So hello, and welcome to the second post of 2018! (Yes I know there was meant to be a post on Saturday, but I don't think I'll be diving right into them just yet.) But today I wanted to have a chat about resolutions, new year intentions, goals, whatever ya call them! 

For me I like to start the year by looking at the last 365 days and seeing what I've achieved and not achieved at, then think about what I want to take forward into the new year and work on. I know a lot of people don't like the idea of New Year resolutions as the common idea is that you fail it within the first month, if not week. But for me I always try to make mine much more actionable and something I truly will try be exciting about achieving. 

This year, I decided I would note all my goals within my bullet journal and give myself some actionable points to be able to start achieving them. Most years I do kind of just write down whatever things I can think of but this year I took a much more level-headed approach by giving myself on goal for different areas of my life that are important to me like my personal creative development, what I want to be doing at work, and also things involving my health, finance and relationships. 

Laying it out the way I have (which was inspired by happily eve after) it gives me the opportunity to write down those actionable points I mentioned but also to give a space that I can mark off how I am progressing with them when it comes too April and then August. 

By doing all this I think this year I will be more successful in how I achieve my goals and the extent they'll be achieved as well. As a creative I think it's always important to strive to push yourself further not just creatively but in your regular life as well as what happens to you on an everyday basis can become the foundation for a new project or give a new perspective on an idea you have. 

Of course with goals though, you need to keep them somewhat manageable. Many times in the past I've strived to do the standard "loose X amount of weight" with no plan or steps to take, which is obviously going to end in failure. But it's good to give yourself some means to keep yourself accountable as in the end you'll be wanting to pursue that goal in order to keep ahead of the accountability. 

The last thing I wanted to touch on was something I've done for a few years, which is a word for the year. The idea for this is that you have a word that encompasses your goals, ambitions or feelings for the year ahead. It is a bit like giving yourself a mantra to follow throughout the months. For this year I've decided on the word "develop", largely because a lot of the goals I've chosen involve developing some aspect of myself or my life into something better. I also like the idea of using the word develop because one thing I'm aiming to do this year is to print off more photos on my sprocket that I got for Christmas and it obviously ties into the photography terminology. 

So what about you, have you got some goals for this year, has this post made you think that you need to add some actionable points to your goals? Or has it even inspired you to make a spread in your own bullet journal or even to give yourself a "word of the year"? If it has let me know below and we can have a chat about them! 

Hello! It's been a long time since I last posted anything on this blog… so long In fact that it is not 2017! How mental is that? And it also gets me onto the point of this blog post, today I wanted to speak about something I always try and do on this blog and that is my intentions and goals for the year ahead. So let's get started…

One of my main things this year is to get organised. Yes I know it seems a bit ironic that this post is only getting shared today, when it should have been done like a week ago! But, yes, anyway, I'm trying to be more organised. I've got a diary, a wall calendar, my iPhone, MacBook and brand spanking new iPad Pro now so I have no reason not to be organised!

Continuing on from my last point, I also want to get more organised and create more content on this blog and possibly, on YouTube too! It's pretty obvious I've been slack on here for at least the last year so I really do want to get back into it. I have plenty ideas so there's I just need to sit down and use my time wisely.

As well as my blog and YouTube I want to plan more for the Creative Bloggers community. Last year was so great to have the mini meet up and the Secret Santa Swap so I'd like to try and organise more things like that. Being that I'm up in Scotland it might not be so easy to directly organise more meet ups and in person events but I'd like to try and liaise with some brands to put on more events for #CBloggers. I also have an aim to do something like a Creative Bloggers weekend retreat or possibly a mini conference if possible. And lastly I'd love to do more mail swaps as the first one went really well!

Design more!

Last year I didn't really do all that much design if I'm honest so this year I really do want to get back into doing more work, more often and with more variety! I had thought about doing the Create365 again but because I want to do more actual design pieces I think I'd be better producing work on more of a weekly basis and giving myself the opportunity to experiment with that I'm doing more.

I'd also love to try and create more products for Etsy, so I'm aiming on producing at least one new item a month and/or 12 within the entire year. Although I'd obviously love to do loads more than this too, I think it's a good and realistic aim to start with as it'll be completely new designs I'll be working on but hopefully along a few different products?

Get invested in learning again

Since leaving Uni I have been kind of longing to be sitting down and do some proper learning again. So this year I'm making the intention to do some more learning on a whole- mainly within graphic design, creativity and social media but I'd also love to do some more learning out with this too if the opportunity arises. And so I'd like to read more articles, watch more tutorials/online courses and even better, go to more talks and conferences!

One of my big things this year is to have some proper ‘me’ time. Just now my me time doesn't really consist of much, apart from catching up on YouTube videos or watching Netflix. So this year I want to start having quality me time that would involve the likes of a bath, more reading physical books and generally pampering myself more. In relation to this, I also just want to try and start taking care of myself better. Going to bed and getting up at a decent time. Eating better foods and actually getting the extra vitamins I'm lacking. As well as few other personal health things that need to be sorted.

And lastly, because it's mentioned on the photo at the start, I should probably mention it, I want to do some travelling! I say this every year but this year I need to start actually saving better to be able to go to it!

That's all for my intentions this year, what are some of yours? I'm also stlil trying to think up a ‘word of the year’ so let me know what yours are for that if you have one too.

Dear January,

These past few weeks have been really great. Not because anything amazing has happened, which I suppose it has but because I've just been able to chill out and get more relaxed. I was really stressed out at the start of last month with a hand in coming up and having 3 presentations to do! But I'm on break from Uni just now and I know I got an overall B+ for my first project there which I'm super happy with!  I've not really caught up on any of the other work I've had to do over my break so far though which I feel really guilty about but I'll have time to do that this weekend coming and next week to which is a great thought.

I can't believe that once again it is the start of a new month! Anyway, let's have a look at how I managed last months goals!

Save!- I haven't done as much saving as I'd like to due to the fact that Darren and I booked a little holiday to Edinburgh next week but my bank account is up to a healthier sum!
Enjoy- I've definitely done this! I've loved June! Even though my birthday hadn't gone all to plan it was still a great night and the End of Year Show was an overall success!
Develop- Ok so I haven't really done much of this but I've only been finished college for a week so July/August will be more high time for that! I have been able to get my camera(s) out more so at least that's something!

Create- I've said this enough times to not have actually done it yet! But this month (and next) I will create more for my shop and myself!

Make the most of my days- this summer I don't want to be sitting on my but doing nothing all day! I was out for a large amount of the day and I had a great time catching up with a friend and taking some photos that I want to do things like that more!

Continue my reading habit- Last month I've managed to get a through a few more books than I've managed in past months so I hope to get back into my old swing of readings! 

What's your goals for the next month?

Continuing with my theme of personal goals! I have to admit though this past month I haven't done so well on the goal front. Maybe my goal for this month is to actually making something more achievable haha!

Get into my sleeping routine more- I'm going to start of on a good note here! I've definitely been trying to get into a better sleeping routine, especially this past week. Normally I stay up till 1 in the morning but for the past week or so I've been coming of my laptop at 11 or earlier and been asleep by 12. I think it's helped that I've also just been wanting to read more so I make the time too. 

Save money-I did this kinda... I have started emptying my purse at the end of the week and putting it in my piggy bank. I'm also trying to earn some more money from Avon. 

Do more for OhHay!- Ok, I'll admit I haven't done much for this recently. I never realised how busy this past month would be with college client work and Uni interviews and portfolios to sort. I will start doing more for this in the next few months though- I will!

Do more to my room- I haven't done anything major like painting my room or getting a desk but I've bought a few new furnishings to my room that make it feel a little more homely to me.Things I've picked up this month include: a cushion for my bed, candles, wall art and of course the lamp I bought. 

For March I hope to do a little better with my goals and I will keep my previous goals in my mind and keep up with them too.

Try and relax more- I'm really bad for stressing out about things and always trying to do heaps of other stuff. But this month I'm going to try and make a little more time for me. I know it won't exactly be spa days every week but I'm going to try and take a few more evenings where I will come of my laptop earlier and read. I'm also going to try and actually have a bath once this month, I've not had a proper bath in years as I find showers so much easier. 

Get into a routine of taking my make up off- So many people are going to cringe at this but I'm so bad for just going to bed without taking my make up off just because I'm so tired. But within the last month I started doing it a lot more and I feel a lot better. This is just something I need to carry on with as there was a time during this month where I kind of gave up on it. 

Work hard- This month I've got my most important unit at college- my graded unit! I really need to get an A for this so that I can get into University so it's really important I do well. I achieved an A last year so I feel like I know I can do it. I just need to make sure I keep up to date with my workload, read the check list and take on board what my lecturers tell me. 

Be organized- I really need to start being a little more organized with this blog as a lot of the time I end up writing blog posts on the day or the night before. I can some times get myself a little stressed out so I need to start planning so I don't. 

So that's my main goals for this next month, let me know what yours are if you have any too?

I think I'm going to start making monthly mini goals to try and get myself organised better!

February Goals

• Get into my sleeping routine more.
  The past few weeks since I've been of from college I have been going to bed late and waking up about 12. I need to start getting into a better routine as I'm seriously going to be exhausted 24/7!
  
• Save money.
  I really need to start saving more! I have to make the final payment for my college trip to London in April so I need to make sure I have enough for that plus spending money. I also need to have some spending money since I'm getting to go to the Harry Potter Studios!! aaaaah!!! I also really want to save up and buy myself an iPod as my iPod at the moment is becoming a bit old and breaking. So it might be worth replacing it soonish.
  
• Do more for OhHay! 
  I'm meaning this for both my blog and my shop. I've been wanting to properly redesign this blog so that it has a more consistent 'brand' feel and so it has a bit more of a design. I really want to have a blog design like Being Little and A Little Birdy Blog. As I've said, I also want to add stuff to my shop. I originally really wanted to create some stuff for Valentiens Day but I think I need to focus on just designing basic all-year round things first then focus on the holidays.
  
• Do more to my room.
  My room really needs a freshing up so I've slightly started that today! I bought a new lampshade today and some fairy lights so that's a start! I really want to repaint and rearrange my room, however that might be something that needs to wait till the Summer Holidays though. In the mean time I might just add a few more features like new lamps and possibly a desk. 

I'll recap at March how I've done with my goals for this month and write up next months ones as well!