2020 reflections and 2021 goals
Every year for the past eleven years I’ve sat down and written my resolutions and reflection post on my blog. Last year I shared my personal resolutions in January, and then published a more indepth look into my business goals in March, so the fact that I’m writing this before January is already a major win! This post is more business focused, but it’s such a reflection on myself too that I think it intertwines together and covers both topics.
I find doing these posts a really good way to gain focus and reflect on what’s been and what to hope for in the year to come. I don’t write with specific resolutions that may come to mind when you think about the standard new year goals posts, but I do find having a purpose for the year certainly helps. I thrive on to do lists and plans, and even in day to day life I find myself floating around at home not knowing what to do or where to start when I don’t have a written list, despite having plenty of activities I could get stuck into. I wrote a blogpost in January that was all about goal setting for the year and I stand by that method - it details a really actionable and achievable way to break down bigger goals and how to get started on them.
As would be standard with most people (I say that hoping it’s not just me!) I obviously forgot to look at my own goals past June time and have been bumbling along a bit ever since. 2020 needs no introduction or recap, of course, but from a personal perspective there were a lot of good things and I’m focusing on the highlights. I moved into a new house, went to Japan, got a new job and put big, exciting things into motion that will come into fruition in the new year.
I actually realised quite early on in the first half of the year that the main goal I was working towards (and wrote about in March) had already changed. I mentioned in the original goals post that this is totally natural to change and to just adapt as this happens; I really should have re-evaluated and started the whole exercise again with my new goal, but I didn’t really know what that was. I still don’t! So I just kind of trundled along and didn’t think much about what I was aiming for. I was floored by starting a new job in the middle of the pandemic and it really took more out of me than I thought it would. The next few months were survival mode and I think most of us were just trying to get through 2020 and take each day as it came - which is totally a-ok.
Now I have some time to finally do that re-evaluating. Like I said, I’m not 100% sure on the course of action but I do have some vague ideas of a plan. I have a main goal in mind, it’s just the blurry middle bit of getting to it that I need to work out. If you’ve not read the goal setting post I keep referring to then I really recommend it as I’ll be doing the same! Breaking down the bigger goal into smaller actionable steps makes things a lot more manageable. I often do the same for the smaller tasks on my to do list, like writing a blogpost for example. It gets broken down into tasks such as ‘write the post’, ‘take the photos’, ‘hit publish’ and ‘share it on socials’. Often our brain gets to the big task and sees it as a bit of a stumbling block, so smaller manageable chunks work best.
I’ve had a look back on the year and have outlined a few highlights below. I also want to share 7 questions that I answered both this year and last that have helped me reflect and focus, which were taken from the IndieRoller business group I’m part of. They are:
What would you like to celebrate?
What are you most proud of?
What did you learn?
What didn’t work/feel good?
What was missing?
What would you like to tweak and try again?
What can you let go of?
I recommend writing your answers to the questions without thinking too much - I just let my pen loose on the page and wrote what came first. No editing, just a stream of consciousness on the page. Because a lot of it was messy and unclear, I’m not sharing every answer, but here are some edited snippets and the general gist of my ramblings.
Highlights of 2020
I created an illustration that went viral in September which still baffles me. It brought with it a huge chunk of followers but apart from that my growth on Instagram has felt quite stagnant. I love the community and friendships I’ve found on IG and there are times where I love it! I ran my first journal challenge on Instagram this year which I found so fun to do and really loved seeing other people participate.
I started a Youtube channel this year and it’s probably one of the things I’m most proud of. It wasn’t a goal of mine this year, more just a tiny spark I’ve had in the back of my mind for the past five! I had always put it out of my mind as I always feel like I never have time. I have a huge fear of starting a project and not finishing it, of being inconsistent and not committing. Since I launched my Youtube channel in September I’ve only missed one video out of my weekly schedule and I’m proud of that, especially as since September I’ve had the busiest months for my Etsy shop and most fruitful months for my freelance projects, too.
My Etsy shop has gone from strength to strength this year after I closed it for six months of the year with moving house and then the pandemic. October and November alone generated more revenue than I had in the whole of 2019 and I hit 500 sales total for my shop! It feels like it’s started to come into its own and has been generating sales without too much of a push from me which I’m really grateful for.
Goals for 2021
Now I’ve shared that success with you, it might come as a surprise that I’ll be moving my focus away from creating new products. My plan for 2021 is to keep my Etsy shop open and continue fulfilling orders and having it plug away in the background, but I won’t be bringing out new products or focusing much energy on marketing it. I love the feeling when people buy my planners and knowing people are displaying my prints in their homes, and I really enjoy packing up and wrapping each order but it takes a big chunk of time and energy and ultimately, being an e-commerce business is not my end goal.
I started 2020 thinking my end goal was to be an established illustrator. Sharing that I wanted to be signed by an agency and creating artwork for other people, but it just doesn’t excite me like it used to. I struggle so much with my style, or lack of, and I’m most happy just creating random artwork that I love to create. This doesn’t work with the illustrator goal but it does for my mental health. I’ll still be illustrating and creating of course, but for me, rather than the goal of having my work published in magazines and editorial features. I want to pick and choose the projects I get to work on (who doesn’t!) and as I still worry about my style and work, I’m just going to take the pressure off that for now.
R.e. social media, I feel like I put so much energy and pressure on my Instagram and I’m ready to let go of that in the new year. I always try to grow my social media following and getting more followers is often on my resolution list. But this year, instead of focusing on a platform that feels difficult, I’ll be re-prioritising and pushing my energy into blogposts, newsletters and other long term marketing. I’ll still be on Instagram, of course, but I want to focus on more evergreen content, rather than squares on my instagram grid that is hard to get seen. By writing and creating things for my mailing list audience and creating blogposts, I’ll be working on my SEO and still have content to share on Insta. By doing this, I’m hoping to worry less about the numbers of a platform that feels out of my control due to algorithms, and instead working on things that feels like it will have more of an impact on my business, and a better effect on my mental health, too.
For Youtube, I’d like to create more helpful and in-depth videos, as well as pushing myself to be on camera more so I feel more comfortable and less like a fish out of water! I feel like I can give a lot more to my Youtube channel and I want to create specific content with in-depth voiceovers.
Most of my goals for all of my content creation will rely on planning and scheduling, which has been a repeated goal for me for the past few years! I did feel like I got more of a grip on it this year, and you can hear more about it in my recent YouTube video about how I plan my social channels.
I’m not quite ready to share my new big vision for the years ahead and what I’ll be focusing on for 2021 as I still have a lot of things to work through! Self doubt and lack of self belief has, and will always be to some extent, a big stumbling block for us creatives. One thing I can say with certainty for my 2021 goals though, is that I want to kick that in the butt and feel it’s pull on me lessen.
Most of all, I think 2020 has taught me that I need to focus on things that are working for me and make me feel good, rather than worry about the things that don’t and are draining my energy and motivation. This year has taught, and cemented for me, what I don’t want. I’m slowly starting to believe in my skills and talent and I am so excited for the possibilities in the next year. I want to let go of the worries and the self-doubt that has held me back for the past five years and let my heart lead, instead of my head. I’ll share more of my journey with you all as we make it, and I hope, for all of us, that we start to lean into what we truly want. If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that life is too short to not go after our passions.
I’d love to hear your goals and resolutions for 2021, so please do leave them down below if you’re comfortable with sharing. If you’ve written your own reflections and goals post, or created a video sharing them, please add them into the comments! They are some of my favourite videos and posts to watch and read. Wishing you all a very wonderful new year. Katie x
P.S. I shared a few personal goals at the beginning of 2020 too. I can tick some off, as I ran 5k without stopping, and I touched my toes! I was at my peak of fitness gymming 4 times a week, but then the pandemic hit, so now I can’t do either of those things. I didn’t read more books like I wanted, but have made up for that by reading lots in the past month. I didn’t get rid of a lot of the stuff I owned but I am making headway with that now. All in all, despite the dumpster fire of a year that it was, I feel very grateful for everything I achieved and can learn from and take with me into 2021.
