art, design and more from my studio. Created by Heidi Nielson, a hafu part-time lawyer and artist in the Sonoran desert
The closer we get to the end of the year, the more I reflect on everything I’ve learned this year and all the learning and growing I still want to do before 2019 ends. With that in mind, this month’s printable celebrates growth by getting out of your comfort zone.
Download it here. For personal use only. Link expires in 30 days.
Desert 2 District Design II Progress over Perfection
Happy Thursday! I am trying to keep myself on track with my 18 in 2018 list by doing these periodic check-ins. I am a forever perfectionist so it's hard for me to be OK with incremental progress that isn't 100% perfect 100% of the time. This mantra helps me.
Here's where things stand since my last check in:
It looks like I haven't added much, but the one I checked off last was a HUGE one for me--launching my online shop!
I've been wanting to do this for a while, but I've been intimidated by the technical aspects/little tasks that are all part of launching the shop--setting up Paypal, getting a postage meter, taking and editing photos of my artwork. But I chipped away at my mountain of tasks and gave myself a deadline by announcing my shop launch. And somehow... it came together!
So even though I don't have much else to update, checking that one off the list was a huge accomplishment for me. I've just got to keep repeating my mantra above--progress over perfection.
Desert 2 District Design II Stay Sunny
If you found this blog through my instagram, then you probably know about my fondness for list-making and goal-setting. It's probably not a surprise that I'm a Virgo. Although I've always loved goal-setting, I haven't always been the best at tracking my goals, especially long term goals. I often set grand goals, make progress, and then decide that I did enough or I'll lose interest and move on to the next project.
This year, I am trying to see my 18 in 2018 (AND my new 30 before 30) lists through. So, to give myself a little accountability, I'm going to do periodic updates on my progress on both lists. Tackling my 18 in 2018 list first...
Desert 2 District Design II 18 in 2018 progress
I actually surprised myself a little with the amount of progress I made so far this year! I've made the most progress on my art and home-related projects, with a huge amount of help from my sweet and handy husband. I have my new art space all set up (which I LOVE and use daily), we made new side tables, and after a ton of deliberation and months of searching, we also finally ordered a new couch to replace our $50 IKEA couch that we've had for 3 years.
I've also made a little progress on my travel goals--we went on our first international trip in years last month, spending a blissful three days in Playa del Carmen.
I'm making progress on my monthly and weekly goals as well, although I'm doing better at some vs. others. Date nights have been a wonderful new tradition. I don't know if any of you are as obsessed with Google calendar as I am, but they have a new "GOALS" feature where you can tell it you want to set aside an hour (or any amount of time) for a goal once a week (or whatever frequency you want) and it'll find time on your schedule for you and create recurring appointments. It really made finding time for date nights easy for me, as an overly scheduled person, and we haven't missed one yet.
I've also been doing my at least monthly spin classes thanks to Classpass, but injured my shoulder fairly seriously in the last month and am finding it hard to get back into my routine now that it's finally starting to heal. I am also really struggling with the bedtime routine. I'm great about it for a couple nights and then I'm back to somehow staying up until one in the morning and slogging through the next day.
Do you have any ideas for how to get back into a workout routine after injury or how to make a bedtime routine stick? If you have a list, I'd love to hear about your progress too!
Have a sunny weekend!