We all know I’m obsessed with goals and planning. As you’ve witnessed, I’ve waxed eloquent on my love for spreadsheets many, many times. So what I’m going to write next might come as a surprise:

 

I don’t have goals for this year.

 

In fact there are only three things I am planning on working on this year, and none of those have any specific deadlines or checklists associated with them. Crazy for me, but I really do believe this is the right perspective I need to have this year. So what are those three things? They are Passages, my business, and Sugar Springs (my house).

 

 

Now, why the drastic move away from complete and total organization and control over every aspect of my life? Well, this past year I’ve come to realize something very important: in the pursuit of growing my audience and attracting followers, my focus in past years has not always been where it should have been.

 

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking of content my followers would like and reaching out to do collaborations with like-minded individuals that not only were fun to work with, but helped get me in front of new followers. And while these are both great things to do, and I would definitely recommend them to anyone trying to grow their following, for myself personally, I’ve been doing these at the cost of creating the art and working on the projects that really speak to me and that I really want to be doing. 

 

Please don’t get me wrong, though. I have thoroughly enjoyed creating content that I knew my followers would like and I have loved collaborating with the many amazing individuals I’ve been able to work with. Guys, I’ve become actual friends with the woman who has been my favorite author since I was 14 years old. How many people can say that?

 

But at the back of my mind, the fun I’ve had on these projects has always been slightly diluted by the sadness and frustration I have at times felt by not working on the things that my heart really wanted to be working on. And so this year, I have decided that it’s time to work on the things that I’ve been pushing to the side for the sake of growth and follower counts. And I think the best way to do that is to not create a long list of resolutions and goals that I need to complete in twelve month’s time, but rather let my heart lead. 

 

 

 

So here is what I am planning on working on in 2020, and we’ll see where they take me by years’ end:

 

Passages

For Passages, I want to ACTUALLY start working on it, rather than just talking about it or just brainstorming ideas. I want to implement. And I want to share as much as I can about it on Patreon as possible. While Passages is autobiographical in nature, I have taken a lot of time to consider which of my experiences I would share, because I want to really delve not just into the events and emotions I have felt, but those you have experienced as well. 

 

For example, the first photo I will be working on for Passages this year will be Heartbreak (which is just a working title at this point). I could have just put together my thoughts on what heartbreak feels like for me and create a photo based off of that, but everyone has felt this emotion. And we’ve all felt it in different ways.

 

And so I asked for your experiences. And I wrote all of those down and tried to think of how I could tell all of our stories in one set of 3-4 images.

 

This week on Patreon I’ll be sharing a look at how I compiled all of that and show you what your thoughts have inspired me to sketch out. So if you’re a patron of mine, make sure to check-in this week (and if you’re not on Patreon, come join us)! It is my goal that you also feel like you were part of its creation. I want to work on Passages this year, but I want to work on it WITH you.

 

My Business

My business is another thing I’ve put on the back burner for a long time and this last year in particular I’ve been really wanting to explore the direction I want to take it. I’ve always known I didn’t want it to JUST be a photography business. Because photography isn’t the only thing that excites me. I love creating beautiful things. I love strategy. I love marketing. I love curating content. I love doing DIY projects. And I want to incorporate all of that into my business. Sure, it’s not the most streamlined business plan (and let’s be honest, I don’t have a business plan AT ALL), but I want all of those pieces to play some sort of role.

 

So this year, I am planning on really thinking about how I want my business to operate and allow myself to explore all the different areas that excite me and how they can fit into the overall scheme.

 

 

Sugar Springs

Finally, my house, Sugar Springs. Someone, somewhere snapped their fingers and all of a sudden I’ve been a homeowner for a whole year now! And throughout these last twelve months, I’ve been getting a lot of “so what’s new with your house?” and “what projects are you working on?” And almost every time I’ve had to say “well, not much”. Because for most of this year, I just haven’t had any extra money.

 

But when my family redid my kitchen for me (which was, hands down, the BEST Christmas gift I received this year), it lit a fire under me. And I realized there are some things I can do that don’t require a lot of money. We’ve also come up with some ingenious fixes for some of the issues that were holding me back (like not having a hose spicket to connect a hose to, since I’m not on city water) that cost a lot less money than how I originally thought I had to fix them. So this year, I plan on breaking out the paint brushes, hammers, and shovels and really putting my personal touch on Sugar Springs.

I don’t want to set goals like “I will shoot five Passages photos” or “I will make $50,000 with my business” because to be honest, those aren’t always things I have control over. But I can make some plans, do my best to work on them, and hope for the best. I have every intention of working on creating new Passages stories, delving more into what I want to do as an entrepreneur, and slowly starting (and finishing) one project at a time in my house. I’m not sure what I will accomplish this year, but I do know that I will work my hardest, and that I’ll do whatever I can to make this a fun, fulfilling, and exciting year. I’m going to leave it up to Heavenly Father to guide me where I need to be this year, and since He’s guided me pretty well so far, I believe some great things will come.