When making a goal it’s helpful to “Begin with the end in mind,” as Steven Covey would say.

That means first establish your goal and assign an accomplishment date.

For example, I want to get licensed by Carriage House Printery (CHP) by August 30, 2024. (A three month goal)

Then make a list of tasks needed to complete to reach your goal.

For example, 1. Locate the art director accepting submissions at CHP. 2. Learn the format needed for submission. 3. Decide on a theme for a collection 4. Add theme inspiration to Freeform board. 5. Begin drawing motifs for patterns. 6. Make patterns. 7. Submit collection

Then look at your calendar and assign items from your task list to your calendar beginning at the end.

I want to submit my collection on August 15th to give the art director time to respond and for me to make adjustments if necessary.  I will need about a month to design patterns, so I’ll assign Make patterns to July 15.

My son’s birthday is at the beginning of July and we have a holiday in the US on the 4th, so I want to block out time there to be free to relax. I’ll put make motifs down on June 22.  I’ll begin adding inspiring photos and thoughts to my free form board on June 10. Steps 1, 2 and 3 can start now. I have 3 weeks to accomplish them. I could put them on the calendar on the next free day I have to work on my goal allowing for extra legwork I may need like learning new software or tracking down a contact.

I have found beginning with the end in mind to be quite productive.

Start today by establishing a goal and giving it an accomplishment date. If you have a far range goal that you won’t see come to fruition for a year, break it down into a 12, 9, 6 and 3 month goal. Then break down your 3 month goal tasks to completed, adding them to your calendar.

Please send your goals to so I can publish them on this page. Publishing them helps you to stay accountable and helps us to help you.

We can also create a Freeform board for each person’s goal if you’d like to have more fluidity with your goal.

Next step: Draw your Trail Map 🗺️