Word of the Year: PLAN

Each year, quilters around the world pick a word that represents their vision for their new year of quilting work.  When I thought about 2019, I decided that the thing I wanted to improve on most this year was my ability to PLAN what I want to get done.  You know the old saying:

When I started quilting, it was both to learn the craft but also to explore the nature of creativity and learn how people were able to move from an idea to making a beautiful finished product.  To that end, over the years I've read (and saved) articles and quotes from creatives in various disciplines and found that the "process" is the same no matter what it is you are producing.  The biggest revelation was that it is not as smooth or direct a journey as it seems to those of us that view the finished works.

Yet, I'd also see quilters who seemed to be producing a project a week and wonder, "How the heck do they do that?!?!"  Well, closer examination showed that I really had to take a close look at the type of things they make compared to my own WIPs.  If they focus on only one style of project or they limit themselves to projects of a specific size or they only work from curated fabric lines rather than choosing a compilation of fabrics or they employed a range of shortcuts or simple to execute techniques, it greatly improved their ability to crank out finished goods at a good pace.  More importantly though, I also realized how important it was that they worked on their projects consistently and had a handle on what they needed to do and when.  That was a big help in allowing them to get what they wanted done when they wanted it done. 

To that last point, three years ago I learned about "Bullet Journaling" (Karen Brown of Just Get It Done Quilts has started a good You Tube series on the topic) and around the same time I discovered the blog of  Jessica Abel.  Ms. Abel is by profession a cartoonist and art professor but also runs workshops to help creatives take better control of their creative work.  I read her book "Growing Gills" and have watched a number of her free webinars co-hosted by other creative coaches.  I learned a lot about how our perceptions of how we work and what we can accomplish is the real source of the frustration in not getting our projects done.  Too often those perceptions are in conflict with what it is actually possible to get done.

Jessica Abel's blog post on "Granularity" sums up the solution quite well.

Can you say "reality check"?   Like most quilters, I would love to get to a point where my hobby could actually generate an income.  However, watching those already in "the industry",  I see how important it is to be able to meet (often very short) deadlines and produce a prolific amount of projects.  While I feel capable of that, it has been a challenge just to complete the projects I'm making for my own purposes and bring them in on the deadlines I set for myself.

The biggest lesson I've learned from Jessica has been how important it is to really understand the steps to completing a project.  You need to to carefully map out how you approach that project to really evaluate what it will take to complete it.  Often that means considering:

Just one of the motivational signs I hang in my quilt space.

I've been less stressed about my projects since I've learned to really see just where my "intention wheels" get run off the road!  Rather than being frustrated when I don't meet a deadline, I can more easily see what it would have taken to complete it as intended.  That helps me stay focused on the task at hand.  It has also helped me to distinguish when something is truly a task and when something --- which in my mind, I think should be simple and quick to execute --- is actually a project in and of itself.  In that instance, I have to change course and accept that it needs more time, planning and effort than initially anticipated to achieve it.

So to that end, I'd really like to up my estimation game this year.  I'd like to get better at evaluating what it will take to finish a project and better at planning my quilting sessions so I can actually meet the deadlines I make.  After all, I have project ideas to fill a few lifetimes but only one lifetime to make them all!  Ok, there's that reality check:  make as many of those project ideas as possible!  Since living forever isn't an option (yet!), it's important to me right now to get better at squeezing as much out of the one I've got while I've still got it!

Do you formulate a word of the year?  What's your word and what do you hope to accomplish in this new year and decade?  I wish you all the possibilities you desire and none of the stress in accomplishing them!