Happy New Year people!
How is it already 2019? I love a fresh year, a chance to work on new goals or in my case continue to smash current ones. I usually review and make new goals by November and work from there, breaking my year down into 4 chunks of 3 months and then setting smaller goals within those months to 4 weeks. I’m going to be honest, I feel like 2018 flew by with so many more things for me to accomplish. I’m not sure about you but I tend to hibernate in the winter and for creatives, it can be a tricky time to juggle the day job and the real career. The dream job you wish you could spend everyday doing. In this case, my day job is teaching and supporting children daily in schools, teaching Drama clubs and facilitating workshops. The cold, dark evenings where as a creative you should be coming in and going to the gym, attending creative workshops, plays, events or working on your ‘brand’ were spent flaking out, eating and sleeping. However, I did work throughout the year on so many brilliant acting projects, the first, a play that kicked off 2018 with intense rehearsals- which really challenged me and made me dig deep; especially after 7 years of not working on stage, so I won’t discount my achievements.
The Rally
Most people set goals and new intentions during January when it’s actually the worst time! We spend most of December over-indulging and planning festivities, that by the time January comes, we just need some sort of regular routine and the safety blanket of what’s ‘normal’. Creating a new one, will have most people failing by the time February pops up. I’ve given myself this month to tie up loose ends and focus on my current goals set back in November. I have a new drama club in a school I’ve never worked for before and can’t wait to get started. The only real change to my routine this month will be reading for 30 mins daily, be it a book, play or script, adding a 2 minute plank and body weight exercises to my day and spending an hour a day minimum towards my craft. 2 hours out of 24 is hardly radical, it’s not a new routine for me but good habits I slipped out of. I started reading daily in December, whilst I had the time and it’s slowly becoming routine again. New year, same me. I’m not cutting out alcohol or any crazy stunts like going to the gym EVERYDAY to prove to everyone I’m about this #gymlife. I don’t think that will help me reach my goals. (I’m also sure a little glass now again of something you like, won’t block your blessings). I don’t want to change who I am, the only thing I would like to change are my circumstances and that comes with action.
If you’re really determined to start the year with a fresh agenda and sees January as miserable as the rest of us, maybe write down some of the things you want to achieve this year and spend the next couple of weeks researching how you can get to where you want to be. Think of who can help you and who is already achieving these things. Don’t be scared to ask others or social media stalk those in your chosen field (not just celebrities). Often people share how they did it and will be happy to give you tips if you just ask. Twitter is a great tool for this, I’m currently using it to expand my current network. In my first month of using Twitter more for business and my career, I bagged a drama teaching job. It may not happen so soon for everyone but when you work consistently and effectively on one task, you’ll eventually have a breakthrough.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be fighting my way through the January gym-goers to get to gym equipment and booked-up classes with everyone else but I won’t put myself down if I decide to come home and have a glass of merlot or hot chocolate (depending on my day) and read ‘Becoming- Michelle Obama’ instead.
Let me know if you have any tips on goal-setting and starting the new year right. Subscribe to my blog in the box below.
Sophia x