Last year I was inspired by Ali Edwards’ One Little Word project to choose the word Simplify to shape my year. It was a great word for me and brought me back to the basics as I decluttered physically and digitally, made do with the things I had, prioritised what was important to me and did more creative things. But as important as Simplify was to me last year, I knew I wanted to take a different direction this year.
So this year, my word for 2017 is Create.
While I’ve always had creative goals and projects, I’ve never put them first and they are often pushed to the side as other priorities take precedence. This year, I wanted to put it first and explore my creative self. With Create in the back of my mind, here are my 2017 goals.
My 2017 Goals
I want to put my creativity first. This will be a tough goal for me as I balance this between work and study commitments, however I’m determined to put my creative goals first. This means re-framing my creative work as being just as important as work and study, and setting aside time to make it happen.
I want to explore and challenge my creative self. I’ve always known that I loved creating things and playing with paper and stationery but I don’t feel like I’ve found ‘my thing’ yet. I’m not sure if I ever will but I’m taking this year as an opportunity to explore my creative self. I want to try new things, perhaps take a class or 2, and continue scrapbooking, lettering and knitting. Who knows, I might actually learn how to use my sewing machine!
I want to focus on my blog. Last year the blog started out great but it fizzled out in the second half of the year. This year, I want to focus on my blog and I intend to post every Tuesday and Thursday. The content is obviously important, however my main aim this year for the blog will be posting regularly and consistently. I’m using the monthly part of my 2017 Muji planner to map out a rough editorial calendar and I’m hoping that having a physical calendar to look at will keep me on track.
I want to collaborate with other people. Last year, I spent a lot of time building my Instagram presence and I think that it’s such a great platform for bringing people all over the world together. I’ve been fortunate to get to know some of these amazing people better and I would love to do some collaborations on Instagram and on my blog.
I want to learn basic photo editing skills. I’ll admit, I suck at editing my photos! While I love the writing aspect of my blog, I don’t have much patience for taking and editing photos because I just don’t really know what I’m doing. At times it can be a slow and frustrating process and it’s one of the reasons that’s been preventing me from posting more often. The only way I can get around this is by learning some basic photo editing skills to make the process a bit easier. Out of all of my goals, this is the one that I’m least looking forward to but will probably have the most impact for me.
That’s it! Do you have a word for 2017 and what are your goals?
Marie xo