Setting Achievable Goals

I feel it is important to have a vision so that your time and energy can be focused on what is important. However, sometimes goals can remain unfulfilled for various reasons and never quite come to fruition.

I recently saw a number of pinterest pins with the following acronym that may be helpful in setting realistic goals which are achievable. SMART goals are:

Specific: Write down exactly what it is you wish to achieve.
Measurable: How will you know that you have achieved the goal(s)? Write down some measurable way in which you know you will be getting closer to your aim. 
Achievable: Be realistic about the steps that you need to take to achieve the goal(s). Write down a list of the smaller steps you will need to take in order to achieve your goal.
Relevant: Think about why you want to achieve the goal(s) you have set. Why are they important to you?
Timeous: What is your time line for achieving your goal(s)?

Once you have considered the SMART way of setting goals it may also be useful to think about how often you need to review your goals. This is often the step where I fall down! Possibly a weekly or a quarterly review may be a helpful way to keep on track with achieving goals. It may be helpful to actually make a note in your diary or planner to check on your progress.

Photo by Aaron Burden

If you use a bullet journal, a helpful popular technique is to make up a "habit tracker" that you fill in daily to have a visual track of new habits that you are attempting to establish in order to achieve your goals. Another useful point to consider is how many goals to focus on at a time in order to remain realistic? Maybe it would be more realistic to focus on just a few goals (even one!) at a time.

My most valuable tip is never to give up, even if your plans are derailed for a time! It is actually fine to just get back on track again if things go wrong for a while. I have learned this through needing to be on a stringent eating plan that goes wrong occasionally,  but then I need to get back to the plan and carry on even though it is tempting to give up completely at times. If your goals are important to you, it is worth following through on your aims even if they take longer than you would like to achieve them.

Do you currently have any goals or aims that you would like to fulfil? What do you think might be getting in the way of achieving your dreams? 

Creating a Small Home Office Area and Craft Room Combination

Even if it is a small space to perch with a laptop, a home office space is an essential part of the home.  As I mentioned in a previous post, our former working spot has been taken over by a bookcase so I needed to find a new space to work (besides the coffee table or dining room table).

Fortunately the art/music room has a relatively unused surface at the back which I think may make the perfect spot.  So we are currently sorting out the art/music room once again in order to accommodate a bit of a home office.

Photo by Tim Gouw

The office/craft area is a bit like a basement in its feel, so there are a few things we have needed to take into consideration:

• Storage - We have decided to work with open plan storage for all the art supplies so that the counter tops can be clear for work and the area will hopefully feel less cluttered. I took all the art supplies out of the room and sorted them into categories. We now have most of the items stored in clear plastic containers so that they will be easily visible on the shelves when we need them. I have also asked myself the question, “Why am I keeping this?” to help me get rid of things that are no longer being used as well as to group the supplies into “kits” for each activity. For example, all the card/tag making items are stored together in a plastic container and all the scrapbooking supplies are now in a portable bag.  We also moved a small drawer unit into the office area to house supplies there.
• Lighting- The room currently has a small single bulb fitting which is in a very high ceiling. I think some track lighting that can be angled towards the work surfaces would probably be more helpful. For the moment a higher wattage bulb has done the trick!
• Heating- We need to have a heater as the space is quite cold, particularly at night.
• Traffic flow/Seating Arrangements – We need to be able to seat two crafters side by side at the arts and craft surface as well as a third person in the home office area. I would also like to include a comfy reading chair for perusing our art inspiration books or just having a cup of tea.
• Art Display – I would like to include an area for displaying our creations. The long wall opposite the crafting surface has plenty of space for putting up art and craft projects. I am also thinking of some space above the crafting and office areas for inspirational quotes and pictures that we can see while we are at work.

So far our art room/home office is working out beautifully – mainly thanks to my husband sorting out our storage needs by putting up shelves.  Where do you like to do your home office work? How is your home office space working for you?