It’s Tuesday of the last workweek of the year, and it’s a time when lots of us are thinking about what we’ve done over the past twelve months and what we’re looking forward to in the coming twelve months. Those kinds of looks backward and dreams forward can be really exciting! But it can also be really difficult to think back on the year gone by. If I’m being honest, I’d have to admit that while “yearly review time” can be exciting and motivating, it’s also a time when it’s really easy to get discouraged and to judge yourself for what did or didn’t happen in the past year. When those self-critical thoughts start creeping in and taking over your inner-monologue, what can you do? My recommendation: Be a Detective.

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Hello, thriving artists, and welcome to Episode 47 of the Starving Artist No More podcast. My name is Jennifer Jill Araya, and I am an artist and business owner who is passionate about helping other artists find fulfillment in their creative work. I’m so glad you’re here.

Today’s episode is all about what it means to approach your creative work the way a detective would, with openminded curiosity. This is a mindset I’ve intentionally cultivated for several years now, and it has made a huge difference for me. I’m excited to dig into it with you.

But first, I want to take a quick moment to let you know about a new coaching program I launched recently, the Thriving Artists Academy. As I’ve been working with artists and creatives over the past year, both one-on-one in individual coaching sessions and in group settings, like workshops and seminars, I’ve been struck over and over again how essential community is to an artist’s growth and flourishing, and so I’ve put together the Thriving Artists Academy to give you and artists like you the support you need to be your best creative self. The Academy includes a vibrant online forum where you can give and receive support, advice, and encouragement; monthly classes and group coaching sessions on a wide range of topics that are relevant to what it means to be a working artist; a book club where we discuss books that are focused on the business of art; and so much more. I would love to have you as part of our community of artists who are committed to thriving together. You can get all of the details on my website, www.StarvingArtistNoMore.com. I really hope you check it out.

Now let’s focus in on today’s main topic: curiosity, and why being curious is a valuable mindset to cultivate around your creative work. If you’ve been here long and listened to many of my podcast episodes, you know that in my work as an audiobook narrator, the exact definitions of words matter. So let’s start by getting on the same page about what it means to be curious.

Merriam-Webster tells us that to be curious means that you are “marked by desire to investigate and learn.” If you’re approaching something with an attitude of curiosity, you’re not willing to take things at face value. Rather, you are coming to the situation knowing that you will need to do a bit of digging to figure out what’s going on. And what is the point of doing that investigating? To learn. To be curious means that you want to learn. You want to know why something happened and you want to figure out the truth of the situation. To be curious is to investigate and learn from what you find out during that investigation.

Our last two podcasts (here and here) were all about reviewing your work and figuring out what you want from your work. Determining your personal definition of success is very dependent on understanding your performance in past creative projects and using that information to make decisions going forward. And setting goals for the coming year absolutely relies on knowing what went well and what didn’t go so well, and what you want to do as a result of that.

I also do this kind of look backward when I finish each of my creative projects. Every time I submit the files for an audiobook, or after I perform a concert, I usually set aside a few moments that day or the next to reflect on how the project went, so I can then use that information to learn from what happened. A vital part of all of those processes is reviewing, to look back over what you’ve done.

But occasionally, my post-project reflection or my yearly review will tend more towards judgment than curiosity, which is not a good slippery slope to start down. It can be so easy to fall into judgment when you do thinking back: judging the decisions you made that seemed ok at the time but that you can see now, looking back, weren’t quite the right calls to make; judging how you behaved in a situation that didn’t turn out as you’d hoped; judging the quality of your work and feeling self-recrimination or self-blame for creative choices you made that you wouldn’t make today.

Personally, I have felt all of those kinds of judging, and even more. I know from experience how that vortex of judgment can pull you downward. It can be very seductive.

And judging is destructive not just because of the negativity that can result from it. Judging is also destructive because it prevents you from learning anything. If I'm judging myself and my work during my project review process or my yearly review process, I'm locking myself off from being able to learn and grow from what happened. Remember that definition of curiosity that I read earlier: being curious means a desire to investigate and learn. The looking back, the reviewing, is the “investigation” piece of the definition, and after investigating comes learning. But if you judge after investigating, learning can’t happen.

Personally, anytime I feel that judgment or self-recrimination creeping into my review, I stop and take a break. I literally get up from my chair or leave my booth (or move away from wherever I am doing the review), and I do something else for a little bit. I fold laundry or put away the dishes or listen to a piece of music or crochet a few rounds in my current crafty crochet project. In some way, I do something that totally breaks me away from the review and the judgment it was triggering. I know from experience that I have to stop that vicious cycle of self-judgment if I want to actually learn anything from the review.

As I’m thinking through what happened, as I’m doing that reviewing and that investigating, I find it helpful to remember that my past self did the very best that she could with the situation she was in and the information she had. Yes, I could judge myself for making a decision that, in hindsight, was clearly not the best decision. But I also know my past self, and I know that she wouldn’t have made that decision if she realized it wasn’t the best course of action. I know that I’m careful in the decisions that I make and that I pour my heart and my soul into my creative work. I wouldn’t have done the thing if I’d realized that thing wasn’t the right thing to do.

Give your past self grace. Let go of judgment. Trust that you did the best you could. Acknowledge that, even if you now don’t think that a past decision was the right move, that decision is done. You can’t go back and change your past decision. What you can do is learn from your review of that past, and make better decisions going forward thanks to what you’ve learned.

If you want to benefit from your review, if you want to learn after investigating, then approach that review with curiosity, like a detective searching for clues that will let you know how you can make the next project, the next month, the next year better (in whatever way that "better" means for you in that particular place and time in your creative process). Let go of judgment. Give your past self grace. Allow yourself to learn from what happened rather than judging what happened.

Another place where I find a mindset of curiosity extremely helpful is when I’m looking at the careers of others in my creative industry. I talked about the dangers of comparisonitis in two past episodes (Episode 21 and Episode 24). Being aware of others in your creative industry is a natural tendency that all of us have, but comparing yourself to others is rarely helpful.

And yet, we all do it. No matter how many times I tell you that comparing yourself to others isn’t helpful – since you’re comparing your entire journey, with all it’s struggles and trials and tribulations, to someone else’s highlights reel – I know that you’re going to occasionally do it anyway. Goodness, I find myself comparing myself to other audiobook narrators at times, even though I know that comparing in that way isn’t helpful!

So, if you’re going to compare yourself to others sometimes anyway, no matter how many times I or someone else tell you not to, at least make sure you’re doing that comparing with a helpful mindset!

And the mindset to use when you’re looking at the careers of others is absolutely one of curiosity.

That little mindset shift is especially important at this time of year. As the year comes to a close, creative entrepreneurs all over social media will be posting all the things they’ve done in the past year. In the audiobook community, narrators will post how many books they narrated, which publishers they worked for, awards they won, and some of their favorite projects of the year. In the classical music world, my colleagues will often share clips of favorite performances, talk about the number of concerts they performed, and which ensembles they played with.

These year-end social media posts are the very definition of a highlights reel. They are literally the highlights from someone else’s work during the last calendar year! No one is going to share struggles and disappointments on these posts. No one is going to talk about the auditions they didn’t win or the concerts that didn’t get standing ovations. I know that. You know that.

And yet … it is so easy to look at others with jealousy, and to look at yourself with judgment. It’s so easy to be jealous of the career wins they’ve achieved and to be angry and contemptuous about where you think you went wrong or didn’t win.

Let go of both the jealousy and the judgment. Transform them both into curiosity.

Rather than being jealous of what they have and what you don’t, put on that detective hat! Ask yourself: What did your colleagues do that led to all that success? If you know them well enough, you can even reach out and ask! Congratulate them for their achievements and ask if you can pay them for an hour of their time to help you better understand the strategies that helped them achieve those wins. And if you don’t want to reach out for that kind of coaching, you can still review the information that is publicly available, on their social media and elsewhere, about how they do what they do.

Figure out if there are elements of their strategies that you can try out in 2024. Using curiosity and digging like a detective, find out what they did that might work for you.

As you’re doing that detective work into your colleague’s work, keep in mind that their definition of success might not be the same as yours. Author Stephen Covey uses the analogy of a ladder to talk about this topic. He cautions that you want to make sure you’re climbing the right “ladder of success” in your work. After all, the last thing you want is to reach the top of your ladder only to find that it’s leaning against the wrong wall.

When you’re using curiosity to look at someone else’s achievements, see if you can determine what their definition of success is. Is it the same as yours? In other words, is their ladder leaning against the same wall as yours, or is their definition of success totally different from what you want out of your creative work? If a colleague is working towards a different definition of success than you are, then the strategies that worked for them probably aren’t going to be of much use to you! But if they do appear to be working at least in parallel with your goals and dreams in your artistic work, then their strategies probably have something to teach you, if you’re willing to let go of jealousy and instead look at their work with curiosity.

And as you’re thinking about your own work over the past year and considering what you might put in your own “year in review social media post,” remember to give your past self grace. If you didn’t achieve what you’d hoped the last year, don’t judge your past self. They did the best that they could. But again, just like I mentioned earlier when discussing the review process, you can learn from your past self. Get curious. What kept you from putting into action the strategies you had in mind? If you failed to do something that you’d intended to do, you were spending that time doing something else instead. You allowed something else to take priority over whatever it was that you intended to do.

So, with a mindset full of curiosity and completely lacking in judgment, ask yourself: Where did you spend your time in ways that kept you from your primary goals in 2023? How can you eliminate / reduce / reframe those distractions in 2024?

Sometimes, distractions are actually a symptom of where our deepest desires truly lie. If we get distracted by something, it’s possible that the goal we *think* we want isn’t actually the goal we *truly* want. Look at those distractions, at those pursuits that took you away from what you said was your priority over the last year, and get curious. Is your subconscious trying to tell you that your goal is taking you in the wrong direction, and that another path is actually the better one for you? If so, use that information to reshape your goals going forward!

However, if you can definitively answer that, no, your goal isn’t taking you in the wrong direction and that yes, your distractions really are just distractions and that they kept you from doing what you wanted, then it’s time to examine your mindset. Anytime I find myself avoiding doing something I really want to do, there’s a mindset block there. Either I’m scared of the task or have some imposter syndrome around it, or the complexity of it is daunting to me, or I simply am not putting my money where my mouth is and am not scheduling time for this thing that is important to me. For lots of different reasons, my actions might not actually be reflecting my priorities and values, and a mindset block is usually the culprit.

So, if that’s where you are, again, get curious. Dig deep into your beliefs about your goal and the stories you tell yourself around it. Figure out where you’re telling yourself an untrue, unhelpful story, and do the internal mindset work needed to change that story to something that is true and that truly supports you.

Don’t let others’ “year in review” social media posts spark jealousy or tempt you to judgment. Approach those posts with curiosity. Learn from what your colleagues did, and review your own year with a goal of learning and growing from what happened.

A poem by 19^th century American poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox speaks beautifully to the incredible power of a mindset of curiosity, and I’d love to share it with you. Here is “As You Go Through Life” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox:

Don't look for the flaws as you go through life;

And even when you find them,

It is wise and kind to be somewhat blind

And look for the virtue behind them.

For the cloudiest night has a hint of light

Somewhere in its shadows hiding;

It is better by far to hunt for a star,

Than the spots on the sun abiding.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Anything has flaws if we look closely enough. Even the sun has spots. But if you stare at the sun hunting for the spots, first of all, you’ll go blind, because looking at the sun for too long will burn your corneas. But more than that, if you stare at the sun hunting for sunspots, hunting for flaws, you'll miss the splendor and beauty and majesty of all the other stars in the sky. As Wilcox says, it is better by far to hunt for a star.

For me, "hunting for a star" means looking for how I can learn and grow from my review of what happened. It also means giving my past self the benefit of the doubt. I trust that my past self did the best she could in the circumstances she was dealing with, and rather than second guessing my past self's decisions, I use the review process to seek out ways that I can learn to do things better, or differently, or more creatively, or more openly in the future.

What does "hunting for a star" look like for you? What have you learned from reviewing projects once they're completed? How can you cultivate that curious review habit in your creative work?

As you’re looking back over the past year, let go of judgment. Put on your detective hat and be curious. Allow yourself to hunt for the stars and to revel in their beauty when you find them. If you consciously nurture a mindset of curiosity in your creative business, you will learn, and you will grow, and you will thrive.

Thank you so much for spending this time with me today. I know how valuable time is to creative entrepreneurs, and I will never take you, my listeners, for granted! I hope you enjoyed today’s conversation about how to be a detective and cultivate a mindset of curiosity. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave me a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify. Reviews specifically in those two places really do help new listeners find this podcast! And if you know someone who would find today’s discussion helpful, please share it with them. Sharing is caring! A huge shout out of gratitude goes to my husband, Arturo Araya, who engineers this podcast and makes sure I sound my best when you’re listening to me.  If you want to contact me – if you have any questions for me, or if you have topic suggestions for a future podcast episode, or if you’d like more information about how you can work with me, or if you want to know more about the Thriving Artists Academy – you can reach me through my website, www.StarvingArtistNoMore.com. I would love to hear from you!

Curiosity is a mindset of investigating and learning and growth. Judgment has no place in curiosity. In fact, judgment will keep you from learning anything from your experiences! Let go of judgment, and allow curiosity to take its place. When you’re reviewing your projects, when you’re doing your year-end review, cultivate curiosity. When you’re consuming your colleagues’ year-in-a-post social media, cultivate curiosity. Don’t look for spots on the sun. Instead, hunt for the stars. Cultivate curiosity. In your artistic work and in your creative business, be a detective. I can’t wait to see what you create.