I’m actually not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions, I tend to make myself lots of little goals all year round instead. However I’m quite good at achieving my goals so this year I’m publicly announcing a New Year’s Resolution…but not yet. Firstly I’m going to share all my goal setting wisdom with you. Some I read about, some I learned from people around me and some I discovered by myself. Here they are:

1. SMART Goals

This one has been drilled into me over the past six months, any of my Entrepreneurial Spark friends will know exactly what I mean BUT it’s a pretty useful system for ANY goals not just business ones. It stands for Specific, Measurable, Achieveable, Realistic and Time bound.

So instead of ” I am going to learn to sew in 2017″ You could go for “I am going to learn to make a dress for my daughter by her 5th birthday”. It’s specific, measurable(you either do or don’t make a dress by her birthday), realistic, achievable and time bound (my imaginary daughter’s birthday is in October haha!).

2. Make it something positive!

Whether it’s a business goal or a personal one make it one you actually want to achieve. So often we have resolutions we THINK we want but if every time you think of it it fills you with that Monday Morning-esque dread then you will never achieve it.

3. Tell people about your goal.

This is a biggy for me. If I don’t tell anyone I can talk myself out of things so fast, and justify it to myself. I find it more difficult to justify it to my entire Facebook feed though. Making it public adds a bit of accountability and that really works for me!

4. Make Time!

I think these days we like saying we’re too busy for this and that when in reality if you want to do something you can absolutely make time for it(how many hours did I spend watching Netflix last week eh?). So put some time in your diary for whatever your goal is and stick to it!

5. Don’t feel guilty about slip ups!

Depending on what your NYR is you might find yourself slipping up. Maybe you missed a week of training because you just couldn’t be bothered, well that’s ok, just get back on it next week, no big deal!

6. Break it into bite-size chunks!

Maybe you want to make a dress for a ball you have in Autumn. Break it the project down into manageable sessions. The first session would be cutting out the paper pattern. Then the next one would be cutting your toile. The next session would be putting all your markings on your fabric and so on and so forth. Working like this keeps the project exciting and you can tick a box every time you’ve completed a session giving you that sense of accomplishment we all love!

7. Join forces with someone else – accountability

I’ve mentioned accountability before. Sometimes you need a pal to do something with. You don’t even have to be working towards the same goal, you just have to tell each other about your plans and check in with each other about it. Knowing someone else is tracking your progress will spur you on and they’ll give you little push if you’re flagging behind!

8. Keep track of your progress.

This is important, especially if you have an adventurous NYR. Reward yourself when you complete a chunk or hit a milestone!

My New Year’s Resolution for 2017 isn’t a creative one, or a business one – I am going to run the half marathon in October. I am not built to run, I have always been a sprinter(If it’s 21.55 and the off license is shutting I will get there!) not a long distance runner but after managing the 10k this year without stopping I’m going to up my game and do the half. THAT’S IT NO GOING BACK NOW IT’S PUBLIC!

What is your New Year’s Resolution? Don’t have one? Why not learn a new skill! Sewing is for EVERYONE! It is fun, social, useful and most of a total stress buster! Get yourself booked on a course today!

Wishing you all the very best for 2017!

Jenny x