Like best – Next time.

Art is what I enjoy, that is my raison de le faire. Painting does require learning if one is to enjoy it, particularly when trying something new. Most of my work life was devoted to helping people improve and one key lesson from that is that self evaluation is quite hard. We usually dwell on the negative and dismiss the positives.

Early on as a seminar speaker I learned something called LB/NT – Like best/Next time. After every seminar I would wright down the things that I liked best about how that seminar went, then what I would do different next time. This is NOT the same as what did I do right and what did I do wrong, since it focuses on the positives and suggests solutions.

Switching from Acrylic to oil paints has presented a plethora of challenges, so I started a notebook of thoughts and LB/NT after each painting.

YouTube is a great place for instruction, so when I watch and learn I put it down in the notebook. I doubt I will do this for ever, just knowing my style, but for the moment it is quite helpful.

So I would challenge you, whatever your art form is, to try it for a week or so. There are two rules if you give it a try. First, there is always something to like, even if it was just the attempt. Second, the next times must always be about what you would do, not what you won’t do, that way you are putting down solutions not just identifying a negative. (Any self-improvement seldom works when we focus on our shortcomings – preaching to myself here.)

Let me know if you give it a try and what you discover.

PS: For the chefs out there try it on a new recipe.