Here we go then…a New Year means refreshing goals and focus for the 12 months ahead. Yes, it’s a nominal thing but I quite like the marker of a New Year to reflect and renew – but goals not resolutions are the thing.
My word of 2020
My word of 2020 is ‘flow’.
For me this word is about getting in the zone, hitting the sweet spot where I am absorbed in what I’m doing and working at my most creative and productive. It’s about being aiming to find myself ‘fully immersed in a feeling of energised focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity’.
It’s also about ‘going with the flow’ and being open to opportunities and experiences, relinquishing control over the idea of what should be happening and being present for what is happening.
‘Flow’ feels like an energised word which encompasses an approach to all the areas of my professional and personal life which I can focus on in 2020.
Professional goals
My overall dream (this is the bit which isn’t quantified!) is to ‘live a creative life which allows me to support my family’ through ‘creating and nurturing businesses and work which provide financially while allowing me to live my purpose’. The goals I’ve set (and not all are shared here) are the measurable actions I’ll be taking to achieve those dreams.
- letting go – in 2020 I’ll be letting go of some areas of my professional life in order to allow more focus on the other bits. This means Noble and Wild will be changing significantly, we’ll be looking to expand the team at Reckless Yes, and the work I do in my own name will be more closely defined.
- financial – I’m not going to share my specific financial goals here but I’ve set business and personal targets for the year.
- learning – I’m a natural at learning informally (through reading blog posts, social media, books, webinars, coaching etc) but will be committing to formal learning in 2020. This is likely to be in the form of self-directed courses with a view to a formal qualification (perhaps a PostGrad Diploma) in 2021.
- writing – I’ve been ad-hoc with my writing here in 2019 so in 2020 I’m structuring myself a little more and along with that I’ve set a goal to blog at least 12 times here. Alongside this – and looping back to the changes at Noble and Wild – I’ll be writing and publishing a number of non-fiction eBooks / resources in 2020 and my writing time will be focused on these in the first 3 months.
Personal goals
- health – I’ve had a challenging year with my overall health in 2019 and without good health the rest of these goals are fairly pointless, and certainly less likely to be achieved. So, my prime personal goal is about maintaining good health through all the things you’d expect; nutrition, exercise, mindfulness.
I’ve signed up to RED January again (Run Every Day – although I’ll be walking for the first few days at least due to recovery from a chest infection) and am working toward a set of other health goals to work on throughout the year. - reading – I set a goal of reading 12 books in 2019, and managed 36 so have kept that number as the goal for 2020. Reading is a great way of making myself move away from the screen, to rest, and yet also to learn and enrich not just my imagination and knowledge but my ability as a writer too. I’m open to suggestions if you want to find me on GoodReads.
- writing – I’ll be publishing my second novel in 2020, and have further set a goal of writing and publishing 12 long-form pieces around music and creativity on Popoptica over the next 12 months.
- travelling and adventures – I’ve loved the travelling I’ve done this year for work. It’s taken me back to some places I already love (hello Manchester and Glasgow) and to some new places too (hello Aberdeen), as well as allowing me time around work to hang out in some special spots (yes, I’m talking about St Pancras Old Church). We also had some adventures as a family (still recommending Canopy and Stars for this stuff) and I intend to do more of that in 2020.
- volunteering and pro-bono work – I made a certain amount of space in my diary for voluntary work in the last 12 months and I’ll be doing so again. I spent some of that time on work related projects but some on community / political activity and it was the latter which really gave me satisfaction. I’m making 10 hours a month available for volunteer work of some kind.
Let’s work together
If you need a hand with anything you’re planning to do in 2020, get in touch. I’m happy to take a look at what you’re currently doing, share my experience to help you build something new, or come in and share some of my knowledge and skills with you and your team. You can get in touch with me here and find out who else I’ve helped recently here.
You can find the next dates for the Vital Facebook Skills workshops I run with Dan Slee here – I cover what you need to know about Facebook Ads plus we give you the low down on the algorithm, creating great content, engaging in Groups, the purpose of Pages, and knowing when to engage. I’ll be launching new workshops soon so keep an eye out.