Last year I made some very specific New Year goals. But then life got in the way (as life tends to do) and all my carefully laid plans went straight out the window.
Blog everyday? Ironing once a week? Run a half marathon? … Poor, sweet, naive January-2017-Katy. What on earth was I thinking.
As an example: instead of building up my savings, I used a huge big chunk of them to book a flight to Japan. I went on 11 trips in 12 months, visited Asia for the first time (twice!), did my first solo trip, went on my first girls’ holiday in years, and joined my extended family for a wedding abroad.
It was a brilliant year, and I’m so glad and grateful that I had the chance to do so much, even if it did mean giving up my goal of running a half marathon. (Because we all know that’s the REAL reason I didn’t do that…)
But this year I’m doing things a little differently.
Making the jump to full-time freelancer means that I have no idea what’s going to happen in 2018. Not a clue.
I have vague ideas and a very long list of possibilities, but I don’t want to plan and make date-specific goals, because everything is going to be totally new. The fact that I’ll have time to explore and experiment means that I’m not actually sure where my business will go. I have a sneaky feeling that photography will end up forming a much bigger part of my plan, but until I can spend more time actually working on it, I just don’t know.
Well, I read a brilliant blog post by Kayte the other day. It’s about goals, and the difficulty of setting specific targets for a new business, when you have nothing previous to compare it to. Instead, she suggests thinking about how you want to feel, and then working backwards from that, which I think is a great idea!
My lovely friend and business coach Jasmin has also written a fab post, about defining your Word for the year and developing intentions instead of goals.
And as I also love that approach, I’m going to do both:
MY WORD FOR 2018 IS…
CREATE
WHAT I WANT TO FEEL IS…
Freedom and Creativity. I want to earn my living doing what I love, I want to set my own schedule, I want to try new things, and I want to experiment and innovate and push the boundaries of my previous work.
MY INTENTIONS FOR 2018 ARE…
– I’m going to learn how to properly style food, and improve my technical skills as a food photographer.
– I’m going to write more travel guides (Japan, Netherlands and Rome coming your way soon!) and learn how to take more creative travel photos.
– I’m going to explore my own city more and create helpful guides to London.
– I’m going to build my Instagram community and spend more time interacting with you guys. ♥︎
– I’m going to work with brilliant brands and create recipes and lifestyle blogposts that will help, entertain, and inspire.
– I’m going to create a cosy home that’s bright and beautiful and welcoming.
And…
– I’m going to read one book a week, and exercise at least three times a week. (For real this time.)(Seriously.)
What are your goals, intentions and/or Word for the new year? :)
