Hi friends!
So last night I realized that the reason I was having trouble setting quilting goals for 2019 was that I was thinking about the small stuff.
How many new patterns will I create this year?
How often will I blog?
How often will I post on Instagram?
I have been reading a little about goals and many people say not to have more than 3 goals for the year?
What?
Of course, in My Quilter’s Planner, the goal page has a spot for 3 goals. So maybe this is a good idea!
How does one decide what should be on the list if you are only setting 3 quilting goals?
Think about the big picture.
After much thought, I decided to set one business goal, one personal health goal and one life goal.
Business Goal
This was the hardest one to decide on as again I got held up by specifics: number of patterns, number of followers, new website…. And I do need to think about these things but maybe as they pertain to the overall goal. I do need better structure in my business to reduce costs. My sales this year were higher than last year which is always a good thing. But my costs are very high.
It’s a funny thing being in a quilt business, people tend to get upset when we talk about money. It’s OK for Amazon, but not for us little quilt businesses. We seem crass!
And my overall reason to be in business is to share – share my quilt designs, share my love of quilting, to encourage you and others to try new quilty things by teaching classes and providing content on this quilting blog.
I realized I want to do more of what I love – I love designing quilts and traveling to teach and going to guilds and quilt shows.
So my BIG quilting goal for 2019? If my overall purpose is to be of value to quilters then the goal is to get out and see them!
Goal: Apply to teach at 1-2 quilts shows for 2020 (and pray I get in one of them!) and schedule at least 4 guild events for 2020.
I have some smaller short term goals related to things like patterns, social media posting, blogs posts, tutorials and looking at ways to reduce costs but these aren’t the overall goal. I will have to write these down though!
Personal Health Goal
This was much easier because I am doing so little for my health now! Not a good thing to admit I know. And I didn’t want to set a weight goal or an inches goal but more a ‘regularity’ goal.
NO – not that kind of being regular! (sorry – nurse humor.)
Being regular with drinking water and exercise.
Goal: to be exercising 3 time a week for 30 min. and drinking 3 glasses of water a day (outside of meals) by June 30th.
I will need to build up to it and plan out how to increase in increments. Then if I can when I maintain this level, I can plan to increase the exercise. I have realized if I set the initial goal too high, I will burn out trying to reach it. You want to stretch yourself but not frustrate yourself!
And no Kira, playing ball with you in the backyard does not count!
Life Goal
Plan a trip that is not just visiting the kids. Since Jim and I moved to Colorado, we have not taken a vacation. We miss our kids so every trip we take is to see them- during the year, at holidays when we can…
Now it is true, one of our kids lives in Orlando FL and works at Disney World so we have been able to go there which is sort of “vacation” like! And I hope to go in April to celebrate my BIG birthday.
And we did get to visit our son and daughter-in-law in Scotland 6 years ago when they were living there.
But it is time to plan a new vacation. And since Scott is getting married this year, maybe the goal is to plan the trip for the next year.
Goal: Plan a trip to somewhere new for 2020.
Ok! I got this! Overall, big picture goals for 2019.
Now I need to write down my action steps for achieving these goals. More on that tomorrow!
Yvonne at Quiltingjetgirl.com is hosting #2019planningparty and I decided to link up to her party! Click on the image below to go see all the other blogs who have linked up and read about their 2019 goals. Maybe it will give you (and me) some more ideas!
happy quilting!
And Happy New Year!
If you are going out, stay safe tonight.
Kate
Website Update:
It looks like we might go live with a new website later this week. We have been doing much of the website building ourselves (and by we, I should say hubby is doing the lions share while I get ready for the Adventure Quilt Quilt Along!) and working with an expert to make the transition with the blog work. I will be sure to post here before the change happens AND send out a newsletter when the site goes live to give you all the new links.
You can also click on this link to go to the new site and be alerted to when it is up and running!
I loved reading this! I have had similar troubles in setting the goals…lost of back and forth to which ones, too many small specific ones… and likely I still did it a bit more on the “specifics side” when writing in my Quilters Planner…but this is a learning curve!
Marija,
I don’t think specific is bad- it just held me back trying to establish some Big goals for the year. I need to now work on the short term goals! I think we do what works for us. And I need to make sure my goals have an action plan- with due dates- and then hold myself accountable.
Good luck with yours!
These sound like great goals, Kate. I wish you a lot of creative joy in 2019 and that the goals trickle down into a lot of successful milestones along the way. Thank you so much for joining the Planning Party!
Yvonne,
Thanks!
And Happy New Year to you!