Ah, January. The time for making resolutions and setting goals.
I have to admit, I get a little caught up in the beginning of the year / time to start fresh season. And if I’m being honest, I have the same feeling in August during the Back-to-School rush! What can I say, I’m planner at heart. It’s one of my favorite things to do.
Of course, I’m setting the typical goals. I started working out more in 2015 and would like to be more consistent in 2016. This sounds almost silly to type, but I also want to drink more water throughout the day. Sometimes I get so caught up with work that I forget to drink the recommended 64 ounces.
I’m also hoping to do more crafts with my kids. Throughout December, I participated in my first ever 25 Days of Christmas. We spent a lot of those days working on crafts and food-related activities. I realized how little I do this with my kids throughout the year….and how much fun they had doing them. Obviously, this is not something I’m going to do every day; but I do hope to have a craft or recipe to bake every weekend.
After I finish my In 100 Pages Photo Book, I use the collection of my photos to figure out how to define my photography goals for the upcoming year. As I looked through the photos contained in my book, I realized how few storytelling photos I have. In a lot of ways, the photos tell more about where we go instead of what happens around the house. I want to take more photos that include environmental clues about our home, the interaction, what my kids play with. I love taking portraits. It’s something that I know I’ll continue to take. So I set my goal to attempt to capture more conversations and tell our story within the frame.
As for my photo book goals….I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit….but I’m a little behind on my annual photo books. I’ve made plenty of personal books (and books for my clients). But I miss my in-depth annual photo books. Similar to my photography goal, I want to make a photo book that includes more text and photos than a lot of my other books.
My goal for 2016 is to finish my 2015 photo book and stay on top of my 2016 photo book.
To help me stay accountable, I’m hosting a 2016 Mastermind.
I’ll share my progress in a private facebook group and interact with others who are also setting the intention to print more of their photos in 2016. One of our first exercises is to make a SMART goal. Now, I’m sure this is something that you’ve heard of. It’s a common concept for a reason – it helps you set a goal that you can actually achieve. Now there are a couple of variations but for this post, I’m assuming SMART stands for: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely.
To show you how this works for my photo book goal, notice what I said above – “I want to finish my 2015 photo book and stay on top of my 2016 photo book.”
Not exactly a SMART goal.
Let me re-work it a little.
Specific. I want to make a 240 page photo book with approximately 1,200 photos from 2015.
Measurable. I want to start working on this book in February and finish by the end of July (6 months). This means I need to complete 2 months of pages, every month, for 6 months.
Attainable. This is achievable and something I’ve accomplished in the past.
Relevant. It’s extremely relevant because 2015 just ended and is still somewhat fresh in my mind. It’s also something that is really important to me.
I value printing my photos and sharing with my kids, family and my future self. 😉 Timely. Yes, I’ve given myself a time limit to work toward and track my progress. I want my 2015 photo book completed by the end of July. All of these define a much more specific goal:
To complete my 240-page photo book with 1,200 photos from 2015 by the end of July (finishing two months of pages, every month, for 6 months) while the activities, conversations, and moments are still fresh in my mind.
Now that I’ve stated my goal in this manner, I already have a game plan and a better shot at achieving it. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be working with my mastermind participants to further refine their photo + printing goals to make sure they meet the SMART criteria.
