luloveshandmade-awesome-year

I set myself too many big goals for 2016 which didn’t allow me any flexibility when unexpected obstacles or opportunities came my way, e.g. a job opportunity that pretty much took over my life from September – December. So this year I’ve tried to be more resilient to changes by setting myself just 10 larger goals, and then a list of 50 small (ish) fun things I want to do in 2017, which includes things like write fanfiction, stargaze, and hold a summer BBQ party.

My 2017 goals are:

  1. Repaint and refurnish my living room, bedroom, office and bathroom
  2. Read 24 books
  3. Visit 2 different countries
  4. Join a gym and attend an induction
  5. Attend two yoga courses
  6. Write music at least every fortnight*
  7. Get 2 tattoos
  8. Finish my Orphan Black cosplay project
  9. Save £1000 for my album recording and launch
  10. Create an album release project plan

I’ve been reflecting for a while on what music-related goals I want to achieve in 2017 , as I didn’t achieve as much as I’d hoped in 2016. At the moment my new job is (rightly) taking up a lot of mental energy and time, and alongside that I still want to prioritise things like exercise, self-care, and socialising. Plus I can’t afford to record an album yet, and I was unsuccessful in a recent funding bid which knocked my confidence a little. So I’ve decided to focus on preparing the way for a 2018 recording and launch, by which time I’ll be fully settled and comfortable in my day job, have enough money banked for the process, and a little more settled in my personal life. I’m going to keep applying for funding in the meantime, and if I’m successful then I may be able to move the date forward a few months which would be great too!

* – I’ve put a caveat on this one, which is that I’m not allowed to beat myself up or consider it a failure if I miss a few due to illness, holidays, or some sort of extraordinary circumstance that derails my routine.


 

Depth Catherine Elms word of the year

WORD OF THE YEAR: DEPTH

For the last 3 years, I’ve set a word for the year.  It’s a practice that life coach Leonie Dawson introduced me to, and something that lots of other lifestyle design-y people such as Blessing Manifesting, The Pillow Fort, In Spaces Between and Danielle LaPorte take part in.

Leonie describes the process of picking a word for the year as choosing your year’s intention.  It’s a power word that describes what you’d like to experience, feel, focus on and embody for the next 12 months.

2014’s word was BOLD, 2015’s word was WARRIOR, 2016’s word was RISE. This year, my word will be DEPTH.

I got this idea from the excellent Blessing Manifesting, who used it as her word of the year for 2015 – I also tried to use it as a secondary word for 2015, but I couldn’t focus on having more than one word for the year. Depth reflects the new approach that I want to take, a focus on deepening my experience and knowledge in a few key areas rather than widening it. That means doing fewer things well, rather than half-assing lots of things, which has been my tendency up until now.  Depth also makes me think of intensity, passion, intelligence, creativity, and conviction, all of which are qualities that I aim to cultivate within myself.


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