As I said in my previous post, I am a member of Liz Kohler Browns community called “The Studio,” and am taking a course for members about finding your artistic style. One of the lessons in that course is about uncovering your judgements surrounding your work and the work of others. These are limiting beliefs that are probably holding you back from reaching your full potential as an artist and truly finding your artistic style.
These limiting beliefs are acting as roadblocks to your potential, your abilities, success, willingness to explore other techniques, media and style, and so much more.
Interestingly, if you look at WordHippo for judgements, it states that it is a “punishment imposed by a judge, tribunal, court or deity.” In this case, it is a punishment metered out by YOU on a your own abilities and talent, someone else’s abilities, or an artistic style, media, technique, etc. based on false beliefs, limiting beliefs and untruths.
An example of a judgement I place on myself and my own abilities is, “I’m not good at drawing people.”
In the course, the goal is to not only identify your judgements surrounding your art, artistic abilities, etc, but to “flip the script” and find another, more positive and constructive way at dealing with them so that eventually, the judgement will dissipate and have less and less impact on your career as an artist.
Some of My Judgements (and flips)
So this took a bit of work, but I came up with what I think are my major judgements around my art. If you click on the top title of each, you’ll read a little more about that judgement. At the bottom of each toggle, you see the “flipped script” that I came up with to help me change this judgement and lessen its impact over my art, the creative business I want to create and my career.
Your lack of follow-through is due to the frustration of whatever it is you’re pursuing not being perfect out of the gate. So you say to yourself (and believe) “What’s the point?“
This is negative conditioning and it’s causing you to live your not-true self. The irony is that you are designed (Human Design) to learn through experiences, to learn through trial and error, and to understand what works and what doesn’t work by bumping into walls and making mistakes.
Flip the Script: The point IS to play, experiment, and go through the process of discovery. You are not a failure or wasting your time when do you these things. This is how you can gain mastery, figure out your strengths and learn what you like (and don’t like).
Again, this judgement is about your negative conditioning and need for perfection – thinking that if you have to take the time to figure things out and experiment, you have failed. In fact this process is the way you learn and become great at what you do.
You can’t build an entirely new life in a day, a week or even a year. But you can give yourself the luxury and gift of time and a commitment to work on something you really want to do.
Flip the script: I make a commitment to work on something, little by little, day by day, even if I’m not good at it right now. I give myself the gift of TIME to experiment, figure it out, and eventually become proficient at something that is important to me.
This is another round of perfectionistic thinking and wanting to give up because you’re not perfect or proficient at something from the get-go.
Flip the script: I want to want to practice drawing more.
Mastery takes time. You, your style and your body of work as an artist cannot come out “fully formed” and perfect without going through the steps, the process and the journey of discovery and figuring out what you like, what you don’t like, what works and what doesn’t work.
Flip the script: I will play and experiment with different styles, media, workflow, techniques, themes etc. until I find something I lights me up and I’m good at it.
Flip the script: I am never too old to learn something new, play, experiment and discover new things. Keep going. It is part of my nature to be curious and want to grow and change.
