Step off the achievement bandwagon for just a moment. You know that I am all about action. Nothing happens unless you take action.

I know last week I shared about the intention I set for my year ahead. Last week we had our annual goal-setting call in which we talked about making stretch goals and all that you could accomplish in 2013.

For those of you who haven’t listened to the call, I also shared an assignment that I gave to a number of my private coaching clients. I asked them to list 100 accomplishments from 2012. “Whoa,” you say. “One hundred! How could someone come up with that many? And, what’s the point?”

The point is that as creative entrepreneurs many of us are onto the next big thing on our list. We check off each item on the list. Ta-da – that’s done. What’s next? We rarely take the time to look back at what we accomplished. Some of also think we didn’t accomplish enough or we missed the mark on the really big thing on our list. Not so. I bet everyone of you accomplished more than you think, so don’t let that inner critic out.

So, go back and write down those accomplishments. Writing it down is key and the list is much bigger when you get it out of your head. I promise. You can aim for 100. After all, it’s just two accomplishments a week, and nobody said they had to be monumental accomplishments. When you get done, go back and look at that list. It will be a good confidence booster. And, as you go through the year and feel like you’ve hit a stumbling block, whip out that list and looked at what you managed to do.

I’d love for you to share some of your favorites over on the blog.

Are you a New Year’s resolution maker? I used to be, and I probably made some of the same ones you made or are still making. You know, lose weight, eat more healthfully, clear up the clutter.

About six years ago I decided to try something new. I picked a word or two to choose as my intention or focus for the year. I actually started this practice in my yoga class. Kathy, the owner of the yoga studio, passed around a basket and we each picked a word. I picked openness. Well, I was not enamored with that word. The woman next to me picked love, a word I liked much better. I asked if I could pick another word and Kathy told me that I hadn’t picked the word, the word had picked me. Well, I stuck the word on the computer screen and looked for openness. Funny thing, I found lots of opportunities. I’ve had lots of words since then: joy, abundance, challenge. This past year I decided to choose those two words again: openness and opportunities, and I can look back and see magic in what I experienced in those areas.

It’s that time again and I spent some time over the Christmas holiday thinking about what word or words would be my theme for the year and how they will fit with the goals I’ve set for 2013. First, my word is conscious or consciousness, as in being fully aware or deliberate. I put it with living, as in conscious living. It’s very easy for me to get caught up in the doing, and letting the getting it – whatever it is – done be the important part, and not be fully engaged in what I’m doing. As I made a wall quilt in December, I could see how conscious or attentive I was during the design phase, and it was wonderful to see what it brought to me. I can see this as being important in all aspects of my life. One example includes, being fully present when I engage with other individuals. If I approach sharing my knowledge with authenticity and self-awareness, I will expand my reach, which is one of my goals. Another example, being fully present or conscious with my own self. If self-care is one of my goals, and it is, I need to be conscious that I can only be responsible for myself and that I need to be aware and attend to that. A third example, making conscious business and financial decisions. If you aren’t attentive to what’s going on with your business, it will run itself by default – and you may not like the default position.

I know living fully conscious will open more opportunities. Whoops, did you catch open and opportunities? I really think those are my words of the decade.

How am I going to get support for that theme. I’ve got two ideas. One is that I’ve got the words Conscious Living on a Post-it® note on the computer. It’s also on the front of a journal. Those are my reminders. Second, I found a book called A Year of Living Consciously by Gay Hendricks. It includes a quote, a short essay and a conscious living practice for each day of the year.

So, I’m asking you some questions:

1.  Do you have a word or theme for the year and how will you stay focused on it?

2.  If not, would you like to join me for a year of conscious living?

Please share your thoughts below.

Your Best Year Yet! by Jinny Ditzler

Grand Central Publishing; $13.95

Yes, I’ve reviewed this book in the past. It’s that good that I think it deserves another look. It’s one of my favorite planning resources. I’ve been using this little book for years and recommend it widely, and I often hear from those who end up getting it about how valuable it is. The book offers a framework to define your personal values, identify the various roles you play and create goals for those roles. Here are some of Jinny’s questions plus a couple of my own:

1.    What did I accomplish?
2.    What were my biggest disappointments?
3.    What did I learn?
4.    How do I limit myself and how can I stop?
5.    What are my goals for next year?
6.    Where do I need to find education or support to get there?
7.    How can I make sure I achieve my top goals?

I find one of the most empowering aspects of Jinny’s system is the look at the successes of the year. It let’s you focus on your successes and not get weighed down by what didn’t work. It also lets you get off the treadmill of working on your business to see if you really are on course.Here’s a quote from the book I particularly like: “We must prepare our soil before we’re ready to plant the seeds we want to grow in the new year.”Look for the book at your favorite quilt or book retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

Have you started thinking about your plans for 2013? I know it’s mid-November, and we still have more than 45 days left this year. You still have enough time left to make an impact on your results for 2012. I like to do some looking back at the year, seeing where I am currently, and some looking ahead. Of course, I still have to be engaged in the tasks I have at hand if I want to finish the year in a good place.

One of the recommendations I made to my private clients in the past couple of weeks was to start planning 2013 now. Many of them had plans for the first quarter, maybe as far as May and Spring Quilt Market. Most also had big picture ideas, only they didn’t really know where the projects fit in. That’s why I like using a very, very large calendar of the entire year. You can get one like this from an office supply store. It’s erasable and has really big spaces for writing.

If you want to be more creative, here’s another idea. A couple of years ago, one of my clients covered cork boards with batik fabric to complement her office. She then printed off letter-size sheets of each calendar month from a calendar program on her computer. Here are the boards before she added the calendars. The beauty of this system is she can take down each month as it ends, move the calendars and then add another for the next year. The system is a perpetual 12-month calendar.

And, if your studio space is limited, go ahead and print out the individual calendar pages and keep them in a binder where you can take them out and look at the whole year at one time. The idea is that you can get this bigger look at your year.

I’m sure you have goals that you want to accomplish next year. Here are some steps to take to put them onto the calendar.

1. Block time to work on your calendar planning. If your goals are important, it’s important to have time to plan when you’ll accomplish them.

2. You might want to create some kind of color coding system that works for you. For example, if your activity involves travel away from the studio, you might want to mark that in red.

3. Start by adding the commitments you already have, the teaching gigs, the shows, etc.

4. Go back and look at the big goals that don’t have dates, for example, the book you want to write.  Then look at the calendar and plan backwards. If your book is due Sept. 15, look at the steps involved and mark due dates for each. You might want to have the outline of the book done on Feb. 15, Chapter One done on March 15, quilts for Chapter Two done on April 30, etc. You are more likely to accomplish this if you assign deadlines and won’t be stressed by having to rush to get the job done. Deadlines lead to commitments.

5. Include vacation. It might be marked in blue. We all need to recharge, and if you don’t put it in the calendar, it’s likely not to happen.

6. Include planning time. I’ve read that the time spent planning pays back 10 to 1 in time executing. I’m not sure about the accuracy of that estimate; I do know it saves you lots of time.

7. Once you have a good look at your year, where are the holes in your calendar? Use this opportunity to see where you can market more to bring in income. This could be adding a new class or developing a new pattern for example.

What ideas do you have for planning next year?

Please share them below.

You may know that I just finished our “When it Absolutely Has to Be Done in 30 Days” coaching program. Everyone in the program either completed or made great strides towards their goal during this time. In the end it wasn’t just about accomplishing the goal, it was also what we learned on the journey about the focus and discipline required to get there. During our last call, one of our participants asked, “When was the last time you treated yourself?” Do you have a good answer?

We have discussed this off and on during our 30-day program. Each week each person shared an intention of what she would accomplish that week. At the end of the week, we all shared our successes. I always asked, “How are you going to celebrate?” We had celebrations ranging from enjoying a new CD to a manicure/pedicure to quilting to a trip to the movies. I think many of the participants looked forward to learning how others were celebrating.

We often spend so much time working toward our goals that we forget to look at what we have accomplished and, even if we do, we don’t take the time to really acknowledge what we’ve done. It’s always onto the next thing on the list. Or looking at the really big “perfect” vision we have and coming up short.

So take some time this week and look at where you are in your business and where you started and acknowledge what you’ve done. Then make plans to celebrate that. And, when someone asks, “When was the last time you treated yourself?” you can answer it.

Now, I’ll ask you, “When was the last time you treated yourself?”

Please share your thoughts and celebrations below.

You know that idea that comes to you from who knows where? What are you doing with it? Do you cast it aside? Do you mull it over? Do you write it down so you don’t lose it? Do you take action because of it?

Some years back I read The Attractor Factor by Joe Vitale, and he wrote about inspired action. He said it was “any action that you take based on an inside nudge.” In a sense, it’s acting on your intuition or that little voice inside that’s talking to you. We all have those experiences.

So where do you find these inspired ideas? One of my sisters says she gets hers on her daily run. I often come up with ideas – great and not so great – during my morning walk or when I take a break in the afternoon with a cup of tea away from my office or when I walk to the mailbox and back. (It’s a very long driveway!) You might find yours soaking in the tub after a long day or hiking in the woods or gardening, in other words, someplace that’s not your office or studio. I think Julia Cameron’s artist date can do this for you, too. It takes you outside your normal surroundings.

One tip, here, keep a pad or a digital recorder handy, if possible. You might also use the notepad on your phone. I find I often need to make a quick note of the idea, in case I’m distracted. I can’t count the numbers of great ideas that disappeared.

When the idea comes to you, what do you do with it? Sometimes you just move forward, trusting it’s the right the thing to do. Other times it’s important to ask if the idea will move your toward your goal or vision or intention. If the answer is yes, then get to work – take inspired action.

As I said, we all have those “inside nudges” prompting us to take action. Problem is we can talk ourselves out of them – too little time, too little money, too little whatever. I call it self-sabotage. I think we need to learn to trust that inner voice a bit more.

Please share your thoughts below.

1. You are never too old or challenged to reach that dream.

While we saw our share of young men and women, even younger girls and boys, the oldest U.S. Olympian is 54-year old equestrian Karen O’Connor. She doesn’t even come close to being the oldest for this year’s Olympics. That goes to 71-year old Hiroshi Hokestu, also an equestrian. As for being challenged, consider the South African sprint runner Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee who competed with his J-shaped prosthetics. In that same category would be Im Dong-Hyun, an archer from South Korea who is legally blind and wears nothing to correct his sight. Or even Malaysian shooter Suryani Mohamed Taibi, who participated in the Olympic games 34 weeks pregnant.

2. Be “all in” all the time.

The Badminton World Federation disqualified eight female badminton players from China, South Korea and Indonesia from the Olympic doubles competition for trying to lose matches to receive a more favorable draw. I learned that this was not the first time nor the first sport where this happened. Another example, the Japanese women’s soccer coach had his team play for a 0-0 tie with South Africa so it didn’t have to travel to Scotland where it might have to face the US. If we act from a place of service, we won’t be scheming to get ahead. We’ll just be ahead, or learn how to get there honestly.

3. Perseverance, determination and focus pay off.

Gymnastics is one of my favorites to watch and I loved watching the USA girls win the gold. When it was down to the finals, they knew they had to “stick” it and did. You see those qualities in all the athletes.

4. Protect your intellectual property.

This happened earlier this summer. Ravelry, the online knitting community, was set to hold its third Ravelympics, the timing of which coincided with the Olympics. The U.S. Olympic Committee didn’t think much of the Ravelympics and sent the 2-million member group a cease-and-desist letter stating, “We believe using the name ‘Ravelympics’ for a competition that involves an afghan marathon, scarf hockey and sweater triathlon, among others, tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games. It is disrespectful to our country’s finest athletes and fails to recognize or appreciate their hard work.” Of course, the USOC didn’t know what they were dealing with when it comes to knitters and eventually apologized for any insult and its plans to take legal action seemed to unravel. As for Ravelry, it hosted the Ravellenic Games.

5. Work in your brilliance.

In team sports, each person has a role. A good example is gymnastics. While the whole team needs to be excellent overall, each person is likely to be brilliant at one aspect, for example, the balance beam. (I marvel that someone can do a flip on that four-inch wide beam.) And, some members are good leading off the event and others ending the event. If you think back to the women’s vault, Jordyn Wieber, who had failed to qualify for the overall, led off, nailed her first vault setting up the rest of the team. In your business, look for where you can work in your brilliance and let other team members do the same.

6. Keep improving.

Olympic athletes continually push themselves to be faster, stronger, better than they’ve ever been. Look at the numbers of athletes who return to the Olympics competition again and again, bettering their results each time. This is what builds skills and confidence for us.

7. Have a good support system.

While the athletes are on their own competing in many events, off the course they do have a strong and vast support team. That includes family, friends, coaches and untold fans. And those fans don’t even have to be in the stadium. I’m sure wherever you lived, you watched the home support team of your local athlete. I remember seeing the coverage of the back-home-supporters in the gym watching 15-year-old Katie Ledecky from Bethesda win a gold medal. Look for people you can add to your support system to help keep you grounded, give you advice, cheer you on and help pick you up.

8. We are all champions.

From the influence each of the Olympians had on others around them, we all have that influence on those around us. So take time to be the champion for others.

What lessons did you see from the Olympics? Please share your thoughts below.

Do you have some business or personal dreams that are putting off because you think you need to know more before you move forward? Maybe you think you need another art course, or maybe you need that extra marketing course. Or, your website could be better. Or, your quilting skills need to be better to enter that show. Or, you don’t know as much as or are as skilled as someone else. Or,…

Hey, I’ve been there. I’m someone who thrives on knowledge, and I’m always searching to learn more. And, it’s a good thing, except that it can put an obstacle in my path. It’s easy to look for the next course to build my knowledge or skill level instead of taking action, albeit imperfect action. Here are some tips to move you forward:

1. Don’t wait for everything to be perfect. It never will be. There will always be more to learn. The best time to start has already passed. The next best time is now.

2. Don’t compare yourself with others. There will always be someone who is further along the path than you. And, remember there are others who not as far as you. You are only where you are and have to start from there. Any action you take at your current level moves you to the next level.

3. Commit and take a bold action. You have something to offer that no one else does. Others are waiting to start; don’t follow that path.

This reminded me of a quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes:

So what are you waiting for? You are definitely qualified to start.

Please share your thoughts below.

In the Summer 2012 issue of The Professional Quilter, Eileen Doughty profiled Celine Perkins, pattern designer and owner of Perkins Dry Goods. Here’s an excerpt of the article:

I advertise regularly in American Quilt Retailer. At Market, I do Schoolhouse workshop sessions and contribute to the FabShop Dinner as a table sponsor. (The Fabric Shop Network is a trade association for independent quilt and fabric retailers; they publish FabShop News. They have a dinner for shop owner members right before Market opens.) I’ve been a sponsor for several years, usually donating prize bags for two tables.

I have also participated as an organizer for two Booth Hop events at the 2010 Minneapolis and Kansas City Markets. Last fall in Houston, I joined in the Aurifil Booth Hop.

I have been to 13 Markets since spring of 2005. I try to go to every one, for several reasons. At Market, you have a unique opportunity to meet your customers, face-to-face. You have fantastic networking and educational opportunities. You see what’s new and trending. You get inspired.

After driving back from Kansas City this year, I’m not convinced that it’s easier to drive than to fly! I fly to the majority of markets with my “booth in a bag.” I get a half-booth space (affordable and manageable for one person). I share hotel and car expenses with two or three other designers that I’ve gotten to know. We make a trip to Sam’s Club and Target for booth accessories when we all arrive. I also request that my booth be placed near these designers so we can help each other during the show.

Once I vended at International Quilt Festival in Chicago just to see what it was like. I found that it takes a lot of single pattern sales to pay for a booth!  That convinced me that the independent quilt shop is my primary customer and that Market is the best place to sell my product, not at a retail venue.

That’s a really good question. My husband has always been impressed with how many plates I can keep in the air. I think this is kind of funny since I don’t always feel very organized, and sometimes I think being “over organized” is a defense mechanism. I make lists, sometimes too many, but lists nonetheless. And I am constantly thinking about what comes next.

My routine is to be in the office by 6:30 a.m. At about 8:30 a.m. I take a break (errands or the gym), then come back and work from 11:00 or so until 4:00 p.m., when I go to the post office or UPS. I work seven days a week, but go from one thing to the next, in and out of the studio, especially on weekends.

I try to stay connected with others in the quilt world, whether they are designer friends or shop owners. It can be very socially isolating to work for yourself in a one-man shop.

At dinner time, the computer is turned off, and the sewing machine is off-limits.

To relax, I go to the gym at least three times a week and walk with my husband after dinner every day that the weather allows. I lost a significant amount of weight in 2010-11 and through that process have learned to make my health more of a priority. It’s pretty amazing what happens when you get a little selfish with that kind of thing.

I also started knitting more seriously when a close friend opened a yarn shop. It’s a great excuse to spend time away from work with a good friend!

The “Studio and Family Time” came from a need to clear the calendar of business commitments during summer months. The kids are home from school, and there is usually a family vacation planned. My dad passed away a few years ago, and my mother now summers in Minneapolis. We spend a lot of time together. It’s a priority for me to be able to spend time with the family, and blocking out those months seemed like a good way to make that “public.”

If you would like to read more of Eileen’s article on Celine Perkins, it’s included in our Summer 2012 issue of The Professional Quilter and available to IAPQ members. The International Association of Professional Quilters offers resources and networking opportunities for you to create a success from your quilting business. Learn about all the benefits of IAPQ membership and join here.

Please share your thoughts below.

The Pumpkin Plan
Mike Michalowicz
Penguin Books; $26.95

This week’s book isn’t directly about quilting, it is about building and sustaining your entrepreneurial business. The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field is an entertaining read that you can really learn from.

In the book, author Mike Michalowicz uses the growth of a freakishly large pumpkin – you know the kind you hear about at state fairs in the fall – as a metaphor for how an entrepreneur can successfully manage and grow a business. He addresses entrepreneurial burn-out, how to handle clients that sap your energy, how to staff your entrepreneurial business, and how to recognize when it is time to make a change in your offering. And throughout the chapters, he includes “Work the Plan” sections that will help you to create great success in your business.

Look for the book at your favorite book retailer. Here’s a link to  Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.