The importance of New Year resolutions

Give yourself a round of applause. You made it through another hectic year. If you have been feeling like the last two years have been a blur, then you are not alone. You may not even feel like you are ready to set New Year resolutions yet. And that’s also ok. But if you are, I think that it is still important that you do. Goal setting beginning of the year or what we like to call New’s Year’s resolutions is great way to keep us motivated and on task. It helps us to constantly challenge ourselves. I wanted to spend some time talking to you about setting specific goals that align with with overall career or personal development goals, some ways to identify areas where you like to improve, and how to set small goals that tie back into a the bigger picture.

Setting meaningful new year’s resolutions as a designer

As I mentioned before the key to being successfully at goal setting is by keeping it simple.

Dream big, but execute small.

When you break that bigger goal into very small tasks it makes it easier to achieve. One of the best motivators for me is the small wins. So don’t be afraid to build that checklist and let it rip. Another thing worth mentioning here is looking for ways to improve something you may be already doing. You will learn something everyday, so why learn something that makes you grow. Is it a new hobby? Or maybe an adjacent skill? Don’t be scared to reach out to colleagues or mentors for ideas. Have you done a self-assessment lately? It’s never too late to do one. self-assessment are great way to identify any potential gaps or areas for improvement.

Staying creative as a designer

Design work just like any form of creative expression, requires looking for ways to regularly exercise your creativity. If you simply just get projects and execute, it will most certainly lead to burn out. Try setting some dedicated time aside for other creative pursuits. Or for trying out new techniques and mediums. Some things that might help trigger some inspiration include: browsing work from other designers or creatives, looking at some art or going out to observe nature. Oftentimes it may be as simple as taking a break all-together to de-compress and allowing yourself time to recharge.

Let’s see what you come up with

As you begin to celebrate what you achieved at the end of 2022 and you set your sites on 2023 remember a few important things. 

• Set goals that are smaller, more specific and easier to achieve. 
• Focus on self-improvement, assessments and don’t be scared to get buy-in from others. 
• Building an adjacent skill or trying something new might be just that you need.
• Give yourself time to take a break, or to look for inspiration if you need it. 

And the most important thing to remember is that these are your personal goals achieve what you can, do your best and learn to forgive yourself if you don’t. The journey is just as fun as the destination. 

I would love to join the discussion!

I encourage you to share this in your groups, with colleagues, peers, and friends. Let’s continue to conversation and I would love an invite to discuss this. I hope you enjoyed this blog and please subscribe and share. See you in the new year!