How to 10x Your Landscape Photography in 2024 with Impossible Goals

I recently finished a book called 10x Is Easier Than 2x by by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy, and it inspired me to want to share some wisdom on goal setting as we enter 2024.

Although the book is written mainly for entrepreneurs, a ton of the advice can be applied to photographers and artists of all kinds.

One of the most important takeaways that I got from the book is the importance of making goals that are so big, they seem impossible for you to achieve.

As you will learn in this article (and the book), setting out to achieve what I call “impossible goals” with your photography will ironically help you grow 10x more than setting small, incremental, “mediocre” goals.

With each 10x jump in growth, your new self will be an unrecognizable version of your old self. 

I know this works because I have achieved 10x growth many times in my life by setting somewhat wild goals and somehow achieving them in a relatively short amount of time (a few years or months).

For me, 10x growth in the last 10 years has looked like graduating from two elite universities, then working as a paleontologist at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural history, then leading trips as a naturalist expedition leader for the world’s top guiding company, then having a thriving photography business and gallery representation with no formal art training. 

The purpose of this isn’t to brag, but to teach you what actually works if you want to make insanely massive leaps towards your goals as a photographer (and all of your goals in life). 

To get 10x results in your photography (and in life) you don’t need the latest gear or largest social media following. You don’t even need to take the best classes or get an art degree from prestigious art school. 

10x results come from a complete change in your mindset, which this guide breaks down into 5 simple steps. 

Ready to learn how to make 10x growth with your photography? Let’s dive in.

‍1. Start by setting your impossible goals

If you could achieve literally anything as a photographer, what would it be?

Would it be winning first place in a prestigious competition?

What about having your work featured on the cover of National Geographic or on display at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC?

Maybe it’s earning a seven figure income from your art.

Do all of these things seem wildly impossible to you right now?

Good. These are the types of goals you should be aiming for.

Why?

Because there are very few paths to reach impossible goals. They will help you weed out all your activities that are a waste of time. 

For example, there are many ways you could make a decent five-figure living selling your photos on sites like Etsy or other online art retailers. You will be competing with millions of your peers and likely grinding all day and night to make it work.

However, there are only a few ways to sell a single photograph for 6.5 million dollars, like Peter Lik did in 2014 when he broke the record for the most expensive photo ever sold. I’m pretty sure he had very little competition at that price point.

Was this photograph actually worth $6.5 million considering tens of thousands of other photographers take nearly identical shots of Antelope Canyon every year? 

It doesn’t matter. The point is that impossible goals force you out of your current way of thinking and doing (i.e. running in circles with minimal results). 

When you set an impossible goal, your path narrows.  

It becomes easier to see which activities you must focus all of your time and attention on (e.g. mastering your craft), and which activities you need to cut out of your life (e.g. scrolling, binge watching, and activities disguised as “work” that give you the illusion of being productive). 

Setting and pursuing impossible goals isn’t about setting yourself up for failure or unrealistic expectations. 

It’s about figuring out which activities in your life are producing the most results, and then dedicating most of your energy to those few things. 

Ironically, Peter Lik probably had a much easier time selling one image of Antelope Canyon for $6.5 million than he would have had selling $6.5 million worth of the same print on Etsy. 

Take action: write down 3-5 of your own impossible goals. Put this list somewhere you will see them daily. 

2. Focus on mastering only a few key skills

Your impossible goals should elucidate the most important skills you need to master. 

Mastering just a few skills extraordinarily well will get you much further than having an average proficiency in many skills. 

My guess is that Peter Lik focuses almost entirely on art marketing skills. He is clearly one of the world’s masters at selling art, and there is nothing wrong with that.

If you are serious about selling your photography, art marketing skills are essential to master.

Most of us, however, just want to improve as photographers and artists. 

If this is the case, pick just 2-3 photographic skills that you want to master this year, and focus all of time and energy on just those. Go all in on them. Act as if you were the best in the world at them. Everything else is just a distraction.

Take action: go back to your list of impossible goals and assess which are the 2-3 critical skills you must master in order to reach one of them. This will be different for everyone. Write these 2-3 skills down. 

3. Block out and schedule time to practice your skills every day

The key to mastering a skill is daily, intentional practice and study. 

Personally, I try to implement James Clear’s advice to improve 1% every day. 

You will be amazed how the smallest daily improvements compound over time. 

However, it’s very easy to let day after day go by without getting any practice in. 

You MUST block out time every day to practice the skills you want to master, or else it probably won’t happen. 

This could mean blocking out one hour every morning to practice editing photos in Photoshop, or two hours in the evening entirely dedicated to taking a Photoshop class.

I try to break my morning into four total hours of deep work blocks where I practice via creating (e.g. writing articles and scripts, shooting photos, filming classes, editing photos, etc.). 

In the second half of my day, I block out at least 2 hours of deep work for practice via studying. 

During this block I take online courses, read books and articles, listen to podcasts, and immerse myself as much as possible in the works of people who have already mastered the skills I want to master. 

You might have very little time to devote to mastering a skill. The most important thing is that you block out at least a little bit of time to make tiny, even microscopic improvements daily. 

Take action: Open up your calendar or daily planner and block out a time (even if its 10 minutes) every day of the week to work on practicing your skills.

4. Create every day, even when you don’t feel inspired

In one of my all time favorite books “Turning Pro,” Steven Pressfield writes, 

“The professional does not wait for inspiration; he acts in anticipation of it. He knows that when the Muse sees his butt in the chair, she will deliver.”

In this powerful book, Pressfield explains the difference between the “ametur” and the “professional” when it comes to any creative endeavor (spoiler: the difference doesn’t have to do with money).

Professionals show up every day, and they don’t wait for inspiration to strike before they start working. 

They show up to work on their craft every day, even when they really don’t want to. 

Especially when they really don’t want to.

In “The War of Art” (also by Pressfield and also an all time favorite), he writes: 

“This is the other secret that real artists know and wannabe writers don’t. When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us. The Muse takes note of our dedication. She approves. We have earned favor in her sight. When we sit down and work, we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come. Insights accrete.”

Great artists create every day, no matter what. One of the best examples of this is demonstrated by what has now become popularized as the “Seinfeld Strategy.”

In his book, “The One Thing,” Gary Keller explains how Jerry Seinfeld would hang a giant calendar on the wall and then put a big red “X” over each day that he worked on writing jokes. His goal was to create a chain of Xs, indicating he had worked every day on his craft. 

When asked about how to write better jokes, his advice was to write jokes every single day. Good advice from one of the greatest comedians of all time.

People who achieve great things usually aren’t exceptionally talented, intelligent, or gifted. However, they know the secret to 10x results is doing work every day that they don’t feel like doing. 

They don’t wait for inspiration or the Muse. They do their work daily, in spite of all of their excuses or desires to procrastinate, in anticipation that it will come once they simply start working.

Action step: Get out your calendar for this month. Every day, focus on making your next “X” on your calendar for whatever skill you are working on. 

5. Act as if it were impossible to fail

Fear of failure is one of the biggest obstacles you will ever have to overcome as an artist. 

Fear of failure might be the reason you don’t share your work, sell your work, promote your work, call yourself a photographer, experiment with new techniques, get that new expensive camera, decide to go pro…the list goes on.

Remember those impossible goals from earlier? 

What if you had absolutely no doubt in your mind that you were guaranteed to achieve them?

How would you act? What would you wear? How would you invest your time and money? Who would you spend more (or less) of your time with? What new technique would your try or course would you take? What job would you quit? What magazines or galleries would you contact?

What if it was impossible to not achieve your impossible goal?

“Act as if it were impossible to fail.”― Dorothea Brande

Dorothea Brande's advice on living a more conscious life was initially introduced in her 1936 book titled "Wake Up and Live!," where she detailed the profound influence this principle had on her life and career as a writer.

I love this advice and refer to it often because it helps me to eliminate doubt and clarify the decisions I need to make. 

When you act in ways that are in alignment with reaching your impossible goals, it will help you think and (more importantly) feel as if the goal is already reached. 

Thinking, feeling and acting as if the goal has already been reached is the key to manifesting it (we will come back to manifesting another time). 

“Feeling the reality of the state sought and living and acting on that conviction is the way of all seeming miracles” - Neville Goddard

When you act as if it were impossible to fail, a lot of things will change in your life. 

You will fail more and you will fail often. You will fail more than you ever have before, but the key difference is that you will not see your failures as failures - just steps towards your impossible goals. 

"Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly." ― John F. Kennedy

As long as you don’t quit, you will find yourself succeeding in bigger and bigger ways. 10x ways. 

Take action: write down a list of at least 3 things that you would invest your time and/or money in if you knew it was a 100% certain fact that you would reach your impossible photography goals?

Conclusion

Declaring and setting out to achieve your impossible goals is not about actually achieving them. 

The point is that you will get 10x further towards your impossible goals than you would have if you set mediocre or incremental goals. 

"Don't fear failure — not failure, but low aim is the crime. In great attempts, it is glorious even to fail." ― Bruce Lee

Your progress will be 10x faster, your results will be 10x better, and you will blow past your peers in ways that you could never even imagine. 

2024 is a new year, but it will only be different for you if you live it entirely different from last year. 

This is your year to act upon your impossible goals, dreams, and ideas. You will be 10x further if you do. 

“Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?” - Robert Browning

Suggested Reading:

10x is Easier Than 2x by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy

Deep Work by Cal Newport

The One Thing by Gary Keller

Essentialism by Greg McKeown

Wake Up and Live! By Dorthea Brand

Feeling is the Secret by Neville Goddard

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield