. What I have discovered is that this new found freedom to walk away from a project, do something else entirely, and then return to the project has eased the stress I was starting to feel as solo entrepreneur. Now I embrace my new distracted working style because it also increases my sense of accomplishment at the end of the day and enriches the creative side by freeing my mind from focusing too intently on one thing for an extended period of time.
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