Crafty goals. Do you need them?
Are there things you wish you could accomplish in your crafting? Do you wish to dedicate more time to your beloved hobby? Are there things you’ve wanted to learn or try but always seem to end up staying in your comfort zone? Do you find joy and stress relief in crafting but never seem to be able to make the time for it?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you might need some crafty goals.
I have always set personal and business goals. Several years ago, I decided I wanted to make crafting more of a priority in my life. It brings me joy and acts as my therapy but for a long time I would only let myself craft once everything else was done. I was using it as a reward and motivation to do all the other things in my life. But, as you know, you never get everything done! But, I ended up feeling like I was punishing myself since I rarely got to craft.
So, I decided I needed to make crafting more of a priority and add it into my tasks instead of only allowing myself to craft when I was done with everything else. At first, I just set a goal to craft weekly. I realized how much better I felt overall, being able to find some joy and escape within in this hobby. I realized that crafting was an act of self-care for me. So, I set a goal to craft a little bit each day.
Fast forward to me finally deciding that it was time to start really using up my vast stash of crafty goodness. Now I set goals for using up different things within my stash, to give me some focus and motivation to use those items.
So, yes, even though crafting is a hobby, I do feel like goals are important in helping you grow within that hobby and as a person.
Even if you goal is just as simple as crafting for an hour each week.
But, just like when you are setting goals for other parts of your life, you need to set S.M.A.R.T. crafty goals – specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based.
Don’t be scared by this. I’m simply saying that if you just set a goal to craft more, what does that actually mean? How can you measure it? How do you know if you’re crafting more?
1. What are S.M.A.R.T. goals?
*Specific – instead of a vague wish, be specific about what you want to do - I want to complete my unfinished cross stitch projects.
*Measurable – give yourself a goal that you can track or measure – I want to complete 1 scrapbook layout each week.
*Attainable – it’s probably not possible to use up your entire paper stash this year unless you only have 20 sheets of paper! But, you can say that you’d like to use up 2 paper pads this year. That gives you a realistic amount of paper to work through.
*Relevant – make sure your goals are relevant to you and your life, not someone else’s. If everyone else seems to be setting goals to use up their stash, but you are comfortable with the amount of supplies/products you have, you may not need that goal. If it’s not something that’s important to you, you won’t be invested in it. Make sure your goals are important to YOU not other crafters.
*Time-based – give yourself a time limit for your goal. Do you want to accomplish a certain amount of things each week or month or do you just want to hit this goal by the end of the year? Sometimes you can have all three incorporated into your goals. Just make sure you give yourself a time limit.
2. An important piece of goal setting is understanding your why.
Why do I want to craft more? What's my why?
For me personally, crafting brings me peace and joy and honestly, it helps keep me sane. Why do I want to use up my stash? I want to clear out some of the older products in my stash so I can make room for fun new products and not feel so guilty for buying them when I already have so much.
So when you are setting your goals, ask yourself why that goal is important to you.
3.Write your goals down and keep them somewhere you will see them often.If you write your goals on a scrap piece of paper that gets stuck in your desk drawer, never to be seen again, you’re likely to forget you even made goals. But, if you put them on your corkboard over your desk or in your planner or even on your fridge, each time you see them, you will be reminded to work towards them.
4. Break your goals down into action steps.
If you’re goal is to use up your stash, break that down further. What parts of your stash do you want to use up and how often? I want to use up one paper pad or a paper collection each month.
Do you want to create a scrapbook for your child? If so, break that down into the steps needed – pick out a scrapbook to use, gather and sort your photos, create the pages etc.
5. Be accountable for your goals.
And, finally, if you find you still aren’t having success with your goals after implementing these steps, find yourself an accountability partner, someone you can touch base with to keep you focused on your goals and someone that you know you will have to answer to. You’re not looking for someone to punish you for not hitting your goals, you are looking for someone who can help you keep on track and encouraged with your goals.
I have a crafty friend that is my accountability partner for my crafty goals. We touch base every so often to report how we are doing with our goals, what we are struggling with and what our successes are. We can cheer each other’s successes, boost each other if we need it and give advice to each other if we are stuck on something. Knowing that you have to answer to someone about your goals adds that extra bit of motivation to have something to answer about!
I have a crafty friend for my crafty goals but I use my husband (and business partner) to help me account for my business goals. So, be sure you are picking someone who cares about your goals and has an interest in them. My husband cares about my crafty goals because he cares about me. But, when I start talking about paper crafting, he starts hearing the Charlie Brown teacher - “wha wha wha, wha wha…”.
One last thought on goals. Goals can be ever evolving. Periodically look over your goals. If you see that you didn’t set your goal high enough or if maybe you were overly optimistic about your goals, you can readjust. If something has changed in your life that affects your goals, you can adjust them. These are your goals and are meant to work for you, so make sure they continue to work for you throughout the year.
I hope this info helps you decide if you need some crafty goals and how to set them if you do. To further help you set and track your crafty goals, I have included two free printables for you.
The Crafty Goals worksheet helps you define your goals. It gives you space to state your goal and the why behind that goal. Then it gives you lines to break out the tasks you need to complete to reach that goal.
The Crafty Goals Tracking sheet gives you a monthly grid where you can list each of your goals and check off each month that you have met that goal.
Now go set some crafty goals for yourself this year and have some fun getting crafty!
