The other week I spoke about my fear of goal setting on an Instagram post and I received a lot of comments and messages about how people also felt pressure from goal setting. In that post, I forgot to mention two goals that helped develop my confidence as a photographer but also helped swapped my fear of goal-setting for confidence.
I think we all sit down to make a list of goals, we automatically think of goals as being outcome-driven, and not so much about process-driven. Being creatives I think we fixate so much on what the finished work, image or design will look like that it hinders our process of creating anything at all.
But what if we actually set ourselves process-based objectives. What if we set ourselves internal-based objectives that fortify our self-confidence with our creative processes?
When I first sat down to write down my goals, I kept thinking about the goals I had written down. They were finite, they were all based around a ‘final outcome’. I couldn’t help but think, “But then what? Are these pieces of paper going to aid in sustaining my sense of creative self-worth?”

And I realised that they didn’t.

According to Oliver Burkeman, our mindset in our in how we approach and emotionally invest in goal-setting and plans for our creativity, we often do not pay attention to the inherent values in preparation and looking ahead, ‘rather, it’s something much more emotional: how deeply uncomfortable we are made by feelings of uncertainty. Faced with the anxiety of not knowing what the future holds, we invest ever more fiercely in our preferred vision of that future — not because it will help us achieve it, but because it helps rid us of feelings of uncertainty in the present.”1

I had to start thinking of what would keep me more process-driven and not so outcome-driven. What would make me more comfortable with the present? Something that I could read when I felt uncertainty creeping in and still gave me a sense of direction.
And then wrote these two notes.

Always go that little bit further for that shot

To embrace adventure in the pursuit of my photography

As you can see, these two messages are gentle nudges of encouragement for my creativity. The language you use in constructing your own process-based objectives is so important. 
The first hinting at gentle steady progress through using the words ‘little bit further’. These three words alone denote small gradual steps (“little bit”) that build upon what you already know and feel about my creativity (‘further).
The second message to encourage me ‘not to stay inside the square’. But if you have fluctuating confidence in your creativity (let’s face it, EVERYONE does), a negative message that was berating me for ‘NOT doing something’ was not going to cut it. ]
So I used the two words ‘embrace’ and ‘adventure’; the opposite of self-denigration.
To build yourself up, you need to acknowledge where you are at; your confidence level with your creativity, your knowledge of your craft, your WILLINGNESS to develop yourself further.
Once you acknowledge and are, to a certain extent, grateful for where you are at, can you build up your creative self-worth, fortify your creative processes and take action.

1. Oliver Burkeman in The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking, p86, Text Publishing, 2012