Peter Drucker once said to Jim Collins, "You spend too much time thinking about if you’ll be successful. It’s the wrong question. The question is, 'how to be useful?'"

Artists constantly ask us how they can sell more art, how they can improve their marketing, how can get more exposure.

What they're really asking is "How to be Successful?".

While those are fine things to worry about, a huge lesson I've learned is that to get better answers, one must learn to ask better questions.

And that's a better question to ask yourself, "How can I be useful?"

Drucker went on to advise, "Your first responsibility is to determine your own distinctive competences—what you can do uncommonly well, what you are truly made for—and then navigate your life and career in direct alignment"

A major way to "be useful" is to hone your unique superpowers. What are those things that you do uncommonly well? How can you arrange your life and career to allow you to do more of those things?

If you're an artist, I think you already know the answer.

How can you make a bigger impact on this world? More time in the studio? A leap in the quality or direction of your work? More of your beautiful art?

Focus on "How can I be Useful?" first, and that will lead you to the answer to "How can I be Successful?"