Working Artist Mentor Lab	Session 8	Steven Sparling – Exercise #2		Sunday 2 March 2025
10 sessions with a client – Outline – Final Draft 		Subject = developing CONFIDENCE 
1) Discover your CONFIDENCE 
List all the times in your life you have ever felt confident.
What was the context? (What happened? When did it happen? Where did it happen? Who else was there?)
How did you feel (sensory and emotional)?
What stands out? Identify any common threads from your list. Herein lie your STRENGTHS.
Next Session – What you resist persists!
2) Befriend your FEARS 
List all the areas of your art practice where you perceive that you lack confidence.
Making your work – Lack of skills or training? Quality and/or quantity of work?
Documenting your work – Writing art statements and bios? Photographing your work and processes? Creating and updating records? 
Sharing and promoting your work – Exhibiting? Submitting to art prizes? Talking about your work and why you make it? Sharing your work on Social Media? Establishing, building and maintaining relationships with artists, art organisations, potential buyers, collectors, gallerists and/or arts professionals (local and global)?
Making and Managing Money – Creating and managing a budget? Accounting for income and expenses? Pricing your work? Handling and closing sales (in person and/or online)?
Getting things done – Project planning? Scheduling? Setting and meeting deadlines? Sustainable Rhythm and Habits in your studio, your office, in your community and/or online?
What stands out? Identify any common threads from your list. Herein lie your CHALLENGES.
Next Session – Fear as an invitation to grow
3) Harness your STRENGTHS and tackle your CHALLENGES
Identify any strengths that can help you address one or more challenges.
(you lack some painting skills and you love to learn – take a course)
(you’re gregarious and not tech savvy – ask a tech savvy friend to help with social media set up/posting)
(you feel nervous in the art world – start by developing and maintaining relationships online)
(you lack accounting skills – barter with a bookkeeper to teach you or do your accounts each month)
Fear and Excitement are physiologically the same. You can reframe your Fears.
Sometimes Fear is just a sign that you need to step outside your comfort zone to realise a big goal. If you feel no fear, then maybe your big goal isn’t big enough. Step up!
Next session – An unusual gift and a shift to NEXT!
4) Accept your REJECTION 
List all the times in your life you have ever felt rejected.
What was the context? (What happened? When did it happen? Where did it happen? Who else was there?)
How did you feel (sensory and emotional)?
How did you handle the rejection?
What stands out? Identify any common threads from your list. Herein lie some BELIEFS.
Next session – The only failure is a failure to learn!
5) Reframe your FAILURE! 
List all the times in your life you have ever failed to achieve a goal.
What was the goal? (What went wrong? When did it happen? Where did it happen? Who else was there?)
How did you feel (sensory and emotional)?
How did you handle your failure?
What did you learn?
What stands out? Identify any common threads from your list. Herein lie some LESSONS.
Next session – Did you finish and fail, or did you fail to finish?
6) When SUCCESS is scary
List all the times in your life you have ever achieved a goal.
What was the goal? (What went right? When did it happen? Where did it happen? Who else was there?)
How did you feel (sensory and emotional)?
How did you handle your success?
What happened after your success?
What did you learn?
What stands out? Identify any common threads from your list. Herein lie some INSIGHTS.
Next session – When the limbic system fights the prefrontal cortex (AKA Netflix fights finances)
7) Beat PROCRASTINATION
List some recent times in your life when you have procrastinated (on any task).
List one or more times when you have procrastinated on an important goal.
What was the context? (When did this happen? What did you put off doing? What did you do instead?)
How did you feel (sensory and emotional) at the time, and afterwards?
What stands out? Identify any common threads from your list. Herein lie some ANSWERS.
The 6 Triggers of Procrastination – Boring, Frustrating, Difficult, Unstructured or Ambiguous, Lacking Personal Meaning, Lacking Intrinsic Rewards (The Productivity Project by Chris Bailey)
Next Session – What’s at the Core?
8) Uncover your BELIEFS
Consider the following subjects: money, morals, education, work, pleasure, play, food, health, family, relationships, love, emotions, time, society, culture, class, race, politics etc. 
List any beliefs you learned as a child (from parents, siblings, school, religion, other people and institutions)?  
Did you learn these beliefs from what they said, what they did, and/or what they implied?
Did you embrace or reject these beliefs? Why or why not?
Do you still embrace or reject these beliefs? Why or why not?
List your top five core values (what are the most important guiding principles in your life)?
Do you live your life through these values? If so, how? If not, why not?
List your beliefs about art: What kinds of people are artists; What do they do?; How do they behave? What is their value to society? Consider artists in relation to money—wealth or poverty; struggle or success; work or play; unknown or famous. What are their challenges? What are their gifts?
How do you feel about yourself as an artist?
Next Session – Disputing Beliefs and Building Resilience
9) Build your RESILIENCE
Do you currently use any self-care practices to help you handle life’s challenges, relieve stress, recover from rejection, overcome procrastination, develop your intuition, feel the fear and do it anyway, or stay spiritually connected?
If so, what are they and what benefits are you experiencing?
If not, why not?
Practices to challenge and change unsupportive beliefs:
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) by Albert Ellis – ABC + DE process
Focus of attention (What I Want vs What I Don’t Want)(I Can vs I Can’t)
Daily Gratitude for small things
Forgiveness 
Mindfulness 
Breathing (Heart/Mind Coherence, Kundalini Yoga, Buteyko etc.)
Hormesis
10) Celebrate your WINS 
Review your daily experiences at the end of each day. 
Notice what went well (according to plan) or even better. This is a WIN.
Notice any challenges. How did you handle them? If you overcame the challenge, attempted to overcome the challenge, or solicited help when needed, that is a WIN.
Notice all the little things (that brought ease, joy, beauty, laughter, a smile, connection, a hug). These are all WINS.
Then, give thanks for each and every one of them.
That which you Appreciate, Appreciates in kind.