A framework for setting and achieving your long term animation goals.
Getting good at animation takes time. It’s not something that can be done in a few days or weeks.
Sure, the basics can be picked up easily but getting good takes years of study and, the truth is, there’s always more to learn.
When it takes so long to create each individual piece of animation, it means that our pace of progress can also feel incredibly slow.
I recently shared the story of my half marathon training over the past year. Like animation, this is something where progress is measured in weeks and months, rather than days.
My key take aways from that experience were the benefits of measuring progress, the power of deadlines, and the need to constantly keep an eye on the bigger picture.
So, how can we make use of those elements when it comes to setting animation related goals?
First of all, I think it helps to step back and think about the bigger picture.
Once you get clear on your destination, it becomes far easier to map out the path to get there.
A useful starting point for this is asking the question “Where do I want to be in a year from now?”.
Obviously the answer to this question will be very personal and sometimes the bigger picture may not be something which can even be achieved in a year.
For example, your big picture goal may be getting hired to work at an animation studio but if, you’ve only just started to learn animation, this might not be realistic in a year. Instead, having a sub goal which relates to the bigger picture is helpful. In this case you might say “I will complete my first animation showreel by the end of the year”.
Even if you have to create a shorter term goal, be sure to make a note of your bigger goal. This is the thing you should always refer back to when assessing your progress.
Sometimes our big picture goals can be difficult to measure directly.
This is where setting quantifiable targets which relate to the overall goals can be really helpful.
For example, if your big picture goal is “I want to improve my animation”, this is extremely difficult to measure and set targets to achieve.
Instead, you could say saying something like “By the end of the year I will complete 12 new pieces of animation”. The simple act of completing multiple pieces of animation will guarantee that you improve but you’ve framed it in a way which is measurable and enables you to set out a plan to achieve it.
Even once you’ve quantified your goal, I still think that the original big picture goal is really important to keep in mind.
When we quantify the goal, that becomes our new target and it can gain greater importance in our mind than the big picture goal.
This is exactly what happened when I set the target of completing a half marathon. That target kept me on track with my training but almost made me lose sight of my overall goal to make lasting improvements to my fitness.
Once you’ve identified where you’re heading, the next step is to figure out your path to get there.
The problem with having a goal which is a year out in the future is that it can cause us to believe that we have more time to achieve it than we really do. This leads to complacency and slow progress.
A year may seem like a big time frame but, the reality is, the time usually flies by faster than we expect and, depending on the other things we have to juggle in our lives, there’s often not much time left to focus on our goals.
This is where breaking down the overall goal into smaller milestones and having a clear task list can really help. Deadlines help to focus the mind and get things done.
The aim here is to create targets which keep you moving in the right direction and provide a clear sense of achievement when they’re met.
Using the earlier example, we can obviously break down the goal of completing 12 pieces of animation by the end of the year into monthly milestones of completing one new piece of animation.
From there, we can break things down further by defining dates for completing the various stages of each piece of animation.
Once these smaller sub-steps are defined, simply completing the next step in the plan, week-by-week, will ensure you achieve the overall goal.
By defining our goals in a quantifiable form, we’ve already made our lives far easier because it becomes possible to measure our progress.
This can help with setting deadlines for the various stages but it also gives us a sense of achievement as we slowly progress towards a distant goal.
Sometimes, our internal motivation can be so strong that we make continuous progress towards our goals regardless of the difficulties we encounter. But, this isn’t always the case.
Regardless of how much we may want to achieve the final goal, the path to get there can be difficult and this is where other people come in.
Telling others about your goals can be extremely helpful. Sometimes they may hold you directly accountable by asking you about your progress and encouraging you if you fall short of your targets. But, often the knowledge that others are aware of what you are trying to achieve can make you more determined to reach the goal.
Whilst following these steps can significantly increase your chances of achieving your goals, what happens if you fall short?
We all have bad weeks and life often gets in the way. When I was training for a half marathon, it was injury that set me back. Things like this can throw us off track at any stage of the process.
At this point, I think it’s important to always loop back to look at the big picture. And this is why the big picture vision is so important to keep in mind even when you have quantifiable goals.
If you fall short on your goals, it may be possible to catch up but you may have to settle for achieving a lower target. It’s quite possible that the original milestones you set were too ambitious and you need to rethink your targets.
Regardless of the reason, falling short can seem like a failure which can easily make you give up on the bigger goal.
By taking the time to look at the bigger picture you will likely see that progress has been made towards the overall goal. It may not be as fast as you’d hoped but you are still going in the right direction.
Above all, if you can keep making progress towards your goal, regardless of the pace, you’ll eventually achieve it.
With this in mind, you can now set new, manageable, targets and get yourself back on track.
I really hope this framework helps with setting out your goals for the year ahead.
If you’d like more personalised assistance with setting and achieving your animation goals, I offer a range of one-on-one mentorship options tailored to your specific needs.
