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6 Years Ago
Are you becoming more self actualized in either your marketing or your production of art?
Dave
Reply Order
6 Years Ago
Hi David, I'll take a shot at this and say no, was never a goal at all. I like to think I am working at it but on some level think how boring to actually reach full potential! What do you do after that potential is met?
6 Years Ago
Val,
That in part is why I phrased the question as "becoming more".
Yes we need our edginess.
Dave
6 Years Ago
i'm not sure what that really means.
---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com
6 Years Ago
When I first got into art I thought that was what I was doing but I discovered my limitations and so now I'm just goofing off. As for my career (day job) that's always been about making a decent living at a job I can stand. Originally I wanted to go into architectural drafting but when I learned about the "limitations" of that path I chose something else.
6 Years Ago
Yes, given that my career is only one part of my self-actualization, it's very easy to compartmentalize the processes.
Unfortunately, life pulls us in many ways, and achieving those lofty goals can sometimes seem almost unreachable.
p.s. it's great to see you again.
-YoPedro
Twitter@YoPedro
6 Years Ago
To be blunt.
I felt that I had been "Self-Actualized" already in Architecture, before I began my career sticking crab claws into mussel shells.
So, I felt that there was no need to re-self-actualized. these last 40 years
6 Years Ago
Sure the first step is to look around at what is available and figure out your position in the mix. A sliding scale from rank amateur to professional. Decide where you are and what steps you wiill take to get to where you want to be.
6 Years Ago
The way I understand it, the term refers to realizing and fulfilling your potential. The first time I heard this term was in a psych class in college. Once I realized that focusing on myself was an actual "thing," and nothing to feel guilty about, I joined the ME generation and never looked back. Lol. That was the 70s. Our parents, growing up during the depression, would never dream of being so selfish, but I embraced it.
Val, I don't believe we ever reach our full potential, because we are always changing.
6 Years Ago
Patricia, I would argue that concern for others is necessary to reaching full potential.
6 Years Ago
Nope. My first goal has always been to provide food, shelter and some level of security for me and my family. Self-actualization is a luxury that comes after those needs are met, so cannot be my primary goal as I have responsibilities to others.
6 Years Ago
Richard,
The abstract meanings of self actualization would include being a provider. Not a laggard.
JC,
If I can define this simply. You love to fly. So you pursued flying to its fullest. That gave you a lot to live for, a lot of purpose....etc....you went from wanting to do something to being that something, a pilot.
I see too many people here who want to make art and sell art, who do not go from the thought process to the actual being of doing all of that. Or at least the better part of it.
I absolutely do not want to point fingers. I want an open discussion for some to see people like who become the pilot or like Mike who creates a lot of art and sell it.
Self actualization does not need to be the entire thing. Usually is not. Selling 400 prints a year is not the entire thing. There are no limits on selling prints, but it is a great place to be.
Dave
6 Years Ago
In short, yes, I'm self actualizing in my art, health and career. I'm coming to the end in one career and beginning in a new one. The new one which is my art is extremely self actualizing and since it requires me to be in top shape, I'm also getting a lot healthier.
I don't know about full potential because I'm not a user of a crystal ball, but I feel that I'm having more and more break through moments. This would be in the production of art rather than marketing or sales. I tend to believe if you have a product, someone will love it and another will hate it.
6 Years Ago
How would one ever know if they reached full potential?
Marlene,
I used to go to a singles meeting of something like 80 to 150 people every Friday night. There would be a speaker on some psych thing every time. I guess nothing else would kind of fit the billing for that type of meeting. One talk was on win/win situations v lose/lose etc.......I found that illuminating.
One Friday night a retired colleague of my dad's gave the talk. It was about maturity. Your question fits what he had to say. We strive for maturity, but we never fully get there. He actually gave an incredible talk. I told my dad. Dad's response was, "He did not keep it short, I am sure. He used to be never ending". LOL
Dave
6 Years Ago
Lisa,
I included marketing or sales, because that might be for most of us the tougher nut to crack.
Dave
6 Years Ago
To me nothing really has a purpose unless it serves other people or society in general. So to learn to fly for the sole purpose of becoming the best solo pilot you can be serves no purpose IMO. If you are going to use those flying skills to somehow serve others (becoming an airline pilot for example) then that gives the goal of becoming the best pilot you can a purpose. Same thing with any skill IMO.
6 Years Ago
DK,
The discussion of being a pilot is not about exclusivity. Taking care of the plane and the passengers matters.
But central to becoming a pilot is the personal enjoyment gained. There is no exclusivity there.
Addition: I chose to become an artist at age 51 because I wanted to truly enjoy my working days.
Dave
6 Years Ago
I set out to be the best artist I could be. I can't honestly say, selling was ever the priority...but they sold....at certain periods of my life, like hotcakes ( and that was when I didn't have to concern myself with the selling...I left it up to the pros.)
6 Years Ago
I do not sell painted canvasses. I am trying to sell prints. I could go elsewhere and lower my prices and have the POD do a tad more perhaps. I doubt it would work.
I have to cut out my own market if I want to sell a lot of prints.
But I am beginning to learn that outside the POD world prints are not only perfectly acceptable but they sell often because they are reasonably priced.
The more I reach out locally to galleries and framers, the better I am feeling about all of this.
It really depends on how much I want to spend on inventory and where I want to place that inventory. The world is my oyster. To some degree.
Dave
6 Years Ago
"But central to becoming a pilot is the personal enjoyment gained"
But that shouldn't be the central purpose IMO, if it is then we are just talking about a hobby. Your employer doesn't give two hoots whether you love your job or not, he just wants the work to get done. I'll admit I do my job for purely selfish reasons, I want/need the paycheck and the benefits, I do have pride in what I do and the products the company make serve genuine needs in modern society but without that paycheck I would be outta there. My free time off the job is for my hobbies, I wouldn't call anything I do striving for self-actualization though, in fact I rather of dislike that term, it sounds so wishy-washy wimpy-whiny to me.
6 Years Ago
Work does not have to mean misery. For most it does.
More clearly stated, for most people work means some misery, but not for all. Some people love their work a great deal.
Dave
6 Years Ago
For sure, but if you love your job but suck at it you'll be looking for another job. I enjoy painting but it's become obvious that I'll never make any substantive income with it so I'm keeping the day job. In other words, the art is just a hobby, serves no real purpose beyond an enjoyable pastime. Nothing wrong with that.
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6 Years Ago
I'll plead ignorance of whatever it is you are asking. I looked up the definition and it is just a bunch of words. the only real self actualization I have every wanted had nothing to do with anyone else - not even serving humanity: I've always wanted to be able to 'run the woods, the streams, the hills and valleys, the swamps and the desert. But there have been too many fences erected to prevent that from being an actuality. Just too many "posted, keep out" signs in my life. I learned to read at a very young age - and I wish that the one book I had available to read had been the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - now there is a man that was "self-actualized".
6 Years Ago
There were tantalizing times though, when I was tempted even goaded, to jump ahead of this flow and go into another gear.
Perhaps, I was cowardly being reluctant to venture into areas I was not sure of.
But one thing I was sure of
I did NOT want to go into any form of "Wheeling and Dealing"
Roger,
We can build all the skyscrapers we need or want, we can place all the computer chips we could ever think of....and the human dilemma you are stating will still exist.
Foibles or strengths are what we make of them.
Dave
6 Years Ago
I agree with you Roger! You left architecture and went into art as a career because of your choices in life brought you to that point where you could make such a leap. If a person leaps before they build that bridge that takes them to the right leaping point then. ..................SPLAT!
6 Years Ago
Ah, but Lisa and Cheryl - there are people that do just that - on facebook I constantly see folks that are leading photo shoots to some place and artists that are hold pleine aire painting workshops at some special place - paint outs - whatever. 'artists and photographers' sign up, pay a fee and the aritist photographer that is leading the way makes a little money and gets to go on a photo-shoot or paint some beautiful place. Yes, there is organization involved and being able and willing to help/show others your love and ability - but they ain't sitting at home in a studio with four walls around them.
6 Years Ago
Drew,
Business wise you are right. Too many people leap without looking. Novice stuff. If that is the only mode of operations things are not going to go well ever.
Very few people make major leaps and it all pans out.
Dave
6 Years Ago
so the self actualization conversation that some people despise talking about is anyone's guess as to why one is so upset by it.
Lisa,
I was in AA for ten years in the West Hartford area meetings. There was one character who used to really get angry at new members. He used to really give people hell. The people who had been around for years knew that every single complaint or issue he had with others were things he had never dealt with in his own life. He was angry because he never wanted to deal with his stuff as seen in the new people talking in the meetings.
One day a woman told me that all the people with a few years or more dismissed everything he ever said because they had lived through the basic stuff and thought it all out. They knew he had not. He had something like 26 years of misery in the program.
To thine own self be true.
Dave
PS true to form...I sent him packing the moment he started in on me. But I saw others not take any stand and go out drinking again.
6 Years Ago
Wow, David, that is so profound. Keep it up. Love how you were able to sober up.
I drink a glass of wine or something harder on date night or date lunches with my husband and only at his insistence or/and or on the holidays only if I'm going nowhere. I will only have half a glass and ensure that I never finish my wine or whatever. I'm completely careful with booze because I come from a German/Russian family and all of them, in my humble opinion are alcoholics. Nobody, but me drinks in my home. My husband no longer drinks and neither does my son
We have cabinets of booze that will never be drunk unless someone drinks it from outside of our family, so you can see how amazing I think it is that you stopped. It's a very dangerous habit to drink. That is self actualization right there. Kudos to you!
6 Years Ago
RE:.... "Alcohol"
Throughout most of my life, I convinced myself that I used a "sip" of alcohol as a reward for accomplishing a task.
But when became obvious that I was using it as a crutch, when I was forced to deal with the consequences of Super Storm Sandy....
I gave up drinking entirely, Cold Turkey,
So, for the last five years, I only drink tonic water with juniper berry extract added.
I still like the taste of gin, without the need for the buzz
6 Years Ago
Roger,
Nice!!
Lisa,
Come the end of August it will be 24 years. I have only gained by being sober.
Dave
6 Years Ago
I don't drink. I don't have a problem with drinking. All alcohol does iz make me sleepy. I like lotz of Coffee and tea. I can drink a double espresso and hold a paint brush or pencil steady enough to render extreme detail.
The more I read about the benefits of drinking coffee and tea, the better I like them!
6 Years Ago
Drew,
Have you tried Starbuck's clover machine? Not many of the Starbucks have the clover. Amazing.
I get two coffees from the clover, mine is decaf, for the boss' wife and myself every shift. The boss' wife digs into her daughter's tips to pay for it. The daughter scolds her. We have fun.
This is now the longest I have had a restaurant job and been good with it. Happy even. Who'da thunk it?
Addition the clover machine is something like $25k.
Dave
6 Years Ago
That sounds intriguing, David. Never heard of the clover machine. Will have to try that. Coffee is my drink, as well. Never could tolerate alcohol, probably because I have an autoimmune condition that can render me exhausted without any help, lol. If I am out with family or friends I'll order the most tasty beer on the menu and then only get down about half of it.
Coffee snobs won't agree with me, but I do like the Starbucks Via packets, if you don't water them down... make it strong.
Okay, I know coffee doesn't have much to do with self actualization, but I can't resist any opportunity to talk about my beloved coffee.
6 Years Ago
Patricia,
Actually coffee is part of my routine or self. I end up in Starbucks every afternoon. I do some work there online.
If I had to kick a caffeine habit, I'd be thinking a lot deeper perhaps. But I can only tolerate decaf, so I am not kicking any habits.
Dave
PS only a few locations have the clover on my coast. You may need to ask which location has it.
6 Years Ago
For the Japanese, many forms of art are considered a meditation with the goal of self-actualizing.
6 Years Ago
Dave, I have had coffe from tthose clover machines. it was good.
Patricia, we take the SB instant coffee with us when ever we travel. Most hotel coffee suxz!
6 Years Ago
I love java and green tea, but not together. I drink a cup of coffee in the morning and tea midmorning...I so love it. I drink homemade hot choc at night.
Green tea is great for one's health and self actualization.
6 Years Ago
Call me crazy, but coffee makes me sleepy....
To me, when having coffee, everything is just Hunky-Dory...
When there is something I have to do, in the morning, I hold off on the coffee until the task is completed
6 Years Ago
It's not crazy. I can sleep like a baby with coffee. Sometimes the opposite effect is persistent with people. I think it has to do with an immediate blood sugar spike with an equal blood sugar drop.
6 Years Ago
Yes, it is for me. I desire to be fulfilled with this thing that lives inside me called inspiration which comes out in the form of art. So the desire for self fulfillment is met through my production of art.
6 Years Ago
Drew, I'm getting a lot closer to NOT liking sweet drinks. Every time I partake of something sweet, I feel awful.
6 Years Ago
I am a big coffee drinker. I updated my setup at home: stainless steel coffee pot and a burr grinder. Believe it or not, but the burr grinder made a huge difference. I guess I've become quite a bit of a coffee snob.
My alcohol consumption is rare anymore. When I do, though, I like something nice, either good scotch, or fine wine. I've got a nice cellar with some decent stuff in it.
6 Years Ago
Roger,
If I have 20 ounces of SB coffee, I am up for a straight 48 hours and the wheels never stop twirling in my head.
I am known locally at SB as "Decaf Dave". I have warned new staff that if I get caffeine I will be in to kill them in the morning. "I am just making it clear to you". Every time an old timers on the staff will say, 'he is decaf Dave". We have a laugh and they become careful with me.
Dave
6 Years Ago
You had to throw that career word in there. Right now driving a car is bringing in my biggest income. I am independent and self actualized like Harry Chapin in the songTaxi ,where he has realized his dream, but not by flying a plane. I am too much in the thick of it to step back, butI do remember the time when I was loaned a Nikon camera. My world changed just as I was ready to turn 40. It was like my whole life was finally complete. I already had a regular spot in the local newspaper as a nature observer. Now I had the photos to go with it. My amateur and volunteer work as a biologist naturalist now became more legit. I was documenting wildlife and within a few months I was giving paid talks, selling prints and getting published in magazines. I was selling so many prints I decided to do some art shows and won some awards. I stopped entering contests because I had so many ribbons I felt I didn't deserve them.
But the most important thing is that in trading in binoculars for a camera I was being taken seriously. I quit my job and vowed never to work where I couldn't carry a camera. I ended up with a very nice job and traveled extensively with an expense account and had my camera all day by my side. Income from photography was secondary, but important for a sense of purpose.
These days I am retired from being a field biologist. I make some extra cash as a real estate photographer and I do enjoy it. Working a camera is exhausting for me now and editing hurts my eyes, so I am not doing the art part so much. I am also a musician and that first love is very fulfilling. I don't market as much now, which is why I came here in the first place.So I didn't have to market. I did some heavy marketing at first, but now, with diminishing returns I don't bother. It is all on the back burner. It's all good and as I always say there are no starving children, so I do as I please. I have a few good chapters left in my life. I hope. Looking back to my divorce in 1990 and when my counselor talked about self actualization, I have come very far. It is a way of life, not a goal to reach.
6 Years Ago
"Sorry Cheryl and Lisa,
Those are industries to varying degrees. People become golf pros at your local golf courses...."
Dave B,
You're missing the point.
The point is, it isn't strictly necessary to force absolutely every activity known to man into the arena of all about sales sales sales sales all freaking sales all the time.
Some activities are, as a general rule with the occasional exception, done just for the self-actualization people get out of the activity.
I suppose there even must be someone out there who has figured out how to sell breathing, as a business. Maybe SCUBA diving teachers, or physical therapists? But that's not most of us -- most of us just breathe to get oxygen, we don't get into online discussion groups that endlessly strategize about how we can sell more breathing.
Maybe we should start a new thread. A game. See if anyone can come up with an activity that cannot possibly, by a sufficiently creative person, be turned it into a sales & marketing job.
6 Years Ago
Cheryl,
I understand your aspirations are to enjoy making art.
Mine were as well.
I put the enjoyment before anything else. I think that is the best part of self actualization.
I want to sell art like many others do. You do not need to be in tune with that, but for many people making the art depends on selling the art. That is okay as well.
Perhaps you are more independent than others. Or perhaps others need the measure of financial success.
Just as you do not want your turf stepped on myself and others who want to sell do not want their turf stepped on.
Live and let live.
Dave