028: Your Creative Goal for 2021

Does the thought of setting goals for the new year seem daunting? It doesn’t have to be this rigid, stressful process.
In this episode, I am talking about my views around setting goals (and how you can set them any time of the year). A lot of us tend to fall into the trap of avoiding goal setting because it seems like an intimidating task but I explain why you should consider rethinking goal setting.
You’ll hear 5 things you can consider as you’re creating your 2021 creative goals and why I like to set goals based on the process rather than the outcome!
What you’ll find in this episode:
How new years are a mental construct
A segment on what I am currently creating
Why I don’t pressure myself to make big, lofty goals
Why we make goals or resolutions
How to set goals around the process rather than the outcome
5 things to consider as you come up with your 2021 creative goal
Read the transcript of the episode below:
 Episode 28 - Your Creative Goals for 2021

What is your creative goal for this coming year? Do you have one? This is episode 28, your creative goal for 2021.

Welcome to the Committed to Create Podcast. I'm Lisa Funk, and I am so excited to hang out with you here as we talk about the power of creating with our hands and our minds. I like to keep it real, remind you that you are not alone, and share specific ways that creativity and mindfulness can help us live even more meaningful and joyful lives.

I am so glad that you're here.

Hello friend. And welcome back to the podcast. I took a couple of weeks off for the holidays and it was so nice to just get to spend some time with my family. And I hope that you had a great holiday too. And now it is 2021. Can you believe it? I'm actually recording this on January 1st. Happy New Year.

I know you're going to be listening to it on Tuesday, January 5th. Well, that's when it comes out. I don't know when you're going to be listening to this. Maybe some of you are listening to this way in the future. Like 2027, 2047. I don't know. And you're like, oh, you just got through 2020. I don't know. What are you thinking? Are you thinking we still don't know what's ahead or that it's going to get way better?

Either way, I am excited for a new year. You know, what's so funny about a new year is that it's completely a mental construct. It's just a date that we have come up with, like dates and hours and time in general, the way we measure it, it's all a construct. Right? And so January 1st is just a decision that somebody made that should be the start of a new year.

And we've just decided that that's a fresh start. The cool thing about knowing that is that you can decide that anytime as a fresh start and that you don't have to feel pressured to make goals now or not make goals other times. And I'm also here to tell you that you don't have to do anything any certain way, but before we get into all of that, I want to start with a segment which is Currently Creating.

So sometimes I like to do a segment and talk about what I'm currently creating. And sometimes it's just ordinary every day things that can be an act of creation that can be kind of like therapy. If we just allow ourselves to kind of focus and be present in the moment and enjoy the process. I mean, this can be true of lots of ordinary daily activities and chores, but today we decided to pick a bunch of the Meyer lemons off of our tree that we have in our backyard.

Some years we get a ton of lemons. Some years we don't get as many. This year, we got so many lemons. So if you are my friend and you live nearby, please come over and get some lemons because we have so many, and I decided today would be a great day to pick a bunch of lemons and create something with them.

So it was a fun kind of group effort. Some of my kids were in charge of picking them, other kids help to cut them up. Other kids help to juice them. And it was really fun. I will be honest. I did most of the juicing because, you know, attention spans and all of that, which is fine with me because I really enjoyed the process of just getting the lemons ready and then cutting them and juicing them and you kind of have to, you know, clean out the juicer and all that stuff. And it was just interesting to me today, how something that could have been kind of annoying or that I could've seen as this work or a chore that I just really was enjoying it. And I turned on some music and I was just enjoying the breeze coming in from outside and, for us in Arizona, the summers are so insanely hot, but the winters are just, well, in my opinion, so amazing. We have all the citrus and we have great weather. We are super lucky. We have five citrus trees in our backyard. We have three orange trees, a Meyer lemon tree, and a Mexican lime tree. And it's just the best.

So we get to enjoy this amazing season of living here. And then in the summer, when it's 120 degrees, we try to get out of town. But anyway, we enjoy it now. And it was fun to think of all the different things that we could create using these lemons. And I actually got on Instagram today and asked all of you for your ideas of what you would do if you had a million meyer lemons.

I know I don't have a million, but we have a lot. I mean, I juiced for a very long time and had three full-size pitchers full of straight lemon juice. So I'm freezing most of it. And then we'll use some of it in the near future to make lemonade and some lemon curd and lemon bars, and some other fun lemon things.

You guys had really good ideas of different lemony things to make. So we are going to be having lots of lemony creations. I made some lemon cream pasta tonight, which my kids love and it was delicious and it's kind of fun to have something that we don't have all the time. I mean, I love lemon flavors, so I'm always up for a lemon dessert or a lemon flavored meal.

But. It's really fun when we can have this big old batch of lemons to use. And we kind of get creative with all the different ways that we can use them. So I was able to just be really present today while I was doing that. And it was kind of therapeutic and relaxing and fun. And so, I don't know, maybe you'll have a little chore or task to do soon where you can turn on some music and just kind of enjoy it.

I must say that I have been really inspired by a couple of Instagram accounts. One of them is ballerina farm, do you guys follow her? She is amazing. She used to be a dancer at Julliard in New York, and then got married and had kids and her and her husband decided that they wanted to have a farm and their story's pretty cool.

But anyway, she shares a lot of their life on her Instagram, especially in her stories. And she doesn't necessarily talk a lot, but she shares just like milking the cows and straining the milk and pouring it into the different jars than making butter. And then she also shares just like, doing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen.

And it's just so funny to me that it's such simple things, but it's really kind of, I don't know, relaxing to watch and inspiring because while a lot of those things are novel to most of us because we don't live on farms. It is still her everyday life. They are still her everyday chores that she does every day.

But she just seems to be really mindful about the way that she does them and, you know, I love mindfulness. So it's just cool to see how she's really mindful about these different ordinary activities that she does day to day, but she kind of leans into them and makes them special. And I was like, you know what?

All of us can do that we can all kind of be mindful about the day-to-day chores that we have and kind of enjoy just the process of them instead of always being in a rush or seeing it as some horrible thing or being stressed and frustrated and overwhelmed. Now, you know me, I'm very realistic. So I'm not here saying that we should all just sing kumbaya and sign that we're thrilled about scrubbing toilets.

That's not what I'm trying to say, but I don't know. It's been cool for me to kind of rethink the process of some of my daily chores and how it could be a little bit more enjoyable to put the kitchen to bed at night, you know, cleaning up the kitchen and just doing these different things that could be seen as super annoying or could be kind of just a mindful, relaxing activity that I can enjoy.

So, bear with me if you're like, and I'm not into that, that's fine. But that was my moment today when I was juicing the lemons and enjoying it, it was just kind of relaxing and fun. So that is my segment for today for currently creating.

All right. So for today's topic, we're talking about goals and I know it's that time of year.

I do not want you to go to get any extra or added pressure from this episode to feel like you need to set goals in some crazy way. If you don't want to set goals at all, I want a hundred percent support you. If you decide you want to set an intention or have a word that you focus on, or just throw all of it out the window, whatever you want to do, I am here to support you.

However, I am going to present an idea of having a creative goal or a creativity goal for 2021. Because I think that there's a way that we can do it, that isn't pressure filled that doesn't stress us out and I don't want it to stress us out. So I guess what I'm saying is that if you have any interest in this and setting a creative goal for 2021, I want you to do it in a way that feels nourishing and encouraging and inspiring, not in a way that feels stressful and overwhelming. So I'm hoping that by talking through it that maybe there will seem like there's a glimmer of hope for a way to kind of set an intention for creativity or set a goal for, first, some more creativity in 2021, but do it in a way that works for you. I'm just going to share some ideas, but I'm definitely not here to add more pressure or anything like that.

Speaking of which I just wanted to say that I am not someone who has all my resolutions and goals figured out by January 1st. Some years, I don't make them at all. And if I do make them, I often take the month of January to just kind of ease into the year and just observe how I'm feeling. And what's kind of sticking out to me as something that I might want to focus on and why.

I just really don't pressure myself to set crazy big lofty goals. And the funny thing is that by the time I have figured out what my goals or intentions are for the year, a lot of people have already kind of given up on the resolutions that had for January 1st. So it's okay to take your time or not do it at all. I just want to kind of present some ideas and options in including a goal for creativity this year.

And I want to talk about why we even make goals in the first place.

So I want to make sure that we know why we're doing it. Are we doing it because we "should?" Because we think we should make goals to become something that we are lacking? Is there a part of us that thinks that we have all these things that we haven't accomplished yet, or that we haven't become yet? And that the goals that we set for the year are our way to kind of fill in the gaps of what we aren't yet?

Well, I'm here to remind you that you don't need to do anything. Or fill in any gaps to reach some invisible finish line, where you then will be complete or worthwhile or worth something. You are already complete and whole and amazing right now, you don't need to set a bunch of goals to become acceptable or to make it.

So let's take a look at our resolutions or our goals. Are they full of "shoulds"? Are we believing that we will be more respected from other people once we accomplish them? What if our goal s have nothing to do with what other people think? What if our goals aren't about trying to reach some checklist of what we think we should be accomplishing.

Do you find that you get to the beginning of some years and think, oh, well, I still haven't figured out how to exercise regularly. I guess that's still my goal. Or man, I still am not meditating, or I don't know. Maybe we have this kind of arbitrary list that we think will make us into this person we're supposed to be, or this checklist of things that would have been handed down to us by culture or society or our families or religions or whatever it might be.

And a lot of those things might be really great things. They might be aspects of our lives that we want to focus on that enrich our lives and that we really enjoy. But I think it's worth taking some time to think about where these goals and resolutions are coming from and what our motivation is in setting them.

So I talked about how we don't need to make goals, to check boxes, in order to become someone who is worthy and important and valuable, because we already are. All of us already are important and loved and valuable right now. Yeah. As we are. And so then you might ask, well then why would we even make goals or resolutions if we know that we are already enough right now?

Well, could we make goals based on just the experiences that we want to have? We can ask ourselves about what are our values, which is a fancy way or not fancy way of saying what is important to us.

Are we setting goals on things that aren't important to us because we think that they should be important to us or because they're important to society? What if we based our goals on things that are important to us? And not because we should, but because we personally value certain things like generosity or service or health or peace or kindness?

For me, I think it's important to take away the expectations of other people and really decide what's important to us.

I like to ask myself the question, would we do this goal if we knew that no one else would ever know about it? No one else would ever know that we had worked on it or accomplished it. If they could never tell. Would we do this goal if it didn't change our appearance? I am adding that one in because we live in a world that tells us that we need to look a certain way in order to be accepted or an order to be valued or appreciated or looked up to or seen.

And I just really want to tell you that you don't need to look a certain way in order to be important or whole, and I know that this can be a controversial topic, but I'm just putting it out there because so many of our goals are often appearance based and the, you know, the diet industry out there is always going to be preying on us telling us that we should be making goals to look a certain way.

And if we have health goals to take really good care of our bodies or to feel better or because we want to move and things like that, I think that's amazing. But what if our goals didn't have to do with appearance? What if they had to do with how we felt?

This is one of the reasons why I love making goals for creativity and in the intro to the podcast, I talk about creating a life that we love with our hands and our minds.

And so I want to talk about that hands on creativity, because we honestly are creating everything with our hands or our minds. We are creating our relationships, we're creating our days, our schedules, we're creating so many things with our minds. But for today's topic, I want to talk about hands-on creativity.

I really think that it provides an element of fun and relaxation, and it's also a way that we can learn and grow. And of course we can squash all the fun if we are only making a creative goal so that we can be perfect at it and beat ourselves up when we're not, and impress other people, or because for some reason we have it on our should checklist, you know, one of those things that we should do.

I want to encourage you to make a goal for creativity in 2021 for you. This is just for you. It's for fun. It's to just learn and grow and progress. And it's good for our mental health. I'm all about making goals that are going to help me take care of my mental health, because as you know, I've struggled with it so much in my life.

And I think that it is so important. So what if we make a goal about creativity that isn't even about the outcome? What if our goal for creativity this year is about the experience, about the process.

As you know, I'm a huge proponent of using creativity as a mindful practice. And I just think no matter what type of hands-on creativity you might be interested in trying that it can be so beneficial.

So I recently decided to try embroidery. I've played around with it here and there throughout my life, but not a lot. And I definitely couldn't tell you how to do specific stitches or anything like that. And I've always been interested in learning more about it. So I decided, over the break to get some embroidery supplies and try it out.

So I asked you guys again on Instagram, you guys are the best for some suggestions of Instagram accounts or other resources that you recommend to learn embroidery. And I found a few amazing ones and one in particular is called Nell and Joe N E L. A N D J O crafts on Instagram. And so I started following her.

She has a lot of really great tips and she offered a free guide to knowing what supplies to buy at the store. And so I took that little list with me to Walmart, cause I was already going to get other things for a little New Year's Eve party for my family. And I just headed over to the craft section. I got some white cotton, I got some embroidery hoops.

I got the right needles. I got some pens that erase with heat. How cool is that? So you can trace the pattern on, and then if you use a blow dryer, then the pen erases. So. after you've done your embroidering, if you didn't do it exactly on the line, which I'm realizing, I never will be exactly on the line, which is totally fine, because then you can get a blow dryer out and erase the pen.

So cool. Anyway, so I went and got the supplies. And then I found a free pattern online. There are a lot of other really awesome patterns that you can buy, and I probably will end up doing that too, but I just wanted to get started. I watched some videos on it and I decided that I just wanted to try out a new hobby.

You know, I love lettering, always will, and lettering is my go-to. It's my trusty old hobby that I just love so much. And I decided it would be fun to try something new. And that is going to be my creative goal for 2021. And I do have some goals for outcomes with the embroidery, but I really want to enjoy the process.

So I am not in a rush. I'm not in a rush to be perfect at it. Believe me, I'm definitely not. I am just enjoying the stitches. I'm enjoying the process and it's not perfect. I've gotten tangled thread and run out of thread and sewn random things together in the back without realizing it. It's not like this is perfect.

This is a perfect analogy for anyone who's starting with lettering. It's not perfect when you start, it never is, honestly. But you just enjoy the process and don't expect it to be expert level at the very beginning. You just try it out and enjoy the process of using your hands to create.

I also am really excited about embroidery because it's something that I can do with my daughter. She's 10, and she's interested in doing the embroidery too. And so we've been doing it together. And it's super fun.

I want to encourage you to make a creative goal for 2021, and that is going to look different for everyone, because you might have different things that you're interested in. You might have different reasons for why you want to do it.

You are going to have different amounts of time that you're able to spend on it. But as you're making a goal for your creativity for 2021, I want you to be aware of those two things that I mentioned before. Number one, am I doing this, because I feel like I should? And am I doing this for other people somehow? Because I think they'll approve or because there'll be impressed or because I can be successful with it or good at it, or make money off of it or something like that.

And there's nothing wrong with any of those things. But I find that when we start with kind of that pressure and that checklist, that we don't always enjoy the process as much as we could. And sometimes we end up stopping because it doesn't look perfect right away. And we're embarrassed for other people to see it.

So I want you to think about what you want to do for you. To leave some of that idea of success and productivity at the door for a minute, while you pick something that is going to be fun for you. Pick a new hobby that you might want to try. Or a way that you might want to level up your current hobby.

Like if you have been practicing lettering, but you want to work on your flourishing or you want to set a goal to do a little bit of mindful lettering every day, you know, big fan of that, I have the goal of really learning embroidery and getting better at it and enjoying it, not to become an expert, but because I want to have the experience of it and my end goal, I'm going to tell you guys, is that I would really love to make some Christmas stockings for my family. I grew up with the most amazing needlepoint stockings that my mom made for us, and I just loved them so much. And so I thought, well, maybe I'll do needlepoint stockings. And then I thought, you know what?

I've always wanted to try embroidery. Let me learn a little bit more about it and see if it might be a good option for making stockings with. And so, we'll see what happens. I definitely am not in a rush to get those done. It might take me many years, but I'm okay with that. Because as you know, I like to enjoy the process.

So as you're thinking about the hobby or the creative goal that you have, I want you to think about maybe what time of day you want to do it, how often you'll be able to do it, will you need to get supplies? Is this something that you can leave out or have in a spot nearby where you can pick it up easily?

For me, it's helpful to have a little bin in the cupboard in my kitchen where I can grab things because I might unexpectedly have a few minutes where all my kids are playing happily or maybe where they're on a little outing with dad, and I can grab my embroidery hoop or my lettering supplies. And get a few minutes in. It's amazing how, when you have it in your mind that you are just going to include that creative hobby in your day, that you will turn to it, especially if you have the supplies handy.

If it's really hard to get everything out and then put everything away, that can be really challenging. But if you just have your notebook with a pen in it, especially our new top spiral lettering notebooks with that big old spiral that fits a pen in it. You guys, it's the best. I keep it in my kitchen and I just have a pen in it all the time.

So it's really easy for me to grab and do some lettering. And that is what I'm trying to do with my embroidery too, is just have a bin inside of one of my kitchen cupboards, where I can just grab it and, you know, sit down for a minute and do some stitches and it doesn't have to be an hour. It doesn't have to be all by myself.

This is the thing that we like to tell ourselves is that we don't have her have time alone. And we don't, we are the exception, and we can never do any fun, creative thing. We like to believe this, our brain likes to tell us that for some reason, but the truth is that we can do it. We can do it along with our kids. We can do it while they're coloring.

Now, if you have kids who are really young and really needy and, like when my two year old is sometimes around, it's not necessarily the best idea to have a needle out where he can then jump on my lap or something. So I know that it's not necessarily every activity or every hobby is a possibility for every person, every minute of the day. But we can all figure something out. Like I said before, lettering is such a good one because you can letter right next to your kids while they're doing Play-Doh or coloring or drawing. And we don't have to necessarily have this hobby where it is super expensive, and we have to leave the house and get a babysitter. And where there are a bunch of obstacles and challenges keeping us from doing it. We really can find a way to work it into our everyday lives.

Now, of course, I'm going to recommend lettering for you if you haven't tried it out yet, or if you've been thinking about it or you've tried it a little bit. That is one of the reasons why I created the Daily Mindful Lettering book. The new book that I just came out with a couple months ago, because it's a way for you to just take a couple minutes a day. It has 30 days of lettering affirmations, each affirmation is written in five different ways that you can trace.

And it's a great way to include some creativity in your day without needing a bunch of time or a bunch of supplies. And it just is a way that you can allow your mind to turn off a little bit and enjoy using your hands to create. Whatever hobby you're picking, even if it's random, even if you're not having the goal of making stockings or, you know, lettering a wedding invitation, it doesn't have to be an end product. It can really just be the process. So even if it's random words on a page or random stitches on the fabric, just decide that it's okay. And that you can enjoy the process of a few minutes of creativity every day.

So there are four things that I want you to consider as you're coming up with your creative goal for 2021.

And that is what do you want to try? And it doesn't need to be just one thing. Like for me, I'm kind of focusing on trying embroidery, but you might have a list of different things you want to do. You might have some things that you're like, you know what? I want to learn, how to make some videos of our family trips, which you guys know, I love doing that. You might want to try doing water color. You might want to start a garden, or it might be several different creative projects that you're interested in doing. And there is nothing wrong with that. I think that that's awesome. Having a list that you can go to, or you can say, you know what, this is something new that I want to try, but you're definitely going to want to implement the other steps that I'm going to mention now, because otherwise those ideas just remain an idea. They remain one of those things on a list that we never get to.

Number two is what supplies do you need? To accomplish or to start this creative hobby or project. So if you need to get some fabric and some thread, or if you need to get some pens and paper or a video, whatever it is that you need in order to start or try this new hobby, then that is something to keep in mind.

And to plan for number three is decide when you will do it. And you might not always know, but you might be able to say, you know what, I'm going to do it during nap time, or I'm going to do it on Friday afternoons, or I'm going to do it on Saturday mornings when someone else might have my kids for a little bit, you might know that you're just going to get five minutes here and five minutes there, but that you're going to keep it close at hand. But think about when you'll be able to spend some time on this creative project.

Number four is to tell someone that you're going to do this. Tell someone that you're planning to learn embroidery this year. I'm telling all of you.

I am much more likely to stick with something when I tell someone else that I'm going to do it. Even better when you invite someone to do it with you. So I've invited my 10 year old to do it with me. She's actually already done a couple of embroidery projects. She's awesome at it. And so she was really excited to learn more and do more together.

And so I'm excited to have someone else that I can do it with that can kind of help keep me accountable and that we can talk about it together. And I've also started to follow some accounts on Instagram just to get some hints and tips and ideas. And I think that it's really helpful, even if it's just a couple of friends that you mentioned, Hey, I'm going to try lettering this year, or I'm going to try sewing this year, I'm going to make a quilt this year, or I want to plant a garden or I don't know whatever it is that you might want to try.

What is the worst that could happen? You might be bad at it. Remember, we're not doing this because of what other people think. And did you know that you can enjoy things, even if you're not good at them? I know that's crazy, but it's true.

And number five, going along with what I've said many times during this podcast is to let the outcome go and enjoy the mindful process. Allow yourself to be present, which is often embracing your five senses while you're doing it and have fun.

Now, like I said, I am totally supportive of whatever you decide to do this year, as far as goals or resolutions or not wanting to make any goals or resolutions, but if you are interested or if this has spoken to you, I encourage you to just make a goal to prioritize your own mindful creativity. That it's worth it. That you're worth it. I know that's so cheesy to say, isn't it you're worth it, but you are.

We want to think that we don't have time and that we need to spend all our time taking care of other people or doing something that's super productive around the house.

And it's like, you know what? No. This is fun, and this is important.

And we are always encouraging our kids to be creative and to have hobbies, we spend a lot of time and energy and money, lots of money, paying for extra curriculars and trying to encourage them to develop their hobbies and skills. And then we think that it's not okay for us to spend even five, 10, 20, 30 minutes doing something that's fun and creative for ourselves.

I say that's hog wash. We need to prioritize that and show our kids and our families that it's awesome for us to follow our interests and to have an creative outlet.

So don't be afraid to prioritize that this year, whether it's something that's really specific where you say, I want to learn to do this exact thing, or if you say, you know what I want to really open up to creative projects, or I want to really find creative moments throughout my day. It might be that you're like, you know what? I want to see making dinner as a really creative, fun thing. I want to try some new recipes. I want to have some fun with it, or I want to be creative. And the way that I set the table for Sunday dinner, I want to go into the backyard and pick some flowers, or it doesn't have to be something huge. It can be something that you're already doing, but you want to make the goal to have some fun with it and be creative with it.

So I would love to hear what your creative goal is for 2021. Is there something you want to learn? Is there something you want to do and what are the steps that you're hoping to take in order to do it?

I would love to hear it in a review that you can leave for the podcast. I read every single one and they are so helpful and supportive and encouraging. So thank you for every single review that you guys have left. It means so much to me. You can also post about it on Instagram and tag me so I can see what your creative goal is for 2021, or come over to my Instagram and leave a comment and let me know.

If you are interested in having lettering, be one of your creative projects for this year, I would highly recommend that Daily Mindful Lettering book. You can find that at handletterdesign.com, I will link to it in the show notes. And we also have the Creative Lettering Journal bundle, which includes a great kit for starters, that has a workbook, a video, tracing paper, markers, and lots of different options.

If you have any questions at all, you can email us hello@handletterdesign.com or message us on Instagram or Facebook. And we can help you find the right set for you to get started with, for lettering, or if you want to up-level your lettering and try out the Flourishing Guide or something like that.

I know that I'm a little biased, but I think that lettering is such a great amphiphilic hobby that can really provide not just a fun hands on activity, but can also help to change your thoughts and change your mindset and really improve your mental health.

So again, head over at handlettereddesign.com and check out what we've got for you for lettering supplies.

I hope that you have had an amazing holiday season. I hope that you give yourself time to think about this, to not feel rushed, to ease into it.

And even if you don't make a specific goal, just know in your heart of hearts, that your creativity is important, that it's valuable. That it's special and that it will make a difference in your life. I hope that you have an amazing week. Bye for now.
Links:
Nel & Jo Crafts Instagram
Spiral Notebooks
Daily Mindful Lettering Book
Creative Lettering Journal Bundle
Ready for a fun activity to feel less stress? Come get our FREE Guide - 5 Creative Steps to Less Stress & More Joy while it's still available!
I hope that my podcast has left you feeling inspired and excited to create the life that you want. If you’ve enjoyed listening to this podcast, I’d love for you to subscribe so you can continue to hear more. Want to get to know me better? Connect with me on my website or on Instagram to keep up with everything that is going on with me and my business.
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028: Your Creative Goal for 2021

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