As we close in on 2020 (thank goodness!) and head into a new year, it’s important to evaluate the work you created in the past year. Take a close look at your work: What are you proud of? What are you not proud of? Personally, for me, I like to grab a pen and paper and write out my thoughts and feelings regarding my work. One key way I attain creative clarity is by writing about what I create and why? What am I good at? What am I bad at? What do I want to become good at? These things become clearer when I actually take the time to write them down.

Brain Dump

To get started, write everything you’re responsible for, create and want to create in the future. This is a big hodgepodge of your current reality and your dreams. This is actually one of my favorite parts of this process. It’s cathartic to release all the things that have been floating down in my brain, many of which I’m not fully conscious of until I write them down. When I can visually see everything down on paper, I can see where my goals are aligned and where they’re disjointed. It becomes easier to see steps I can take to bridge these things.

Values & Intentions

Your brain dump will likely have a lot of your values and intentions listed — even if you’re not aware of it. I did a post about my values a couple of years ago (learn more about them on that post). Once you have a list of your goals, values and intentions, sort them by highest to lowest priority.

Action Plan

Once I have released my brain dump, discovered my creative goals, values and intentions, and which ones are the most important to me, I will create mini action plans for each one.

Here are some examples: 

Goal: 

Improve my photography skills so I can shoot more of my own work.

Action Plan: 

Buy a new camera and lens. Practice taking photos 2x a week (photograph the kids, nature, interiors).

Goal: 

Consistently send my newsletter 1x a month and promote it more.

Action Plan: 

Plan out five month’s worth of ideas for essay topics. Tentatively schedule them into my editorial calendar. Promote my newsletter a minimum of 1x a month. Schedule it in my calendar.

None of this is groundbreaking advice, but you would be amazed at how helpful these steps are and how many people don’t do this! By spending one afternoon focusing on your creative process, what you want to achieve in the next year and scheduling a plan with actionable steps — you would be amazed at what you can make happen.