Find Your Artist or Musician Values (6 freaking steps)
My personal values are creative foundations. They guide my artistic decision-making and act as serious motivators to simply stay the course in pursuing my creative goals.
Put another way, they’re pretty freaking important. So this is my guide on how to find your artist or musician values.
Now let’s do this!
What Are Personal Musician Values?
Personal musician values are traits and identity characteristics that you best represent you. They’re the things that you personally prioritize and deem to be most important in both your life and your creative work.
Let’s look at some examples and benefits of getting to your values.
Examples of Artist Personal Values
Success
Dependability
Justice
Authenticity
Uniqueness
Honesty
Creativity
Honesty
Adventure
Why Values Matter for Artists
Make creative decisions quicker
Create work that’s more aligned
Be more authentic and true to who you are
Stay consistent when you’re not motivated
Say happier with your work
Be more brand intentional
Get less distracted by shiny objects
How to Find Your Artistic Values: 6 Steps
1. What are Your Non-Negotiables?
Your non-negotiables are the things in your life you that you cannot do without. It’s the stuff that’s most important to you and will never sit on any chopping block.
These are strong signals about your artistic values.
For example, a few of my non-negotiables in life are:
Travel
Decent wifi — especially as a digital nomad
Being able to play music and sing loudly in my apartment
Based on my non-negotiables, some of my values include adventure, autonomy, connectivity and creativity. This tracks — these are definitely some of my core values. And I use them a lot in my artistic themes and projects.
So, what are your non-negotiables?
2. Do What Comes Natural
“I think artistic values are at least partly innate. Because you will always have natural quirks and a unique style to infuse into your work.”
For me, the things that come easily are usually connected to my personal values. For example, my cross-genre, choppy and unconventional guitar playing represents my values around autonomy and not being boxed in.
But this style of music-making comes natural to me. I don’t know any other way. So if you’re looking for clarity, pay more attention to what you do naturally. Look for values that underpin your artistic habits.
Here are a few ways I like to tap into my innateness:
Optimize for creative flow
Do creative work that feels most authentic
Lean into spontaneity
3. Have Creative Goals
Goals are a pretty big hint about what’s important to you. So what are your artistic goals?
For example:
Fame, fortune, glory — the works
To inspire change (political, musical, etcetera)
To be a touring musician
To discover your authenticity
To get into exclusive galleries
To earn passive income
To just live a simple artist life
Your creative ambitions are closely connected to your personal values. So think about why you’re an artist and what you hope to achieve.
Then look for common themes and values that are at play.
4. Study People Who Inspire You
“To know the road ahead, ask those coming back...”
As musicians and artists — nay, as humans — we’re constantly inspired by others around us. Our favorite musicians, a random TikTok video, that unknown busker you saw last weekend…these are all great sources of inspiration.
And creative inspiration is another hint about what you value as an artist. There’s a reason you like who you like. So analyze those people, and look for common themes.
What do you admire about them (or their style) and why?
These elements can represent your artistic values.
5. Be Intentional
Artistic values mean nothing if you don’t remember them or use them. So it’s crucial to stay intentional.
You can infuse them into your art, make more artistic choices based on them and regularly audit your top values (so you can continually evolve).
The more I stay intentional with my values and art, the easier and more natural it gets. Over time, it becomes like second nature.
6. Look Beyond the Craft
Your artistic values extend far beyond just your craft. They represent who you are in every way.
Who are you beyond your art or music? Everyone has a vibe and aesthetic. So here are some places you can look beyond:
Your creative brand
Your personality
Your other hobbies
Your experiences
Your work
Your friends
The content you consume
The shows/movies you watch
Your fashion sense
Explore more:
➤ Fashion + Creativity are Good Friends
7. Take a Free Test
“Free personality tests are freaking fun. It’s like reading a whole article all about you. Yay lol :)”
You know those personality tests that tell you about your quirks and personality traits? Yea, I love them too. And it turns out, there’s one you can take for your personal values too.
My favorite is the free test at personalvalu.es. It’ll give you your five most important personal values.
Plus, at the end of the test, you can download your personal values as an image to use for your phone screen background. This is what I do and it keeps my personal values top of mind.
Taking a personal value test is a solid way to find clarity and get some inspiration.
Later ✌️
Your personal values represent who you are as both a human and an artist. Having clarity about your top ones improves creative decision-making and adds intention to your craft.
I like trying to stay intentional with my own values. This boosts my motivation, consistency and personal brand efforts.
Plus, it’s fun. It adds creative and authentic intention to my artistic goals.
