2014 goals

I’ve never been one for New Year’s resolutions but over the past couple of years I’ve started to set myself goals or challenges that I’d like to complete. My goals tend to be things that I want to learn or places I’d like to go so they tend to be goals that I achieve! In the past I’ve studied freelance writing and interior design as part of my goal setting but this year I’m trying something a little different.

I’ve been inspired by a friend of mine who as a ‘Big List of 10’ each year. He sets himself a list of 10 things he would like to achieve that year and tries his best to do them. If he doesn’t, he just carries them over to the next year. One of the items on his list was to appear on a TV show (Countdown in you’re reading in the UK and are interested) and just before he went on he decided to get sponsors for his list and is now raising money for charity. Good idea no?

I too have a big list of 10, however I’m not raising money for charity. I’m just doing it for fun this year. I have various things on the list which I’ll share with you another time but there’s one item that I wanted to tell you about today as I’m going to be making a new monthly series out of it.

This year I’m taking part in Ali Edwards’ online course ‘One Little Word’. I wanted to do something creative and learn a new skill this year and when I came across Ali’s blog over Christmas, I thought that her course would be perfect for me. The idea is to choose a word that you will focus on throughout the year and then create a scrapbook documenting your journey. The class is online once a month and so it does not take too much time (which is good for me as I’m currently studying for my MA as well as working full time) but still feels as if you are a part of a new creative venture.

My word for this year is:

I chose this word because I’d like to grow (duh) in certain areas of my life. I feel like the end of 2013 was a huge challenge emotionally for me due to some medical treatment that I was receiving and I’m due to continue with that this year. Whilst I’m thankful that there is nothing seriously wrong with me, it is still a difficult road to walk along and so I’m determind that I’m going to grow as a result of it! I’m also open to other areas of my life where I may need to grow that perhaps I’m not even aware of yet. Growth in personal discipline and grace – for myself and others – would be good too!

I’d also like to recommend Susannah Conway’s free pdf ‘Unravelling the year ahead’ which is similar but won’t take you a year to complete. I did this last year and really enjoyed it. You just need an hour or two, some pens and a nice coffee shop for this one!

I’ll be sharing my progress each month as I go along under the tag ‘One Little Word 2014’. Have you set any goals for 2014? If you blog and have a post about it, don’t forget to leave a link in the comments section so that I can take a peek.

Images via, 1 – Ali Edwards, 3 – Susannah Conway