I’m welcoming 2021 with open arms and they are stretched wide because I have decided to take back so much of my time spent worrying, list-making, and wishing... and just DO.

For the last 4.5 years, I’ve spent most of my time weaving and a little bit of time exploring how other crafts or interests impact my weaving practice. At the end of 2020, I started to put more reflection into how those “side” projects have really improved my work holistically.

I previously saw three lanes - 1: my full-time work as an architect (high priority), 2: weaving as a side-hustle and hobby I did in my free time (low priority), and then lastly all of these additional projects that weren’t weaving-based (very low priority). These additional projects were learning to sew and knit, natural dyeing, writing, etc. and they were very low priority so they never truly made their way into my days and weekends. In December of last year, I merged my second and third lanes to just see what would happen. In other words, I started seeing these other projects as a parallel priority to my weaving practice.

Best choice I could have made.

I learned that growth only comes with stepping outside of the lane you’re in and allowing other influences to help you understand how to further your skill, vision, and ultimately future. I learned how to be adaptable with my work, how to welcome other ways of thinking, how to project plan better, and most importantly, I found SO MUCH JOY.

I am having so much fun and look forward to everyday on this new journey now.

So here’s the quick low-down on how I’m setting myself up for a fun, productive, and growth-encouraging year:

I started 2021 with a huge brainstorm of all the projects I’ve ever wanted to do and all the things I want to learn and implement in my weaving practice. All of them written down in one place that I can come back to whenever I have another to add or cross out.
I evaluated my time to figure out how many projects I can realistically handle a month. I landed on aiming to do (2) a month.
Promised to give myself grace for how life plays out- some days I won’t get to it, some projects I may not get to, but by setting up the framework, I’m not allowing myself to fail before I try.
Each project is drastically different than the next and includes a new material, skill, collaboration, and a chance to make plenty of mistakes to be able to grow
I aligned them with the seasons where I could allow myself to be inspired by the flowers, water, leaves, celebrations, etc.

So, this is the framework that I will refer back to the entire year. And within the framework lies a checklist of things for each project that keep me going when I lack motivation or need a way to reflect on the process I had just gone through.

I use my two-week project planning guide to lay out my materials, research, and finally timeline (it’s very high-level but allows me to identify the time I’ll need to find to keep myself going)
I write down: my goals and what I think I’ll like about this project (or what I’m nervous about)
Have fun + get down to work
Track progress and process no matter how messy
After I’ve finished, I write down my lessons learned, what I liked about the project, and how my creative/weaving glasses look a little different and a little more inspired or informed looking forward.

If this sounds like a lot of work or time spent on tasks not related to the project, just know I spend about 5-10 minutes on this ^^ for each project. Sometimes more on the back end because I realize how much I’ve learned and am excited to implement in my weaving practice. But it’s all worth it! A little bit of planning and thinking sets you up for success.

Wanna push yourself? Identify how many projects you complete a month? Or every two months? Every six months? Get that number written down and double it. Then commit to it and give yourself the framework that you need to implement. If your framework looks a lot like mine, then great! If not, do some pondering on what will work for you.

Maybe your goal is just small progress - any progress will get you a step further than where you are now.

2021 \\ creative goals for this year