Creative Goal Setting
Are you a goal-setting person?
In case you had not already guessed, I am most definitely a goal-setting person. I have been for as long as I can remember. Setting goals and tracking habits has kept me focused my entire life. I remember challenging myself to clean up my room every other day when I was little and setting goals for running certain distances as I started to get older. I’ve had personal goals, professional goals, and relationship goals. There are SO many different kinds of goals!
Why set a goal in the first place?
Setting a goal, naming it & claiming it, makes it more concrete, more real. Sometimes, it can also make that goal more scary. If deep down inside, you wish that you could paint scenes in watercolor, it may seem scary to say that out loud. There is a fear that others will judge our goals, deeming them frivolous, or perhaps unattainable. Probably the fear that hits closest for me is that if I admit I have a goal I want to work toward, if I put that goal in writing and really claim it, that means I would have to actually start working towards that goal. And, if I were to start working toward that goal, what if I never achieve it? What if I fail?
The truth is that failure is always a very real option. There are all kinds of inspirational posters out there that will tell you that failure is NEVER an option, but I just don’t think that is true. People fail at things. I’ve failed at lots of things. However, in every failed attempt, I’ve grown. I’ve learned something every single time I have set a goal…even if all I learned was that goal wasn’t actually what I wanted! There’s the old adage that “you’ll never know if you don’t try.” I like to think of it more as “you’ll never GROW if you don’t try.” Working towards goals in all areas of our lives stretches us as individuals. It does not have to mean constant laboring or unrealistic expectations. Setting goals for ourselves shows that we are still interested in becoming the best possible version of ourself. That is certainly something that I strive for every single day!
Why do I need to write it down?
There is SO much power in putting your goals on paper. Writing it out in your very own handwriting gives you ownership of the goal. It gives you a physical thing to come back to over and over when you start to lose sight of your goals. A few times a year, I like to sit down and have a brainstorm session of goals that I have for the next month, year, and 5 years. It helps me to keep looking forward!
Sometimes, our goals can change and shift as we start working toward them. That is another great reason to write down your goal. It allows you to see these small shifts and really hone in on what the true core of your goal is meant to be. Maybe you decided on that goal of learning to create watercolor scenes, but as you start working towards the goal, you discover that gouache paint is more your style. Does that mean you failed on the watercolor goal? No, it just means that your journey led you down a slightly different path and you LEARNED about yourself in the process. That is a win!
Sure, I can set a goal, but what do I do next?
After you have taken some time to brainstorm a whole range of goals and selected one or two that you would like to work on, what do you do next? This is an easy place to get stuck! Sure, you want to learn how to paint with gouache paint (remember, we kind of shifted our path from watercolor…), but where do you even start? What supplies do you need? What specific steps do you need to follow?
What I like to do at this point is a second brainstorm session. I write out every single thing I can think of that might help me toward my goal, even if it seems outlandish. Take our gouache painting goal…here’s some things I might brainstorm:
- Buy gouache paints at local art store
- Order gouache paints online
- Google what kind of paint brushes I might need
- Go to art school
- Visit museums to see paintings in person
- Create a Pinterest board with gouache paint inspiration
- Sign up for an online painting course
- Sign up for an in-person painting course
- Hire a personal art tutor to take lessons
- Quit my job and focus on painting full time
You can see, that is a WIDE range of possibilities. I am pretty sure that all of them would get me closer to that goal of learning how to paint scenes in gouache paint, but not all of them are super realistic. That’s okay – sometimes writing down the “crazy” ideas might actually spur another idea that is bit more doable.
What happens next?
It is time to make an action plan! The action plan is just that…a series of actions that you are going to do to help you get closer to your goal. You take some time to decide what you will do, when and how often you will do those things, and how you will track your progress. Think very concrete and defined. Instead of saying, “I’ll start painting every week” think more along the lines of “I will paint for one hour twice a week, on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings”. Make a definitive plan that will start to move you towards your bigger goals. Will you reach that goal in a week? A month? A year? It depends on the type of goal you have set. But, I can tell you that having an action plan and following that plan will certainly bring about growth and is much more likely to move you closer to those goals!
It’s true, I am pretty passionate about goal-setting. It doesn’t have to be lofty, far-reaching goals to give us purpose and direction in our lives. Creative goals, personal goals, and relationship goals are all just as valid and important as professional goals, financial goals, or health/wellness goals. No matter the “size” of the goal, there is value to be found in working towards it!
Keep it creative,
Elisa, The Scrappy Wife
You can find my goal planning inserts for your planner on my website!
