2024 Goals ✦ Getting my life organised and setting realistic milestones
Every January I get into hustle mode. I think about work 24//7, dream of the way to expand my business and conjure new ways to create income. I'm listening to podcasts and watching educational content. Then February rolls around and that passion instantly fades. My ears get tired of the motivational speeches and my mind is exhausted of thinking and scheming my way into a successful business.
By mid-Feb I usually think that the year is over. What’s the point of continuing on with these lofty dreams, I don’t have the energy to do it.
But not this time! This year, my year starts when I say it starts. My motivation will continue on beyond January because I want it to. So that’s why… I’m sharing my 2024 goals, even though it’s May.
Intro
I know that now is not usually the time to be posting 2024 goals, but you know what, you can set goals at anytime of the year. You don’t have to wait until January to start your life.
These goals are going to be divided into two. Internal and External goals. What do i mean by that?
Internal goals are tasks or projects I can achieve by myself, they don’t rely on anyone else to bring to fruition.
External goals are goals that will depend on how others receive my work. These I cannot achieve on my own and I can’t control
My goals for 2024
Internal goals
create 3 art collections for licensing
i want to create 3 mini collections that target kids clothing. so my collections will be 4 designs per collection which totals to 12 pieces of artwork. Achievable? I think so!
draw up my toddler book idea
I’ve had an idea for a kids books since my baby could mouth on things. specifically books. We have a few books with teeth marks and saliva damage. The title of the book is “this book is not for eating”
hard launch my secret art collection
i’ve been creating artwork for this theme very slowly over the last two years. I have only created 4 pieces for it, but it’s about time i let the world know what i’ve been working on. it’s nothing ground breaking, but I’ve been keeping it a secret because i didn’t want the imaginary pressure of posting it online for people to then expect i do something with it
20 youtube videos
Considering i have only ever posted 16 videos in 4 years, it’s gonna be a challenge for me. The content will also be very different in terms of strategy and style.
So those are my internal goals. Goals that I have complete control over completing. It is totally up to me to get these out into the world.
External goals
1000 subscribers
I would absolutely LOVE to get this channel monetised. Will i reach 1000 subscribers this year? i’m not sure but that’s why it’s on a separate goals category because I don’t want these metrics to influence my internal goals
1 art licensing deal
with my 3 mini collections I hope to have them ready in a portfolio ready to pitch to clients and art directors. Again, I can’t control if i get a deal, but I can control how many pitches i send
1 outdoor mural
If all is well, then this goal would have already been complete by the time this video comes out. If not… well we can spill the tea on that in another video.
These external goals are totally out of my control as to whether I achieve them. I’m not so crazy as to create 1000 secret accounts to subscribe to myself, nor am I going to pester friends and family to subscribe.
Why I separated my goals?
Why have i decided to separate these goals into internal and external? Well a couple years ago, I use to write goals for the year and post them to my insta and write a blog to try and keep myself accountable. But what i didn’t realise at the time was that half or more of those goals would be externally affected. Someone else chooses to buy my work, commission art, or follow my account. I had too many goals that were outward looking that I didn’t focus enough on what i was doing in my own practice and to be honest, there was little practise in this practice.
So i wanted to make sure I am 1. setting realistic goals, and 2. ensuring that most of those goals will be ones I determine are achieved.
Measures I have put in place to keep these goals
To keep up with my YouTube video goals I have actually enlisted an accountability partner! My good friend Joanna, from The Gallery J, is also an aspiring youtuber and together wanted to encourage each other in this very niche journey. We video call every fortnight to give updates on our progress, what we have watched recently, setting goals for the next two weeks and general business chat too. We have had a few meetings so far and it’s been really great airing out some feelings I’ve had. Feelings of doubt that specifically centre posting content to youtube and the mountains of unnecessary work we have given ourselves. This has been one of my favourite accountability methods, cause I get to do it with a friend.
My other method for YouTube is to have a reward for every 5 videos i create. After my first 5 videos, I will be buying an external monitor!!!! This is huge, because my camera doesn’t have a flip out screen, so it’s actually very difficult doing these talking head videos.
With my secret art collection, by keeping it a secret it has relieved so much pressure off having to monetise something straight away. In the past I when I created a piece of art i really liked, i monetised it straight away, putting it on cards, prints, stickers etc. And it felt so cheap to do that. It felt like a disservice to the artwork I had just made. There was no story, no hope surrounding the artwork, no vision. My hope with this secret project is that, I can keep creating artwork within this same theme for a while without the pressure to keep make it for sale. And i know, no one is really pressuring me, but when you post online, that’s what it feels like. The pressure of your own worst critic is now allowed to criticise.
With my book and collections, I will be breaking these down into smaller tasks, like creating one spread a month or creating one pattern. And now that I’m creating Youtube videos, I also will need to actually be creating art to use for content. So it’s a two in one kinda deal.
What happens if I don’t finish by the end of year?
well… i will be disappointed in myself i guess. Isn’t that the biggest punishment?
I guess I will just tack it onto to next year’s goals? but the thing with that is, if i keep adding last year’s goals onto the new years, I won’t ever move forward. It’ll be like setting the goal to climb 10 steps, but completing half means that next year I’ll have to do 15 steps, and the next will be 20 or… 17.5?. I will only drown myself in endless tasks if i don’t achieve what i set out to achieve. And i know what the feels like, i have done that to myself for many years, and it sucks to feel like that every year.
So really? I guess this time, I have no choice but to just do it. And I feel like, it’s my time. It’s my time to put my whole heart into my dreams, to dedicate energy towards those goals and to just go for it.
End
Thank you for watching this video. I hope that this video made sense with the internal external thing. Did you set goals at the beginning of the year? How are they going now? Do you need to reevaluate those goals?
I’d love to hear from you so leave a comment and maybe we can help each other achieve our goals!
Til the next video, bye!
