Photographers who are on the right track, just need to keep moving!

© Giuseppe Porzani - Fotolia.com

"Even if you are on the right track, You’ll get run over if you just sit there. "
Will Rogers

Earlier this week I tweeted the above quote and it wound up getting a great response. It's become one of my favorites, because so many of you have great ideas. You're building your business and absolutely on the "right track", but then something happens. You start to question what you're doing, stall and lose your momentum. Then you procrastinate and it becomes even harder to build up speed again. In the mean time, you take a step backwards and start listening to people who doubted your dreams in the first place. There's always somebody waiting to say "I told you so!"

So, let's break the trend...it's not a problem to slow down now and then and be a little more cautious and decisive. It's just bad when you stop believing in your dreams. I've heard a lot of suggestions over the years about goal setting and it's a Saturday morning and perfect to think about over the weekend. Here are just a few:

• Write down your goals, individually on separate pieces of paper and put them on the wall, a bulletin board, some place you can be reminded of the track you're on. Put them in your screen saver so you see them all the time.
  

• If a particular goal is something material, get a picture and frame it on your desk - another great screen saver.
  

• Share your goals with your network, but only the most inner circle, the people you're closest to.

• Read inspirational material, written by people you respect and trust.

• Step outside of photography and watch videos that are inspirational from artists in other specialties.

• Get involved in your photographic community and attend the monthly meetings of other professionals. Virtually every community has a group of artists meeting on a regular basis.
  

• Get involved in the business community and join networking groups of small business owners like yourself.

• Go to every convention you can be at - being with other photographers at an exciting convention will reinforce so many of your choices.
  

• Listen to podcasts with artists you respect and admire. Follow them on YouTube, their blogs and throughout social media.

Remember that being on the right "track" doesn't mean you can't change tracks and move in another direction altogether. The issue that Will Rogers shared with us, so many years ago, is to make sure you don't just sit there, indecisive, doing nothing. That's when you get hit run over!