Setting goals and feeling like we will never get there. We have all felt this at one time or another. We make out a list of everything we’d like to get done and then the list disappears, life happens, and about a month later you find the ‘list’ and realize only one of your goals was accomplished in all this time. So how do you set goals and get them accomplished? What is the magic spell to make this happen?
After about a year of scrambling about, I decided to sit down and focus on goal setting and, here’s the important part, how to accomplish those goals! What’s the use of having goals if you do not make any strides towards completing them? I spend a good week looking on pinterest and reading article after article on how to set goals. There are so many great articles on setting goals, but not so many about how to turn those goals into reality. It took some reading around the text before I finally made a revelation. You must start big, but then break that down to small to get anything done.
What do you mean?
I’ll use my biggest goal as an example to show you what I mean.
Set a Large Goal
After all my research I sat down to start setting goals and how I was going to reach them. I started with my ultimate goal and dream: Own a Fiber Mill and Farm.
Now, most goal setting articles recommend putting a date on it. Unfortunately, I’m not really sure how this one will pan out. I know I will make it happen, one day, but I’m not sure when I’ll strike it rich to make it possible. But for the purpose of setting goals, I decided I want to be as close as I can be to owning a fiber mill and farm in the next ten years as I can. Ten years of goal setting and planning is very daunting. That’s why I’ve halved that.
What do I want to see done in the next 5 years? What steps can I take to get closer to my goal of owning and operating a fiber mill and farm?
The hardest thing about setting goals is making them manageable enough that you can actually complete them and measurable enough to see yourself working towards them. That’s the trick. To stay motivated enough to keep working towards your goal, you need smaller goals to accomplish and show you are working towards that larger goal.
How do you break it down? Keep reading and I’ll show you how I broke down my huge goal of owning a fiber mill and farm.
Break it down
Now comes the fun part. Break your HUGE goal up into smaller goals. That’s right, we are going to dissect my goal of owning a fiber mill and farm to turn it into even smaller goals. This is where all your hard work will come into play. Who knew setting goals could be so hard? You really have to think about your current situation and how to move from where you are now, to where you want to be. What do you have to do in order to make it all happen?
Let’s keep going big and breaking it down to small. In order to own a fiber mill and farm, I will need a property to build on. How do I get property? I will need to research zoning laws, save a down payment, and save a lot of money to build and purchase fiber mill equipment.
Wow that was a lot! So now I can break those down too.
I researched properties in my area that fit the criteria that I want for my future farm and fiber mill and how much those properties are going for. I’d need at least $30-50,000 for a down payment. I will definitely want to research zoning in those ares still to make sure it will be possible to build and operate a mill on the property. If not, then I’d have to look into purchasing another property, with the correct zoning to build the mill unless I can purchase an existing mill in the area. (I have decided to stay in this area. My family and friends are here as well as my current job which I will need if I want to save all this money!) This means I will need an additional $30-50,000 for a second property. Yikes, that’s a lot of money to save, but if I start saving now, I can reach my goal.
After I have the property, and presumably the mill is built, I’ll need to fill it with fiber processing equipment, unless I’d like to do it all by hand. This means another good chunk of money. In the meantime, thought, I need to do my research on the types of fiber processing equipment. Nothing will be worse than purchasing something I hate to work with or don’t use at all! So while I am waiting for my bank accounts to grow, this is a great time to visit existing mills to see their equipment and learn about what to get and what not to get.
Before all the equipment, do I want to have fiber animals? I’m thinking yes. Which fiber animals do I want? This is like a trick question. I want them all, but I know that each fiber animals has it’s own needs to produce great fiber. I’m in the middle of researching which fiber animals will be best for me. I’m, of course, leaning towards alpacas and sheep. The trick is knowing what what type of sheep I’d like. I plan to research different sheep fiber this coming week while I am at the Fiber Extravaganza in Tennessee.
Now that leads me to how am I going to save all that money to make this all happen?
Books.
Our first Continuous Strand Loom book is doing well, and we have been asked when the next one is coming out. Never fear, it, along with several others, are in the works and will hopefully be making their appearance in the near future on your bookshelf. Each purchase helps me save money for my goal! Go checkout my current bookshelf! I have actually written out which books I’d like published in the next five years. I have most of them outlined and ready for patterns. As long as we keep weaving, we will continue to write books which is exciting.
Weaving.
Of course I will continue to weave and sell at local events as well as Fiber Events. I will continue to learn about the fiber world and keep growing as a fiber artist. While I’m waiting for my fiber mill and farm to get started, I might as well take all my extra time now to prefect the fiber arts. That way when I do start my mill, I can solely focus on producing beautiful batts, yarns, and more.
Day Job. I know, this one is boring, but necessary. I’ve wanted to quit my day job for a long time and focus soley on fiber arts, but after writing down how much it will take to get me there, I have realized I have to stay at my current job. I weigh the pros and cons of staying and the pros won. Staying will ensure I can make my money goals a lot faster than if I stepped aside and just worked on fiber full time. Now, a chunk of my paycheck goes directly to my fiber mill fund.
I have a list of other ways to make money, but I think you get the point.
Recap
We have covered quite a bit of territory, so I think it’s time to break it down and recap:
Big Goal: Own Fiber Mill and Farm
Break it down to smaller, more manageable goals
- Property
- $30-50,000 down payment
- Zoning, second property?
- Fiber Equipment
- Research types of equipment needed to start and later expand
- Purchase piece of equipment
- Learn to operate equipment
- Fiber Animals
- Which fiber animals?
- Enclosures, feed, bedding, medication
- Finances
- Start saving money now
- Set a goal amount for each year
Phew, that is a lot. But we are not done yet! Now we need to take these still semi big goals and break them down to week to week goals.
How do I do it?
Now that I have my big goal with semi smaller goals, I can now make weekly goals to help me work towards my large goal. When writing my weekly goals I make sure to make them small enough that I can accomplish them in a week. It is a great confidence boost to cross off all your goals for the week! And what is even better, is knowing each time I cross off a goal/task from my week, I am stepping closer to my big goal.
Every month, I sit down with my weekly planner and start writing out weekly goals. I start by writing out what I’d like to accomplish this month. For example, this month, July 2018, I want to submit my Fiction book Earth Priestess for per-sale next month. I want to write two blog posts, one newsletter, and one pattern. I’d like to pour 2-5 batches of soap.
Now that I have a list of things I want to get done this month, I can break it up into smaller weekly tasks. Each week for Earth Priestess I have a set of chapters to read through and make any last minute changes. I am working on my first blog post a few days before I’d like it posted and I have plans to outline my next post next week. Followed by writing it for July 25th. I have already written July/Augusts Newsletter, which you can sign up to receive below. I enjoyed working on the newsletter last week and am excited to see what you think when you get it today!
That means all I have left to worry about this month is a weaving pattern, which I plan on creating this week while at the Fiber Extravaganza in Tennessee, and pouring a few batches of soap. I have ordered my soap making supplies, so once I get home from Tennessee I will be ready to play mad scientist and start pouring more soaps.
That doesn’t seem like a lot, and that’s how I felt at first but then I started actually getting everything on my list done! That never used to happen. Why? Because my lists were super long, never ending and soul sucking. Now I am not as stressed that I didn’t finish my list. With few tasks to accomplish that are pushing me towards my ultimate goal is better than overloading. And now I have time to be social without feeling guilty that I wasted a ‘work’ day.
Anywho, I highly recommend creating a manageable goal list to help keep yourself motivated and working towards your ultimate goals. If you’d like help or advise on how to create a method that works for you, feel free to contact me.
Cheers!
Ashli
Pretty! This has been an extremely wonderful post. Many thanks for supplying this info.
Comments are closed.