110: How to Set Goals

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at the beginning of a new year. I always find myself reflecting on the past year, what worked, what didn't work, and what I want to keep and let go of as I move into a new year. And then there's just something about this January energy that is new and exciting and I can't help but dream and set goals. It's just, it's like built into my very core. And so today I want to talk about goal setting. Now, setting goals is something that I'm incredibly passionate about. I do all the time in my own business and I believe in their ability to really make our dreams come true. I truly believe that anything you want in this world, you can make happen as long as you have a plan on how to get there.

I'm Bonnie Christine.

And this is where all things creativity, design, business and marketing unite. I'm a mama living in a tiny town tucked right inside the Smoky Mountains, running a multi seven figure business, doing the most creative and empowered, impactful work of my life. But when I first set out to

become an entrepreneur, I was struggling to

make ends meet and wrestling with how to accomplish my biggest dream of becoming a fabric designer.

Fast forward to today.

I'm not only licensing my artwork all over the world, but also teaching others how to design their creative life and

experience the same success. I'm here to help you spend your life doing something that lights you up, I'll help you build a creative business

that also creates an impact, changes people's

lives, gives you all of the freedom

you want, and is wildly profitable.

Welcome to the Professional Creative Podcast.

Before we get into it, I do want to let you know that I've got an incredible download for you that will accompany this episode. If you want to get it, you can go over to professionalcreative.com and I've got a goal setting worksheet for you that will help you kind of go through all of the steps that we're going to cover in today's episode and track your progress as well. So again, that's in the show notes over@profropriationalcreative.com I want to dive into some strategies with you today, but before that, I kind of want to take you back into how I became really a student of time management in the first place. Now, you likely know that back in 2009, I had this just enormous goal of becoming a fabric designer, but I had absolutely no idea how to make that a reality. I had no formal training and no idea how to get started. So I spent some time considering going back to school, like going back to design school. But I didn't really want to move our family. It was just me and my husband at the time, but we had just bought a house in our hometown, and I didn't want to go back to college. I wanted to just try it myself first. And so that's what I decided to do. And I had let this really big goal and dream, like, just become one with me. Like, it was part of me now. But because I didn't know how to get started, I let the overwhelm of it all just stop me in my tracks. And so I'll never forget, one morning I woke up thinking about it all, and I realized that I had let six months go by without doing anything. And it was that day that I realized that I knew how to just do something today to, like, move in that direction. I basically got fed up. Like, I was so upset at myself for letting so much time pass. And so I decided to start doing one thing every day that moved me towards this dream. And the reason that that works so well is that it breaks something really, really big down into something that, you know you can do right away. And so I didn't know what I would be doing in a month or two months or six months or 12 months. And that was what was so overwhelming. But I did know what I could do that day. To just like have forward momentum towards the goal. So at the very beginning, it was just simply research. I just needed to sit down and Google, like, how to get started. And one question led to an answer which led to a new question that led to the next answer. And so I began taking action every day. Some days it was just for a few minutes, and other days it was for several hours. But I never missed a day. That's important. I never missed a day. Like, when was the last time that you were obsessed over developing a skill? There is something to be said for it. It is. It's just so exciting and so confidence building for yourself because you can see that you can do it. And so, you know, there was a night or two I remember getting in bed and realizing that I had not done my one thing that day. And so up I got for a good 10 or 15 minutes. That was all that needed, I needed to do in order to count it. But every day I inched forward. And so it was at the end of two years that I have daily tasks that I signed my first licensing contract as a fabric designer. And I never looked back. And so I still use this today, this one thing a day. When I signed that contract, it completely changed me. I had never had something so impossible come true for me. And it proved to me that big goals were absolutely achievable. And it made me not only believe in me and my big goals, but in you and your big goals. Because again, there was no reason that I should have been able to accomplish that. It was only through consistent action that I got there. And so I believe that that's true for you as well. Now, after that, I didn't always care about productivity and time management. Quite frankly, I was working for myself. My husband had a regular like nine to five day job. And while we didn't have any money, I did have the freedom to schedule my own days. And so I would all day. I didn't have kids. I would just work on my work as much as I wanted to. So it wasn't until I had children that I realized how inefficient I had been, how poor my workflow strategies had been. So I had my first baby in 2013 and my second in 2015. And so all of a sudden, my time to work got cut by about 75%. And now if you have small children, you know exactly what I'm talking about. But there are many of you who it may not be children. It could be something else. It could be a day job or taking care of Someone in your family or taking care of your aging parents or just some other obligation. That means that you can't just work as much as you want on your art or your craft or your business. But here's what happened to me. Over the course of a couple of months, I still realized that I was getting everything done that I needed to get done. The difference was that I had forced myself to focus and prioritize the day's tasks. And so I had cut out all of the ways that I had been wasting time, and I had started to focus on being purely productive with the little time that I did have. And the thing that happens when you have. So this was during nap time. So what happens when you're working during nap time is that you don't really ever know when your baby's going to wake up and you'll be done with your work. And so the other thing that it made me do was prioritize the most difficult work first, because I wanted to make sure that I had time to get the most difficult work done first. And so it taught me to focus, prioritize, and then do the most difficult work first, which is just different than I had been working for years. So that spun me into really being a student of workflow and productivity and time management. And over the years, I've implemented tons of strategies. And the interesting thing is that right now, I'm kind of going back to the drawing board. Like it is a lifelong thing to study how to structure your day, how to get the most out of your day, because it just slips. I think it just slips or your priorities change or the demands on you change. And so you just always have to be coming back to it, making sure that you prioritize how you manage your time. So anyways, when I started planning out my goals in advance, my entire business changed. And I just couldn't want anything more for you too. Taking time to really plan ahead and put my big goals on paper or up on the wall on a calendar, it really helps give them life. You know, once you put them down and say them out loud and admit them to yourself and to those around you, your entire focus will just shift a bit and things will start to happen. My success in goal setting and achieving has really led me to develop, like, a plan for achieving goals. And that's what I want to share with you today. It's going to help you not only acknowledge your biggest goals, but then help you create a plan to take action in order to achieve them. And because I've used this process so many times. I completely trust it. I know that it works. It works for me and it works for the people who use it. I don't just believe that anything is possible. I know that it's possible. It's possible for me and it's possible for you. I All it takes is intention and commitment and a willingness to do the work. So let's start with part one. This is really all about acknowledging the dream. And your dream should be a bit out, like one to two years away from being able to accomplish it. Big dreams can often feel scary. They can feel like overwhelming. They can honestly feel a bit embarrassing. Like, who are you to think that you could ever do that? And what are people going to think when you say it out loud?

Right?

They can make you feel vulnerable and honestly, they should feel uncomfortable. That's how big of a dream and a goal I love to think about. So the first step is just to admit it to yourself and start saying it out loud. Admit them to someone who you can trust, who you know won't laugh. Someone like your spouse or your mom or dad or your best friend or a sibling. Someone who is in your court who will support you and then begin saying it more and more. This will just really help you put things into motion and ultimately it will help your dream come true. If others know how to support you and know what you're working towards or what your dreams are, then they can help keep you accountable or just be able to witness what you are working on, which is incredible. You know, just a touch of social pressure is sometimes all you need to just keep yourself on track. And I use that trick all the time. I'll announce things publicly just because I know it will help me meet deadlines and things like that. So put it out there and watch as things begin to happen. Now, just to be clear, I love a goal that is such a stretch goal that it's absolutely within the realm of possibility. But it might not be possible. Meaning if it's definitely possible, you're definitely going to do it. It's probably not big enough. And so you should have a lot of question marks around it. Like you should potentially not know exactly how you're even going to accomplish it. Which is why we're going to break it down starting in step two. So once you have your biggest dreams on paper, it's time to create the plan of action. And again, this can often feel a little bit overwhelming. But if you just take the time to map it out, you'll get there. Part two is about Identifying the long term goals or the big rocks that you know you'll need to accomplish in order to make your dream come true. They're naturally the furthest out on the calendar and you likely won't know how you're going to accomplish them. But even though you've got question marks around them and they're a bit fuzzy, you do know that they are things that you'll have to accomplish eventually in order for the goal to come true. These are things that are big rocks and milestones along the way to the accomplishing of it. Now part three is to identify the midterm goals. I often call these milestones and they're things that have to be true in order for your big rocks to come true. So you may not know exactly how you're going to accomplish, but you do know that they have to go on paper and they are a little bit less overwhelming. Now I'll give you a real life example shortly so you can really see how this plays out. Then part four is to identify your short term goals. Now, short term goals are a bit clearer and they're things that you know, you know you can do in the next couple of weeks to really get started. And then part five is your daily tasks. It's doing one thing every day that moves you closer. And so your one thing a day should be very much related to that big goal. You have to kind of work backwards and deconstruct it from the big, big goal to the big rocks, to the milestones, to the daily tasks in order to see how they all add up. Now I've talked about rewards before, but throughout this process, I love to schedule in rewards. Like once you have made an accomplishment or met a deadline, schedule in a reward. This is going to be something that gets your feet on the floor in the morning, like gets you out of bed because you're so excited to get the reward if you meet this whatever milestone it is that you have. So they can be small or big or expensive or free. Like maybe it's a day in the hammock, or maybe it's a vacation or maybe it's a favorite restaurant. Whatever it is, you should be excited about it. So let's put this onto paper and I will give you a real world example. Let's say you want to be a wallpaper designer, but you've got no idea how to start. No formal training, no credentials, but you are willing to put in the work. Okay. You're not in a hurry for overnight success. You know that long term consistency is how you'll get there. Okay, so you put that on paper. Then step two will be to list the long term goals. So this could be to create a list of potential partners and send your portfolio and potentially exhibit at a licensing show. Okay, you don't have to do those. Those are just things that you know you'll have to probably accomplish before you meet your goal. Now step number three is to identify the midterm goals. These are things that are related to, to the long term goals. And so example of this could be to create a collection of prints for a wallpaper and to create, actually create your digital or physical portfolio and to have a website and all of your social media profiles set up for you as a designer. Okay, and then next step number four is to write on paper your short term goals. Now these are things that you can get started on right away. Maybe you do need to learn Adobe Illustrator and you've got to get started on that and learn how to create repeating patterns and decide on a business name. Number five is where your daily tasks come in. So you've got to list the daily tasks that you'll need to start working on right away in order to accomplish your goals, your short term goals, because they will turn into your midterm and your long term and then finally the big one. So your daily tasks could be at the beginning, like researching the industry and Google how to become a wallpaper designer and find a course on the topic and fully commit to participating in it and begin drawing or sketching on a daily basis and study other designers who are doing what you want to do. You know that is the best thing you can do is find someone who's doing you love to do and study. Like figure out how they're doing, what they're doing, figure out what steps they took and how you can learn the same things that they've learned. There is likely someone for all of your big dreams and goals. There are people out there who are already doing them. It's your job to find them and then just soak it up as much as you can. I don't copy them. That's not what I'm saying. Just figure out how they got to where they are, what steps did they take, and then try to take the same steps. So now that you have it on paper, you can start taking action. You can miss one day of daily tasks, but try not to. And definitely don't ever miss two in a row. And in just a few months you will not believe how much progress you've made. Now there are a lot of steps that aren't listed on paper. But the tasks under each goal milestone are the biggest rocks that you know you'll need to accomplish and they'll help guide your daily your daily tasks the entire way. So I would love for you to head over to the Show Notes because I've got a amazing download for you that will help you put this all onto paper. So it will guide you through writing down your goal, the long, mid and short term tasks, how to prioritize your top three things every day, and then it also comes with a daily things tracker so that you can mark off when you've done your one thing a day. So head on over to theprofessionalcreative.com to get that download. What we're really talking about here is moving from dreaming to doing. So we're going to be moving from dreaming about a big goal into actually taking action. And so when you move from dreaming to doing, there's a few things to really wrap your mind around. And a lot of it comes down to our mindset. Our mindset and the psychology that is behind beginning to take action on something that can be really big and a little bit intimidating. So in our next episode, I'll be talking about all of the different mindset shifts that are vital to finding success when you do decide to stop dreaming and start doing taking action on your big goals. So that's coming up in our very next episode. So come back and dive into that with me. It's going to be a fantastic episode, my friends. Create the beauty that you want to see come alive in the world. And remember, there's room for you. Sam.