Lately, I’ve been writing a lot about finishing your projects, finding motivation, and breaking your goals down into actionable steps. It’s just my mind space right now, as I imagine it might be for you too.
And with a new year coming right around the corner, I find myself reflecting on not just the past year, but on the past six years that I’ve been in business. I’m thinking about the goals that I’ve carried over, year after year, on my goals list. These goals have been on my list for far too long. I’m looking at how many things I have achieved but also at the fact that I always over plan. (Who else is with me with the over planning thing?! Why am I so ambitious in my head?)
So in 2018, I’ve narrowed things down. I’m keeping it ultra simple.
I wanted to share my big goals for the year with you since they’re mostly things that I plan to do and create for you all. Deep down, my real intention is to always provide you all with the help you need to get your creative business off the ground so you can live a life centered around your passions and joys.
So here’s how I’m going to maintain focus and do my best to achieve my goals for you all and me:
Only focus on a few things
One of my biz buddies wrote a post recently about her creative focuses, and then another post about her business focuses for 2018. She narrowed down her focuses to three in each area (life and business), which I thought was fun and brilliant. Keeping the list of focuses narrowed down to just three in each area, will help me to focus in on what I genuinely want to accomplish. I’ve thought long and hard about what I’ll be focusing on and on how that reflects back on my bigger goals.
Focus on three areas of creativity
The three areas I decided to focus on personally, have much to do with my need to get creative.
I look at creativity as a form of self-care, expression, and as a way to serve people in the world. Because of that, I decided to pursue a creative career in web design and branding, but all too often my creativity feels forced. I get so caught up in creating for my clients that I neglect my own needs when it comes to creativity.
I would love to feel creative so that I can just feel joy or peace each day. And we all know that taking time to be creative can help you in all other areas of your life.
So I’ve chosen to focus on acrylic painting, drawing/doodling, and writing.
Acrylic Painting:
Acrylic painting is one that I’m doing together with my business friend who started this whole focuses movement. It’s one that will stretch me, but also it will be a place for me to explore the process of creation with a medium that I’m not as comfortable using. I’d love to see what can happen over the period of a year when I focus on improving my skills with one artistic medium. I’m excited to see my progress from 2018 to 2019.
Drawing/Doodling:
When it comes to drawing and doodling, this is something that I already enjoy doing, but not as often as I have liked. I’ve pushed it to the back burner because it feels frivolous. I’m learning that just because I enjoy doing something that doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t do something.
Writing:
I need to write in my business every single day. I write blog posts, emails, sales copy, social media posts, and I even journal for my business a couple of times a week. I’d like to hone my craft, though, and improve my skills.
Writing has always been a passion of mine, but I’ve never felt like I could do it well. I thought that people were born with these innate skills to write well, not that they have improved their skills over time. I’ve learned better, so that means that I’ll write more over the next year and I’ll also watch/read/consume things to help me write better. This personal focus is so that one day I can try my hand at fiction writing, but also I feel like this goal is to help you too.
By working on my writing skills, my content will improve over time. Hopefully, as a result, my blog posts and other written words will be easier to consume and more helpful for you overall.
Focus on three main things for my overall business growth
Like many of you, I usually focus on 50 million things at a time in my business. I’ve started working in batching/blocking days and decided that monotasking is the way to go. The more that you can focus on one thing at a time, the better you’ll fair overall.
So having only three focuses for the year will help me not get distracted by new ideas and new pursuits.
In 2018, I plan to focus on completing the courses that I’ve purchased over the years, growing my YouTube channel, and concentrating on content creation overall.
Complete the courses I’ve purchased:
The reason that completing the courses I’ve purchased over the years is number one on my list is that I’ve consistently told myself that I’m not good enough or legit as a teacher or expert in my niche. I keep saying that I need to learn this or that and then buy ALL the courses. And while I’ve taken time to go through a lot of them, there are still many sitting on the shelf collecting dust.
I’d like to go through the courses I already have to feel like they’re not going to waste before I purchase another new course. So this goal will help me in a lot of ways: to spend less money, to learn the things that I’ve wanted to learn for a long time, and to put a halt to overconsumption of information.
Grow my YouTube Channel:
Next, I’d love to focus on growing my YouTube channel. I LOVE YouTube, and I like making videos for you all, but I don’t make the time in my days or weeks to put out consistent content on my channel. So in 2018, I hope to get focused and to make a proper plan of execution.
Focus on content creation:
Finally, I’d love to work on my content creation overall. That means that 2018 will be a year for me to write and create new products, books, and courses. I have a bunch of fun ideas in mind, and I can’t wait to make them.
Create two new “products”
I have plans to create two brand new things in 2018 to help you with your business and website. I’m not spilling the beans just yet, but look out for two new things from me. One is planned to launch in early summer, and the other is scheduled to launch in fall. I can’t wait for you all to see what I have up my sleeve.
I’ll tell you this much… one is a workbook, and the other is a new program.
I’m keeping it to two things right now, because like I said above, I over plan. I think that keeping the focus on two new “products” means that I will have two new products at the end of the year. In the past, I’ve tried to create ALL the things that pop up in my head. Which means that I only get a few things done and they’re not always finished to the best of my ability.
My goal is to create things that I feel proud about when I launch them, and that will also be much more helpful for you because I’ve spent countless hours creating them.
Less custom design work, so I can focus on the clients I have
One significant change and announcement is that I’m only taking on a few new clients for custom web design a year. I’m already booked out for the first six months of 2018, and I’m not sure if I’ll add any more custom design spots during the second half of the year.
Since I’m focusing so much on content creation, right now I believe that the only ways that people will be able to work with me in 2018 are through one-on-one consulting or in my courses/products. I may decide later in the year to open a few spots, but as of right now, it seems highly unlikely.
So if you’d like to work with me, then you can check out my one-on-one consulting packages here. I’ll tell you more about how this type of consulting works over the next few weeks, so you can decide if this kind of consulting is for you.
There you have it! My big goals for next year. I’m energized and excited about what’s in store.
What are your big goals for the next year? I’d love to hear what you have in store and to see how I can help you to meet your goals.
