My bullet journal

I have been talking about my goal setting and planning for the new year part in the last two posts. In keeping with the topic, I would like to share something today that I have never shared on my blog before. My bullet journal.

I discovered bullet journal in 2016. At that time I had discovered and fell in love with Chronodex. Though it was visually more appealing, drawing the chronodex itself every day was a task. I found myself using it less and less when I was busy. So the whole point of using a journal to organize my life was lost.

But I ended up with a beautifully documented 6-7 months!

Around this time, Pinterest took me on the Bullet Journal Train and sure I did enjoy my ride!!! I loved the freedom it offered. And over the months the appearance has sure chaanged. I feel it has transitioned along with my own growth as a person. Somewhere in these years I crossed over the big 4-0 and I feel I have become a much mature person today.

The early days were bright and colorful, sometimes chaotic. BTW, I never stuck to the Dukan diet. It was too much work to cook separate meals for myself.

This was the time when I launched my old website. This page documents all the preparations I did for that.

I also played around with some layouts and styles. Some looked pretty but really did not have any space for any specific planning.

By 2019, my journal had started becoming more and more minimalist! But The entire March 2018-February 2019 phase was so busy that I barely used my journal except for writing what needed attention/was planned that day.

But I did splurge my journal with attention on special occasions. And I love making random lists in it.

At this moment, I am using a combination of a journal with a weekly layout and a notepad with a daily list. The journal has a monthly view for each month where all major events are marked. I add other things as needed.

Then comes the weekly view. Every week is marked and then details are filled.

Along with this weekly layout in my journal, I use a list for every day. This list has been inspired by Palula Rizzo's The Power of Lists. When I read the book, I liked the concept and it has been working really well for me. 

 Apart from these, I also have a gratitude journal that I write in every day (just 3  things I am grateful for) and a financial journal (that tracks my income and expenses everyday). I also have a private journal that I write into when I feel like. Aadi's studies has a separate journal where we keep track of what we are working on and what we have to work on. That is his training for using a journal for himself. He loves my colourful journals and hopes to some day have one for himself too. I would love it if he has one.

One of the most important thing I realized as I went through my old journals for this post is the memories they document. So many things come back to me when I look at a page - and not all of it is written in it! Sometimes its juts one line drawn or just a small star somewhere o nthe page.

Work / business goals for 2020

In my last post I spoke about how I plan my new year and shared my personal goals for the year. In this post I'm going to share the 10 business / work goals that I have set for myself.

I have decided to make some changes to my work structure / business. And my reason for doing that is a personal one.My son Aadi is in the 8th Grade now. And here in India, !0th and  12th grade  are board exams. These both exams followed by entrance exams for various graduation courses are important milestones. Though I do not personally believe in judging a student based on their ability to score, I have to accept that if he wants to pursue education that he desires and deserves, he needs to get a good score.
Though he s a model student and loves to study, he still likes having me by his side when he studies. I have decided to be there more for the next 4 years. I want to be there to motivate him and inspire him.
So one of the important decisions I took was not to go to the USA for my annual QuiltCon trip. Since the school year starts in June, I will still be going on the February 2020 trip, but it will be my last one for a while and the next one will be in 2025. I might squeeze one in April-May 2022 if opportunities do come my way. I am also cutting down on my local travelling. Opting to spending more time at home rather than outside town.
The main problem with this decision is that 90% of my income currently comes from taking classes and cutting down on traveling means that I will have to compensate that income by doing something else. Once I knew my focus, it was easier to plan around it. I also decided to start two new streams of incomes that will help me achieve my goals.
So here are my goals for 2020

1. Train the teacher. Create the ABOUT face Certification Program for teachers. Train certified teachers to teach the reverse applique workshop that I currently teach. Its my goal to have at least 10 teachers who are teaching the technique all over the world.
2. Art Quilts. Make a series  of Art Quilts in smaller size (about A4-ish). I am thinking of making 3 of these every month with a single theme. 
3. Modern Quilts. Make 4 modern quilts with an intention to enter into QuiltCon. I haven't entered quilts in QuiltCon for a while now and would love to enter some next year.
4. Give back. I want to be a  mentor to 5 Indian quilters for whom quilting plays a major role in their lives. This is my way of giving back to the generous quilting community for helping me when I started out 10 years back!
5. Pattern writing. Write patterns for magazines. For 2020, I want to write at least 6 patterns  and send them to magazines for publishing.
6. YouTube/ Podcast. I'm not sure which one I want to do, but I want to start either a YouTube Channel or a Podcast about quilting. 
7. Online classes. Start conducting more online classes. I already started that off by announcing the last batch of the ABOUT face class on Facebook yesterday and the response has been amazing. I will be doing more online classes  this  year.
8. Get that Room. Get that Room is my dream as an architect. It is a lifestyle blog dedicated to helping people create their dream spaces at home. We will be giving links to source the perfect furniture and decor items online (currently restricted only to India) so that people can create their favourite space in their homes. The blog also has affiliate links. 
9. Save money. I have set a target of saving Rs 300,000 this year. This will actually end up being invested and not spent - either on the business, family or leisure.
10. Further education. Though I am well known name in the quilting industry, I sometimes feel I am not qualified for it. I would like to study formally (if that is possible) or maybe do some research in this field to make myself 'official'. In 2020, I'm just going to zero in on what I am going to do. 

That's it. Those are my business / work goals for 2020. Do you also have goals for your work for the new year? Do share them with me, I'd love to see them.

Happy New Year!!!

The last year flew by a bit too fast. One moment I was working 17-18 hours to finish my Shivarajyabhishek Quilt and the next moment I was planning what to make for dinner on New Year's eve! So many things happened in 2019 that I had no time to breathe and felt as if everything just passed by me and nothing touched me.

So I am looking forward to slowing down a bit in 2020 and actually experiencing every moment!

I am a Capricorn and I love planning! Plus the beginning of the year also happens to coincide with my birthday (which was yesterday) and I usually take up these couple of days to think about things I want to do in the new year and make plans for them.

Every year, I pick a word of the year. For 2019 it was "Self" and what an year it was! Even though it flew by, it was an year of an inward journey, of understanding myself, of spending time with myself, of knowing what my potential is!!! It was an year of retrospection. I loved 2019. It had some of my best moments and some of my worst too. I have seen the highest and the lowest points of my life in this year. And I am grateful for that. I am embarking on the new year with new energy and am ready to take it on in more ways than one.

My word for 2020 is Abundance. It’s not just one part of my life that I want to see abundance in, I want and abundance in experiences, blessings, health, kindness, ideas, connections, healing, empathy, wisdom, spirituality, peace and so much more. I want my year to be filled with an abundance of moments that I will cherish all my life!!!

I love setting goals for the new year for myself. I make two lists, one for my personal goals and another for my work goals.Most of my goals look like they are resolutions, but that is what I want to be doing consistently by December next year. I might start smaller and then grow to it.

Today, I'm going to talk about my personal goals for 2020. I don't want this post to be too long. I will do another post on my professional goals soon.

When setting personal goals, I usually break them up into three parts. Mind, Body & Home. 

For 2020, my goals for my mind are 

1. Stay offline one day per week. I plan on switching off my phone's Wi-fi as well as cellular internet on Sunday. That way, I will get to spend more quality time with Aadi too!!!
2. Meditate every morning. I love to spend the early morning moments meditating. But recently, I kind of went off-track there. I love the energy and focus it gives me throughout the day. So this one is on my list too.
3. Write 3 things I'm grateful for everyday. I realized I need  to practice gratitude more often. And I do use a bullet journal, so it would be wonderful to start writing three things  I am grateful for every day.

Goals for my body are

1. Walk 30 mins 4 times every week. I realized that I need to start moving more and that is the reason I have put down this as a goal. I do plan on doing most of the walking outdoors rather on my treadmill.
2. Replace tea and sugar filled tea with Green tea. I am a recent green tea drinker. I think it has something to do with my inner urge to live a more sustainable life as I step into my 40s. But by the end of the year, I want to stop drinking regular tea and drink green tea instead.
3. Drink 12 glasses of water every day. This is not going to be easy. Its winter and I tend to drink much less water right now. I'm averaging at 4!!! So now, any time I go into the kitchen, I drink some water. Does not have to be a full glass. I have observed that I usually end up drinking at least half a glass.

Now its time for goals for my home.

1. Declutter my home. I recently discovered minimalism and I love the simplicity that it offers. I cannot survive extreme minimalism, I'm sure. But I definitely could do with a little less clutter in the house. My first step was to purge my wardrobe. And now I am tackling it one shelf at a time.
2. Start budgeting. I have no idea  how I got here without doing this so long. It was mainly because I did not have to spend for any of the household expenses so far. I was only concentrating on growing my business and  was putting back everything I earned into the business. But this year, I want to start making a contribution to the home expenses and that is why I need to start budgeting.
3. Make a lovely terrace garden. That is another of my new found loves. When my passion became my profession, I started facing burnout a lot and really struggled with it, especially after I finished my Shivarajyabhishek quilt. I started a small garden this summer and have gradually grown it. I am looking forward to growing it even further and creating not just a retreat space in the home, but also a vegetable patch!!!

Phew!!! Thats a long list. This time I also have developed a tracking system in my bullet journal so that I can know any time where I stand on my goals. It is usually a simple (tick the box) system with enough check boxes to track my performance.

Do you make resolutions for the new year? Or do you identify goals? And how do you plan to reach them? I would lobe the know how things work for others. Maybe you have a system that will help me. Or maybe, mine helped you! Do let me know in the comments!