My One (Two) Little Word(s) & A Year of Creative Habits

Sunrise

I read a LOT of blogs and one of my favorites is Enjoy It by Elise Blaha Cripe.  She started a podcast last year called Elise Gets Crafty and I love it.  Its focus on small business, creativity, and motivation has gotten my butt in gear about opening my Etsy quilt shop.  

She does one episode a week, but I like to let them build up and listen to several in a row.  So last week I listened to the most recent few and to the first two episodes of a different podcast that also has a small business focus (Being Boss).  I had been stalled since September and those hours of listening inspired me and I started a quilt that day.  I also decided that I would launch the shop in April and share that with the world to make sure it happened.  #makeitpublicmakeithappen

Elise's episodes for the new year focused on daily creative habits and goals.  She had Crystal Moody on an episode who everyday last year did one sketch and posted it to her Instagram.  She started a hashtag called #yearofcreativehabits for it and inspired a lot of other people to start a daily creative habit.

Another episode starred Ali Edwards who pioneered the idea of "One Little Word" to inspire your year.  You can read more about it here.  "A word to focus on, mediate on, and reflect upon as I go about my daily life"

So as I cut fabric & sewed that day I thought about what my daily creative habit could be and what my One Little Word could be.  I ended up deciding that I would post a picture to Instagram with the hashtag #sew365 and sew (or cut fabric, just something that involves working on a fabric project) something every day this year.  My goal isn't to finish a project a day, but to do a little work on a project each day.  Hopefully I will mostly be working on quilts as they sell in the shop, but I also like the idea of finding other little things to work on to use up scraps or just to take a break from quilting and find inspiration elsewhere.

#sew365

I usually am someone who struggles with being even, I mostly accomplish things in marathons.  For example, instead of doing dishes each day, I let them pile up and then I have a day of doing a million dishes.  Or a quilt sits there and sits there and then I marathon sew and finish it all in two days.  Or I have a super lazy week where I get nothing done, and then in one day I do a week's worth of errands and to do list items.  

#sew365

So I want to push myself to be someone who works a little more evenly.  This #sew365 goal will help me and I am so excited to see all the projects that get finished by the end of the year.  I will post it mostly on Instagram (you can follow me @katie7487), but I will probably do some round ups here (maybe as projects get finished?).

I wanted my One Little Word to also help me with something I struggle with.  The best example of what I was going for was that in July and August I got very excited about opening a quilt shop.  I made a lot of lists and thought a lot about what I would sell and how things would work.  I researched about selling on Etsy and listened to lots of small business podcasts.  I even asked my graphic designer cousin to design a logo for the shop and website. And then nothing happened.  I got scared and froze and never started quilting. 

I am very good at coming up with ideas and making lists and plans, but when it comes to actually doing them I have a hard time.  I struggle with following through with my grand plans and ideas.  So I wanted my One Little Word for this year to focus on following through.  With my shop, with my plans for exercise, for sticking to a cleaning schedule for the house, for the bigger looming home improvement projects (the kitchen...dun dun dun...), for everything, really.  I thought and thought about one word that meant following through.  The thesaurus didn't help much.  Complete, conclude, consummate, pursue, and see through either didn't feel right to me or were also two words.  So I decided to stick with a two word One Little Word:

follow through

The theme for me with 2015 will be to Follow Through.  Make a plan and actually accomplish it.  I know that things will take longer and I will miss days and reschedule things, but I want to actually get it done within a reasonable amount of time.  Just to give you an idea of my procrastination skills, I got married in June and still haven't sent in the name change paperwork.  It is printed, and filled out, but not sent in.  

This is Elise's goal tracker available here.  I procrastinated starting the year (I struggle), but now I am determined not to break my chain of Xs

2016 will bring a new year, a new word, and hopefully a new me with a year of practicing following through behind me.

I've been walking at sunset because the beauty helps me deal with the cold hurting my face.  I've been posting those sunset pictures to Instagram as well