"Setting Goals as a Fiberist"

Maybe that's what I should call myself. A fiberist. But no one knows what that means either. I think I've met exactly one person who knew what I was talking about when I said that I'm a fiber artist. Anyway, that's not the point here.

The point is that my Responsibility Goal today was/is to clear 6 things off my desk. Just start at the top of the pile and start working at it. I got to a really interesting post from Tien Chiu (a very talented and accomplished fiberist) written a couple years ago on the topic of setting goals as a fiberist. I knew that Tien would have something really meaty to say on the subject, so I printed the post from the WeaveTech list. Studying it today was great timing for me.

Tien talked about iterative development from the realm of software development. Basically you develop your "product" in quick iterations EACH OF WHICH PRODUCES A USABLE PRODUCT. For me, personally, I see this as a call to quit thinking about it and just start doing it. (Yes, I often suffer from the paralysis of analysis.) I see this as looking at my UFOs in a whole new light. Here's the new attitude:

Each project, each UFO, is a lesson -- a learning opportunity, if you will -- in design, technique, whatever, that I can then carry on into the next project. So the projects, the learning, keep accumulating like Russian dolls getting bigger and bigger and bigger. This approach puts the emphasis on the process while still offering the payoff of completed projects. All of which builds toward mastery and excellence, which is really my goal in everything I pursue in the fiberist world.

That's it.