Hi, I’m Ashton, and I’m obsessed with goal setting. My husband, family, and creative business friends will all tell you that I’m the goals and planning person. So it’s no secret that I am a big fan of goal setting, and I tend to think and talk a lot about my goals, planning & productivity.
Are you wired the same way? I’m always searching for the latest books, blogs, and planners that will inspire me to set goals and achieve them. But, I’m also a free-spirited artist, and you can always find my location by following a trail of colorful art supplies and notebooks around my house. (Ha!)
I know a lot of fellow creatives feel that it’s hard to find a planner that works for their creative brain. They have big, ambitious goals, but they struggle on the day-to-day follow through and execution of their goals. It’s easy to lose focus when your mind is always throwing out new ideas that seem more exciting, or you get bogged down with daily responsibilities and lose sight of your goals entirely.
What I’ve learned over several years of my goal-planning obsession is that most goal setting approaches are way too complicated (and boring) for the creative mind. (SMART goals, anyone?) I’ve tried to follow these systems, and at some point every year, gotten super frustrated with my attempts at goal setting. Often, I’ve written the same goal down each January, and failed at them multiple years in a row. Every year, I’d feel like a bigger failure. I’d wonder, Why can’t I just make this happen? What’s wrong with me? Ouch!
So in recent years, I’ve changed my approach. I’ve figured out what actually works for me as a creative to harness my passion about my goals, yet stay focused when distractions pop up. And that means that I’ve actually started to achieve some of the BIG goals I set for myself. (!!!)
In my new online class, I’m sharing the simple and flexible process I use to break my goals down into actionable projects, and stay focused to follow through on my long term goals. The class is called Flexible Goal Setting for Creatives: A Simple Map to Success. You only need a pen, paper, and sticky notes to follow along. I hope this class will help you break through overwhelm around goal setting!
If this is a busy time of year for you, or you don’t want to feel rushed with your goal setting, don’t worry, because the approach that I teach isn’t just for January 1. You can jump in anytime of year!
Use my link to the class to take the class with a free one month trial of Skillshare. If you love Skillshare as much as I do, continue your membership after the trial ends to learn at your own pace in all of my creative classes, as well as thousands more on the platform.
Please note: If you make a purchase through the referral links in this post, I receive a commission, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my work as a Skillshare teacher!