2020 Quilting Goals

In a meeting I was at last week we were asked to pick a word that would be our focus for the new year. I picked POSITIVE with the thought that it had a double meaning – sure and upbeat.

1. I want to be sure than any volunteer task or project that I undertake, I do so because I want to and not because I feel obligated.
2. I want to have an upbeat outlook – be an optimist, not a pessimist

Both these views of "positive" feed into my 2020 quilting goals. Any list of proposed completions should contain items I want to do and not items I feel obligated to do (#1 above). Frankly, evaluating my performance on my 2019 goals (post 1/12/20) was a bit disappointing. Instead, I want to be upbeat (#2 above) and avoid setting myself up for failure. So rather than trying to do better on the same things I felt unmotivated to do last year, I will change the goals. Does this sound like cheating? Maybe it is. Albert Einstein is widely (and erroneously) credited with saying, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” So even if I am bending the rules a bit (if there are any rules for goal making), I will try this different, more POSITIVE approach anyway.

Goals for morale boosting and working on small projects were successful so I will keep them. My goal for skill enhancement must have been boring so I accomplished little of that. I will tweak "skill building" to mean reaching out and exploring something new and engaging to me. Since I did not complete any large project last year I will set myself the goal of completing one – just one – large project in 2020. Here are my three simple goals for 2020:

1. FUN: Sew and blog for fun, not guilt; attend shows for inspiration.
2. GROWTH: Try one or two new creative crafts; try out at least one workshop or class
3. SATISFACTION: Complete at least one large quilt.

My daughter-in-law commented on my 2019 goal evaluation post that

Your goals and review of them remind me of annual work reviews... Even though you've been retired for almost seven years, you still have that ingrained in you.

And she is absolutely right! Sewing and quilting is not a business for me. My sense of accomplishment and satisfaction comes from the portion of my "Year in Review" post where I list and have photos for items I have made throughout the year. This pictorial history is what gives me pleasure  – not the status critiques for each year. I sat back and looked at the photos for the past years and ignored the check marks at the end: 2019 (2 quilts), 2018 (3 quilts), 2017 (2 quilts), 2016 (4 quilts), 2015 (7 quilts), 2014 (10 quilts), 2013 (5 quilts), 2012 (6 quilts). I even took a selection of these photos and made them into a rotating screensaver on my computer as a reminder. I made many items, not necessarily quilts, that were not in my goals list at all. I will be POSITIVE and savor what I did do and not focus on what I did not do! Fun, growth, and satisfaction are certainly achievable and so they will be my goals for 2020.

So if I have FUN (impossible not to do), GROW (exciting because it will be novel), and have a sense of SATISFACTION (comes naturally with completion) the next year will be successful indeed.