Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Jumping on the Bandwagon

I've never been one for resolutions, but the start of the year does feel like an opportunity to start fresh, with a clean slate. It is, after all, a new beginning. I've been doing a lot of thinking lately of things that I wasn't necessarily happy with last year and improvements that can be made. I'm not thinking of them as resolutions. More like goals.

In no particular order, I'm working on some personal and business goals:

* Take better care of myself:
-snack less at work (I eat when I'm bored)
-work out regularly (am totally loving my Wii Fit) = more energy, feel better, look better, strength!
-meditate = calm & focus
-go to yoga classes = healthier me + meet new people

* Clean & organize my workroom - I love that I have a whole room of my own, but have never really been thrilled with the layout. I need to play with that and create a more inviting & inspiring space. And I MUST hang the ACEO's, prints, and artwork I've been collecting!!

* Get the sewing machine I received from a very generous Freecycler serviced and learn how to use it.

* Feel less guilty/bad about situations that I have no control over. Worry less. Stop over analyzing. Be more spontaneous.

* Find a way to use the tremendous amount of down time at work to my advantage for Athena's Armoury.

* Production line pieces for days that I'm feeling less than creatively inspired.

* PLAY! Create new designs and don't worry about following rules.

* Purge. Get rid of stuff that I don't need or want. Clutter is disrupting the flow of life!

* List and blog about at least one new item per week. Continue to renew daily.

* Get going on creating that website.

* Dedicate a couple days per month to picture taking. I thought that having my light box set up all the time would be a good idea because as soon as I'm done with a piece and still really excited about it, I could shoot it. Yeah, I wound up moving onto another piece and the light box just took up space until I decided to use it. Time to try something else.

* Track sales/expenses better. A necessary evil in being a one person operation is having to do the tasks you'd rather delegate.

* Work on better branding for my biz.

Well, some of these are goals, some just seems like a to-do list. I also realize that I need to get a bit more specific and figure out how I'm going to accomplish some of this. But, hey, it's a start.

Now that you have a clean slate with the beginning of a new year, what will you be working on?

8 comments:

PAC said...

Great resolutions!

Stacey - Elle Belle said...

I think that's definitely better than just a good start!
My resolution is to not spend all of my creative energy on working for my customers. In 2009 I'll be making more for me, my husband, and daughter because I love to sew/craft, I love my little family, and they deserve it for being so supportive of my creative endeavors :)

jewelstreet said...

Nice resolutions! On the blogging about a new piece each week, I found having a particular day to do that helps. I sometimes will do one post with all my new things in it at a time.

You should join my bloggy organizing party. That was one of my resolutions too.

The Green Cat said...

Great resolutions J! I'm still on the fence as to whether I want to keep up my shop or let it go. I don't want it to be a full-time gig but I think I'd still like to sell things there. Still, that will require me to do more promotion and I need to figure out if I have the time/energy to dedicate to that.

Sherry said...

That's an awesome bento box and I'd love it if you join us for bento lunches. I'll pick a day and let you know.

Good luck with the resolutions!

Deanna Lack said...

I vote for "play" ;)

lesley said...

sounds like we have some similar goals for 2009... good luck!

Athena's Armoury said...

Thanks for all of the comments and support!!

jewelstreet, let me know about your bloggy organizing party! I keep thinking of doing a daily schedule, but I would hate to miss one if something comes up. Yeah, I'm a bit anal. I might give it a shot anyway.

Cat, I understand completely. I enjoy it and want to keep up with it, but it certainly requires work. I haven't decided if that time would be better spent elsewhere yet (like building up ren faire inventory!). We'll see. You might want to check out Artfire, too. We should talk.

sherry, I'm soooo looking forward to bento box lunch day!!!