An overview of my hopes and dreams for 2021

Did anyone else’s year last year start with good intentions only to fall far from the mark? Mine certainly did and for a couple of reasons: the world was crazy and overwhelming; also, my pregnancy last year was difficult and made it really hard for me to be creative and get into a good headspace. So, with 2020 behind us, we can start the year with good intentions and set ourselves a plan to have a successful creative year, creating beautiful things together. (Well, that is my plan over here!)

So far this year, I have a lot of momentum and feel like I am smashing it! Setting clear goals and breaking them down into smaller tasks has really helped me to start the year strong. I’ve found that owning a good planner and a nice journal to jot down my thoughts and ideas is crucial, but writing out those “impossible” dreams is the first step. I used a couple of resources to help clear my mind and think deeply about how I wanted to grow this year as an artist. Both @emilyjeffords and @bonniechristine offer free downloadable books with great ways to go about goal-setting and planning out the year.

What I love most about these though, are the real-life examples of their processes. Emily wrote out an example of her year and what it looked like, including when artwork launches were held and her down time. I found it so helpful to see what a successful year would visually look like within the months of the year. My favourite part of Bonnie’s book is her step-by-step process over a month of creating a fabric collection: the hours she put into each day, her thoughts and ideas… I just loved how that was broken down. It makes it seem so much more achievable to see this real-life example on the how to’s. Bonnie and Emily are so generous with their resources and industry education. You can learn more about them at their websites (links in their bio’s).

Okay, let’s talk about the goals I have set for myself so that you, my friends, can hold me accountable to achieving them.

1. Start an email subscription.

Hey, would you look at that! I have started. I always felt it was way too complicated and hard to do, but it turns out when you nut out the steps and break it down, well, it doesn’t seem all that hard anymore… I’m yet to see how successful I am with it, but hey, at least I started!

2. Define and refine my signature style

This is one of the most important goals for me this year, to really focus on what I want to create and identify what speaks to me. What feels like me. I think this will involve a lot of experimenting with a couple of different mediums that I want to try, as well as different processes and ways of creating. I have discovered that no matter how far along your journey you are to discovering this, an artist’s style is always changing and developing as they learn new skills and techniques. There might not be a finish line for this one, but it is definitely something I want to focus on this year.

3. Launch a collection of artworks for sale in May (hopefully!).

This will be my first launch so stay tuned and follow along with my process over on my Instagram page @jess_worrall.

4. Release a 2022 calendar.

Okay, that seems far away, but the rate that these years keep ticking by it will be here before I know it! For this to be successful, I’ll need time and that’s something I need to give myself. I’d like to get stuck into the planning stages of this calendar as early as possible. As we learnt from 2020, you never know what is going to happen or how crazy life might become.

These are just few of the goals I have set for myself this year that will bring me another step closer to cultivating the career I dream of for my art.

Have you planned out your year yet? What are some of your tips and tricks that you put into practice to set yourself up for a successful and productive year? Drop a comment, I would love to hear all about it.