Planning Your Year, a Resource Round-Up (and Some Honest Thoughts)
We’re already more than half-way into January. How have things been going for you so far?
Do you like to plan for your year? Get ideas and goals down on paper so you’ll know where you’re headed? Do you choose a word for your year or create a vision board? Do you like to go with the flow, letting the year unfold naturally? Or maybe you fall somewhere in the middle?
In my January Joy Letter I shared some resources for planning and goal setting and I thought I’d share some here, too (with a couple more thrown in).
Looking for a comprehensive guide to planning out your year? Susannah Conway has you covered with her free Unravel Your Year Guide.
Are you planning your garden? Botanical Interests has printable sowing guides as well as free ebooks including a garden journal you can download and print.
The Make Nine Challenge is gentle, doable way to plan your handmade garment projects for the year. (For inspiration take a look at the projects planned by the Spoonflower team and Wendy’s more analog planning). I love the idea of using the “make nine” framework as a way to plan other projects, too. Choose nine books to read over the year. Nine paintings to create. Nine new recipes to try. Nine new plant varieties to grow… the possibilities are endless.
Lila Rogers has some fun printable worksheets to help you plan your year. Are you a snail or an armadillo?
This post on Ju’s Blooming Home Society blog will help you start your year in a positive way.
Bonnie Christine has a new class out on Skillshare to help you get focused on your goals. It includes some printable planning worksheets. If you’re not already a Skillshare member you can get 2 free months here (and have access to all of my classes as well as classes by other great teachers — you might want to also check out Andy J. Pizza’s class Make Creativity Your Career).
I’m taking Alisa Burke’s year-long class Business Brave. It started in January and it’s not too late to join. So far the lessons are very inspiring. I’m looking forward to getting inspiration each month for the rest of the year.
What are your favorite resources to plan your year?
Last week I shared my word for this year: DO. And I wonder if my choice is somewhat ironic considering the necessarily slow start to my year. I wrote “I’m practicing patience.” In reality I’m trying to practice patience. Not always successfully.
Jude is doing well. He got most of his staples out yesterday (one spot needs a little more healing) and his first chemo treatment. He’s getting around on three legs but he’s definitely not back to his old self yet. And me? To be honest I’m in a nearly constant state of worry for him. There’s nothing much I can DO in this situation but wait (and continue encouraging and loving him).
But I’m also (slowly) getting things done. Prepping for the Loving Healing Creating Summit (I’m one of the presenters! You can sign up for free here). Filming and editing a new Skillshare class.
I’m getting excited about this new class. I had fun creating a collaged nest for one of the example sketchbook pages. It was inspired by a page I created in my first collaboration with Dana Barbieri. That project was such a turning point for my sketchbook practice. My goal for my classes is to inspire similar turning points in others’ sketchbook practices, too.
Thank you to each of you who voted for my black and white sunflowers fabric design. I placed 148 out of 584 entries. My pattern won’t be available to purchase until I’ve printed a test swatch and I’m hoping to release a whole collection of black and white designs later this year, so stay tuned.
This week I also found out that I’ve been accepted as part of the Winding Roads Art Tour this coming May. I’ll be a guest at another artist’s studio. Maybe you need to start planning a trip to Wisconsin?
This morning I put on my cozy, plaid flannel dress (I sewed it up right before Christmas, inspired by this blog post using this fabric). It’s like giving myself an all-day hug. Some days we just need a little extra care. If that’s you, today, I hope you’ll do something special for yourself, too. There’s no rush to getting the year started, goals set, plans in place. Practicing patience, with our situations and with ourselves, isn’t easy. But putting on a cozy dress, brewing a pot of tea, heating up some soup saved in the freezer is.
Here’s to being gentle and nurturing to ourselves as we get going on our creative plans for the year!