It's that time when we close one year and open another. What will the new year bring? How do we want to use our time in the coming year? We make resolutions. We set goals.
I answer those questions by first looking into my heart. I have on my 'list' new materials and techniques that I want to explore. I want to make more jewelry. I want to do more than I can actually do. I always start feeling more ambitious than is really feasible in a life time, let alone a year. There are always things outside of my studio that compete for my attention. Things that not only need my attention but things that I want to give attention. I think most of us who live creatively, whether it is full time as a business or as a passion, find the balancing act between our personal lives and creative lives a challenge from time to time. There is a big change coming in our family this year. I am sworn to secrecy for a little while yet. I want to give this beautiful change my attention. That's where my heart guides me in finding balance as I set my goals for the year.
This year I ran across a great little goal planning guide geared towards the creative entrepreneur over on Handmadeology. I've found it useful in helping me plan for the next year while balancing my personal life. This year I needed a little nudge beyond the yearly planner that I dutifully set out to use and then abandon some where around March. If you've ever done any looking at ways to plan or grow a business, The Ultimate Goal Planner, by Meagan Visser, probably doesn't have any radical new ideas in it. But what it does have is a very user friendly step by step guide that helps you define goals and set a framework for achieving them over a year. It doesn't take a huge amount of time and if you are a list maker (like me) you'll love her worksheets and monthly lists. It's free and you can find it here.
So what's on your list for the new year?
Do you set goals, make plans, write lists? Or do you just kind of wing it?
Anything special you do to organize the balance between your personal and creative life?
4 comments:
Time management is my worst enemy. I'm good at knowing what I need to do in a day or even a week, but terrible at the doing part. Interuptions, distractions and a general lack of direction are the cause. In 2012 I hope to be able to do better. I guess I need to create a plan....
I can't wait to hear your news! Have a wonderful New Year!
i have no tricks, no tried and true strategies... and i do find challenge in the balancing act... thank you for the link - i am going to look at it... but i do try to follow my heart as well... sometimes when you are in 'work' mode, you forget to stop and dream and just let your mind wander... that is where the best ideas come from!
I'm definitely a list maker. I find that I get so busy sometimes that if I don't have a list (or in most cases, a sticky note)I COMPLETELY forget whatever task it was I needed to do. Sometimes the wall in front of my work bench is covered with sticky notes!!!!!!!!
I'm usually just too darn busy to GET organized!!! :)
Okay.... I just wrote a long "wisdom" filled comment and lost it! I HATE when that happens! I'll have to save my wisdom and goal setting for another day. I love the heart... and I'm excited to hear about the surprise. I hope it is what I'm guessing it is :o)
MaryAnn
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