Setting goals and growing my business in 2018

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The start of a New Year is generally a time of reflection and looking forward. Although I’m not one for New Year’s Resolutions there are some things I would like to achieve. Last year my goals were to lose weight and get a job. I managed a significant weight loss, thanks to joining Slimming World, and bagged myself a part-time job too.

I love the power of positive thinking which is why I’m happy to start 2018 by setting myself more goals. Setting goals keeps me motivated and I love reflecting at the end of the year, knowing as well as looking after my family, I’ve looked after myself too.

I’m a terrible procrastinator but there are some things I really want to do this year, including developing my Etsy shop and being more creative (as well as a full-time mum and blogger, my part-time job and running the household!). I love buying stationery and want to get properly organised over the next 12 months and set myself some achievable goals to keep me motivated each month.

Setting goals and growing my business in 2018

I love stationery. Who doesn’t?! But it also has a really important function of helping me set myself clear goals that I can look at and tick off. My anxiety means I have a tendency to procrastinate as I get overwhelmed easily. My plan to beat it involves setting myself achievable goals to help me achieve my end result – a fully stocked Etsy shop, to reduce my craft stash and books, and set myself up with a defined work space.

The first step was to stock up on some gorgeous stationery. I was shopping in Watford over the weekend so popped into John Lewis to browse their Orla Kiely selection.

You know how much I love my Orla Kiely handbags so I wanted to see what stationery options there were to help me get organised. The stationery was easy to find on the Ground floor, right next to the Girlswear and the Toys & Children’s Book departments. It was an eye-catching display with lots of notebooks and accessories.

There were some amazing products in some of my favourite prints and patterns. I chose a set of 3 x Large Kraft Notebooks with my favourite Linear Stem design in three colours on the cover. What I liked about these notebooks was that each notebook contained different paper – lined, lined graph and lined dots. Blank notebooks fill me with dread but for some reason lined or graph paper makes it easier for me to start writing!

I spent a happy morning writing notes and planning exactly what I’m going to do over the year. The beautiful notebooks have inspired me to find out more about bullet journalling as I think this would really help. I love making lists and bullet journalling would help me be more productive which is what I need. I don’t want to spend all my time writing and planning but doing!

My main goals are to end the year with a fully stocked Etsy shop which will hopefully reduce my vintage craft stash. I set up my Etsy shop a few years ago, sold a few items but never got round to listing more. I have a crazy stash of vintage fabrics and games to photograph, list and hopefully sell. I also want to reduce my fabric, craft kits and craft book stash by making more, and giving away things I don’t want to make or use. My third goal is to set myself up with a defined work space to help me focus whilst I am working.

It has been so helpful writing things down and making lists of what I need to do to achieve the end results. I’ve set myself some seriously SMART objectives and can’t wait to spend time each week on these tasks. Hopefully I’ll be able to write a post at the end of the year showing how much I have achieved!