New Year = New Awesomeness: Goals for Motivational Inspiration in 2011

Custom Red Fox Animal Scarf
by Social Squitten - $100 USD

We all make ourselves a bunch of promises at the beginning of every new year, hoping to emerge better people with stronger willpower and follow-thru. But this year, I'm just gonna state the facts: I'm gonna be awesome-er.

Traditionally, there will be lists of items that we makes to measure our progress. And while I'm a big believer in lists, I'll be the first to admit that I often lose that sheet of paper with all my goals written on it some time by the second week of January. Therefore, I have no choice but to put my list into cyberspace.

Keeping in mind a few things I've learned from some inspirational guru somewhere along the time, I know that in order for these goals to happen, they need to be S.M.A.R.T. ones.

According to Wikipedia, there are many versions of S.M.A.R.T. goals, but for the sake of this blog post, here are the definitive words I'm going to choose:

SPECIFIC: Something that I cannot get away with vaguely alluding to.. such as previously promised awesomeness.
MEANINGFUL: If I give a crap about it, chances are it's gonna get done.
ACTION-ORIENTED: Things only happen when I put them in action. So enough talking - more DOING!
REALISTIC: I'm not going to be King of the World (Master of Geekery is quite enough, thank you), but I know that a certain level of greatness is attainable. Why not reach for it?
TIME-BOUND: With a deadline looming, there's always something to word towards. It's one of my favourite motivators!

Some of my S.M.A.R.T goals for 2011 include:

Orange Luma inspired by
Super Mario Galaxy
by nerd JERK - $46 USD

- Reach 50 items or more listed in my Etsy Shop by the end of January 2011

You guys may not know this, but I have a TON of new amazing products that I've been selling out at craft shows in San Francisco since the end of June 2010. Yeah -- I know -- why haven't I posted it yet? Well, cos it didn't make it past the craft shows! And I had to keep remaking everything... for another craft show... and remake to photograph for Etsy... until the next craft show showed up. So THIS TIME, I'm gonna photograph these suckers FOR REAL! And you're gonna get to see them and swoon... like I do when I make them!

- At least 3 regularly scheduled blog posts a week by March 2011

Another tidbit of knowledge that's only been floating around in my atmosphere is that I have 5 freakin' topics for 5 days of the week that I wanna post... all the time!!! And I've been trying to be better about lining up interviews, giveaways, Etsy Seller tips, Geek Chic Guides and New Stuff Sneak Peeks that I haven't actually gotten around to posting them as much as I'd like. While I may not get all 5 for everyday of the week, I can start with 3 regular posts. And have YOU hold me accountable!

HELLO Convo Calculator
iPhone & Gadget Case
My Tutorial on CRAFTzine.com

- Work towards more reader-based feedback on the blog - 2 to 6 comments per blog post by June 2011

I hope that you all know that I love hearing what you have to say. And I also hope that you know that what you say actually affects what gets posted here. It would be my dream that I could have guest posts and relevant advertising , etc on nerd JERK: Inspire Your Inner Geek, cos guess what? There aren't enough geek blogs representing out there. But it all comes from you. For example, I'd like to start doing more simple Tutorials & Recommended Reads, but I don't know how people are gonna react. Tell me what you want and I'll try to make it happen!

- Make between 5-10 items per week for my inventory for crafts shows 4 to 10 months in advance!

If you were my close and personal friend this past year, you saw how nutty and sleep-deprived I gradually became. I started throwing old fun exercising habits to the wayside and gave into a lot of caffeine and late-night fast food runs (doesn't help there's a 24-hr McDonald's around the corner from my house!). But one can let oneself go in more ways than just weight & health... like sanity. When all you have is 2 weeks before your biggest show yet during the holiday season and your average amount of hours of sleep per week is around 10... total!? You've got issues. Now that's it the slow season, I'll take my time to bulk up on the rad items without killing my wrists (cos I make everything myself) and without as much caffeine. And, hopefully, I'll be able to post more Sneak Peaks at my studio as well!

In keep with some of my goals, I want to let you know that I'll be featuring an Awesome Artist Feature of Amy Ng from Social Squitten and learning about the wonder world of thrifting in the City, living in SF and making the raddest scarves on the planet by hand. Make sure to stay tuned for that on Monday morning. :)

And it'd be great to hear from you: What are some of your goals this year? What kind of dreams will you dare to make come true?

The Roving Reporter - A New Member of the SF Etsy Blog Team

Self-portrait of an artist hard at work. Apparently, Diet Grapefruit Soda is essential.

"It isn't easy being Cheesey!" once said a very famous Cheetah. And now that I have been given a similarly monumental task, I understand all too well.

A few weeks ago, I ended up going to an SF Etsy Team Blog meeting chat at 9 PM on a Thursday. I thought it was mandatory for all SF Etsy members and was looking forward to meeting some new people on the team, as I'd only recently joined. However, when I found that it was just me, Jen of Mama's Magic Studio, Ros of Scottish Lily Jewelry and Eko from Eko Jewelry Design, I found it a pleasant surprise to see that I was actually at a meeting to talk about blog ideas.

I guess it helps when you don't read the fine print; you get some of the greatest opportunities of your life that way.

Having already vowed to myself that I would be better about working diligently to make my own blog a gigantic success (still pending), I'd read up on different ways to work on productivity & ideas beforehand. Going into a chat with these ideas in mind, you wouldn't believe the different kinds of discussions you can have when a whole team is on the same brainstormin' page!

By the end of the chat, I was feeling all geared up after tossing out idea after idea with such fantastic feedback coming at me. And then I did something I never would have done a year ago: I volunteered to write for the Blog.

Keep in mind, I've been against all social media for as long as I can remember (I didn't join MySpace til it was on its way out and I still abhor Twitter with a passion), so even starting THIS blog was a bit out of my comfort zone.

However, when I said,

"Well I have a camera and I love taking photos for my blog. I could go around to craft shows & the like to make the blog more visual..?"

I didn't know that it was going to translate to

"Oh, so you could go to shows, take pictures & do write-ups about them to report 'em back to the blog! That's GREAT!"

... Um... yeah? :D

Thus, one of the newest members of the SF Etsy Team was dreamed up: The Roving Reporter!

While very exciting, it's also very scary to think that my blog posts will be read by anymore than 29 people at a time. :)

On the other hand, it's going to force to step up my game and actually rock out a little harder than usual.

Jenn Meyer (left) & Christina Richards (right) share a laugh in front of the Blue Macaw

as I failed yet again to capture a shot of Jenn doin' the Running Man at Market- SF.

Having already taken on assignments for upcoming/on-going shows in San Francisco, my first post is going to be covering Market-SF - its beginnings, what it stands for and where it's heading. Jenn Meyer of RomeyDesigns & Christina Richards of Finch Design have been more than generous with their time & efforts, so I'll be letting you all get a more in-depth view of the story behind one of the newest on-going artist showcases in the City. Look forward to that post at the SF Etsy Team Blog in the next few days!

My second & third assignments are kind of grouped together in one (except in involves 3 days of reporting and photography!) as I aim to capture the spirit of handmade at the Etsy Meet Up at MOCFA this Friday AND the 3rd Annual Renegade Craft Fair this Saturday and Sunday (11 AM til 7 PM).

I've already sent out a call-out invitation for both SF Etsy members that will be at the Meet-Up and at Renegade to let me know when they'll be available to chat and take pics. Hopefully this leads to some very exciting times for the blog.

Now, if I could only get myself to figure out how to make myself write stuff without the monumental amount of pressure I put on myself to make these Roving Reporter posts the best pieces I've ever written...

How have you overcome challenges that may have prevented you from succeeding in something you REALLY wanted to do well at?

What helped you along? What didn't help so much?

Motivated Schmotivated

Gee - Remember all that talk about getting off my butt to get things done since the only way to show things can get done is by doing it?

Hehe

Well, instead of doin' a ton of blog posts that not only sounded motivational, but rather interesting reads, I ended up spending time with my awesome sister and her boyfriend in San Francisco last week.

When I had to go and sit down to do some blog posts that I'd been thinkin' about doing all week, my face looked something like this:



Incredibly attractive... I know.

But on the plus side, my sister & I had a lot of bonding experiences.

Yesterday, I ended up doing a ton of gardening and felt rather accomplished. SO much so that I thought I outta conquer that whole "How I End Up Makin' a Comic in a Couple of Days" post. Although I'd had a feeling that it would be relatively EPIC, I had no idea how many freakin' references and back story there were in making a 10 panel comic.

And that got me to thinkin'... How much of that story do you guys really wanna know ANYways?

With having rocked the garden pretty hard and forgetting to eat while asking my boyfriend to get back on task (was supposed to be workin' on his work bench for his screen printing business instead of cleaning 3 year-old paintball splatter that'd decorated our garage door), I felt like I might accomplish almost anything. And then I tried tackling the beast-of-a-post for 1.5 hours.

Things That I've Learned From This Experience or MOTIVATION 101:

- Eat something before takin' on big projects. Your friends will thank you.

- Make a list of what needs to get done. This is like a shopping list, just more prioritized. You can even make sub-bullets of awesomeness needing to be addressed so that you don't forget why these things were important.

- Set time goals. Preferably used for the highest priority items so that no matter what, you have addressed them. An example of this was transplanting the plants between 3 PM and 8 PM in order to still have enough daylight to do so.

- Have a Plan B, C & D for next time. It's not always going to happen the way you'd like it to. Having a plan for getting it done no matter what is what'll help get you through.

Lather, rinse & repeat this process.

Simple, yet effective, folks. Having lists = achieving boy scout-esque preparedness status. Feeling like you're prepared can also help you stay on task.

Today my list looks like this:



And since I'm almost done blogging, I think I've got a pretty good chance of getting the rest of it done.

Holler.

Practise What You Preach - To Blog or To Sit & Stare?

I'm really great at procrastination. Like, for reals.

But I'm also really good at givin' out advice. Oh MAN, am I ever!

Sound familiar to anyone?

*sigh*

Recently, I've been speakin' with the ladies on the D-Listers Team May Forum thread about blogs, giveaways, not-enough-time-in-each-day and "If I plan an awesome party, will they come?" syndrome.

It's not necessarily a pity party; it's more like a "I have this problem. Oh. You have that problem too? Holy crap. No WAY! Man, it's hard" kind of a party.

But being a solution minded type of girl, I thought that maybe we could do something about it. So I suggested that maybe we could hold a team challenge to get us all motivated...

And then this little light bulb went on...



I need to get rockin'! I can yap-yap-yap and dish out awesomeness (like the most solid gold bricks of knowledge that I've stored away in the recesses of my noggin!) til I'm blue in the effin' face, but truth is that you can't preach somethin' that you haven't practised.

Plus, whatever happen to my "Awesome-ating" blogging aspect!? (read two posts down)

SO, BALLS! I've got to get off my tush o' mush and rock some cool topics.

Some of the amazing items that you can look forward to this week are:

- "How I End Up Makin' a Comic in a Couple of Days": This post will be featuring the entire process behind my recent submission to PAPERLINKS.oRG

- "Gettin' a Small Space to Look Like a Big Business": I haven't got a lot of resources (monetarily speaking) to be able to run my business and since I'm unemployed, it makes it even harder to make my business look & feel professional (Spending money to make money is hard when you gots none, yo!). So, I plan on sharing a few steps that I've taken to represent NerdJerk as a whole.

- "What Did You Wanna Be When You Grew Up? : Knowing Your Roots & Using Them to Help Motivate Yourself": I've got some potentially embarrassing pictures (including a 6 year old self with a mullet) to illustrate the fact that knowing who you were when you were a kid, livin' in dreamland and remembering what it is that you dreamt about can really help you keep focus in the long run.

Plus, some Etsy sellers, fellow artists & awesome items should be featured as well!

So, if you're remotely interested in reading about this AND/OR taking part in this (such as being featured/interviewed), please feel free to follow this blog AND/OR email me.

Comments & concerns completely encouraged!