Many of us love to make resolutions in January, and plan out our year. How many creative goals in life did you set for 2022, and then abandon after a week or two? Whether it is learning how to play an instrument, finish a craft project, or learn a new language, it’s important to review your creative goals periodically during the year.
Since we just started the last quarter of the year, now is a good time to pull out those goals we set last winter, and focus on finishing up our projects.
I like to call these lists we make at the start of the year goals instead of resolutions, because most of us don’t keep resolutions very long. We abandon them quickly, often it is because they don’t reflect our true goals in life.
Also, goals can be broken down into steps. And they can be created anytime of the year! Resolutions were always hard for me because usually they would revolve around creating better eating habits, losing weight, etc. However, in my family there are 2 important birthdays, with chocolate cake involved, in January, so there’s little hope for me of starting a new diet on January 1!
My Goals in Life as We Head into Autumn
In an earlier post, I mentioned how I tried casting my doll into wax last year, but the recipe didn’t work for me. I’m working on refining the original pieces of both my 1/6 scale and 1/4 scale dolls.
It’s slow work. But I keep going a little each day while I can still get outside to sand before the weather turns too cold. However, sometimes it feels like I’m not making much progress, as I have other goals that jumped in front of finishing my dolls.
Casting a doll into resin in the future is still my #1 long term goal. Hopefully I will have a workable prototype finished by the end of the year.
Other things I’m working on:
- Completing all of the dolls that I have started over the last 3 years
- Making new miniature polymer dolls
- Creating a diorama and accessories for my dolls
- Drawing every day
I know! I’m really busy with all my hobbies!
Review Your New Year’s Resolutions
2022 will be over before you know it. But don’t let the last quarter of the year go to waist. Take some time to review your creative goals in life. Now is a great time review your list, and see what goals you can make and/or complete before the end of the year.
Maybe some of the goals you set in January are completed. That’s great! You can check them off.
Other goals might have been forgotten, or you lost interest in completing them. Now’s the time to remove them. If you want them to stay on your list, figure out how you can go about finishing them.
Deciding to Finish or Discard a project
When our craft area becomes filled with half finished projects, it is no longer an enjoyable place to create. But you paid good money for your supplies, and it is hard to get rid of them. It’s much easier to close the closet door and say, “Someday I’ll finish it”.
Make it a goal to finish all of the projects you have stared this year, or clear them from your space.
Is your computer filled with programs you don’t know how to use? On my own computer I now have Photoshop, Illustrator, Python and ZBrush. Of the four of those, I understand only Photoshop well.
My unfinished projects have moved with me from house to house. One of my goals in life is to finally finish these projects, or abandon them once and for all. They have moved their last move with me!
It’s really hard to let stuff go. I get it. In fact, my work space became unworkable because it was filled with stuff I’ll never finish. So I sorted everything into boxes, but some of the projects just had to go into a bag, and out to the trash.
One such project was a very intricate sweater. I’d finished the back and the sleeves, but ran out of several colors of yarn. I know I’ll never find yarn to match, and it’s not a style I like anymore. It was so, so hard stuffing it into the bag after I’d worked hard on it. But now it’s gone from my life and I have extra shelf space in my closet.
How Kids Help Us Learn New Skills
Sometimes it helps to have a teenager around, because by helping my son accomplish his goals in life, I learn things I wouldn’t attempt on my own. When he was younger, I volunteered in his school art class. It’s great to inspire our kids to make art when they are young. It can become a life long hobby, or maybe even a career.
One of his goals this past summer was learning to create his own comic. In addition to helping him learn to draw, in the last year, we learned to use Procreate on the iPad, and to draw on a Wacom tablet with Clip Studio Paint.
I am also becoming more confident learning other computer programs that intimidated me in the past. For example, he taught me some things about using Photoshop I didn’t know that he learned in a class at the high school. We started learning ZBrush together. I might try learning some Python or Unity someday.
In addition we take an afternoon break many days and play a little tennis, because sometimes you have to do things just for fun.
5 Steps to Set Goals in Life You Will Want to Finish
1. Make a List of all your unfinished projects.
Spend some time thinking about each project, and what satisfaction you gain completing it. Only keep the ones you still feel excited about. If you still have all of the pieces and the instructions, you can send the others to the thrift store. Otherwise, toss them into the trash.
Think about your why.
What was the original reason you started the project? Is it in line with your goals in life? I started to learn Rosetta Stone French so that I could communicate with my French friends on Facebook, travel to Paris, and hopefully take part in the Ldoll ball jointed show someday. And also because I’d taken a year of French in college.
But I know most people in France do speak some English and this festival seems to no longer exist, so I need to decide whether that is enough of a reward to spend the many hours to become more fluent.
Even though some hobbies don’t clutter up your home, they still need to be mentally discarded if you chose not to pursue them. Sometimes you have to give up on one hobby so you can focus your energy on what you really want. Once you know what that is.
2. Choose just one project to finish at a time
Once you discard all of the projects or hobbies that you are no longer interested in completing, pick one project and break the steps down into individual goals. We all spend so much of our time multi-tasking. Now the goal is to focus on one thing at a time.
For example, I had a box of my small polymer dolls that all needed outfits. It was overwhelming. When I opened that box, I would just say to myself, “Why did you create so many dolls, and not complete their outfits?” And feeling intimidated, I closed the box again, and placed it back on a shelf. Oh course, I knew the answer. My love of sculpting outweighs my love of sewing. However, a goal this fall is to finish those outfits.
3. Put it on your schedule
Next, schedule a time to work on your project. Put it onto your calendar. If it is something like learning a new computer program, or learning a language, you are going to be working on it for some time. However, an unfinished sewing project will be completed much faster.
4. Research if you need to
Besides reading books associated with your hobby or craft, find a forum or Facebook group. The books will help you stay motivated, and through the groups you meet people who share your interest. Generally, seeing others posting about what they are working on, or learning, will motivate you to work on your own hobby.
5. Share your work with the world
Lastly, post your work online. You can post on social media, a blog, or a forum. For my own accountability with my artwork, I’ll start posting more regularly in both Facebook and Instagram, and also Den of Angels.
What Goals in Life Would You Like to Complete?
Start thinking about your big goals for the rest of the year, and break them down into easy to accomplish steps. Maybe get out a piece of paper and make a list. Also think about what you want to let go of and clear out of your home physically, and out of your mind mentally. It will make space to finish those hobbies that truly reflect who you are, and your goals in life.
I’ve started clearing out my craft room, and sorting things into boxes. I create a list for each box so I will know exactly where to find things. My plan is that if at the end of the year, a box has not been opened, it’s time to move it down to the garage, and perhaps maybe to the thrift store.
So am I sticking with learning French? No, decidí aprender español en su lugar porque queremos visitar México. (No, I decided to learn Spanish instead because we want to visit Mexico.) I’m using Mango Languages through our local library. Sometimes we have to let a goal go so we can replace it with something more beneficial to our current life.
Also, my son is taking Japanese online at college this fall, and I’m starting to learn along with him since I’ve already learned the most common for the 3 Japanese alphabets — Hiragana!