Discover your life purpose and focus on what is really important to you

Life is Good

Passion + Action = Purpose
Remember that equation because it is the key to living a fabulous life.

In an article at Huffingtonpost.com by Shannon Kaiser she points out that you can't just think about finding your passion or passions you have to take steps towards leading a purposeful life first.

This sounds a bit nuts but even though I knew that my passion in life was to design and create I wasn't living passionately. I was sleeping in later and later. I was designing and sewing but I felt like I wasn't making any progress. I was getting bored.

I stumbled on some articles by Mark Manson. He is way too raw for me to actually read it all but this one quote by him really resonated with me.

So when people say, “What should I do with my life?” or “What is my life purpose?” what they’re actually asking is: “What can I do with my time that is important?” Mark Manson

And remember, this is all about you. Not what you think someone thinks you should do.

I was always setting goals and then finding that I couldn't fulfil them or I just lost motivation and forgot about them. I thought there was something wrong with me. I could see lots of successful people around me. Why couldn't I be like them?

I have written some steps for you to think about but don't spend too long thinking about them. The most important thing you need to take away after reading this post is that you need to act. 

I used to spend way too much time thinking and researching and not enough time acting. I still catch myself researching and thinking and planning when I should be acting on my plans.


1. Ask yourself "What are my life passions? "
"Am I willing to rearrange my life priorities to do more of these things?"

• When I was 30 my passion was being a great mother and getting involved in child centred activities like play group. I lead workshops at the local play group for mothers and children. I went to Play Group Association meetings and conventions. I wrote articles for the national association magazine. Everything was about helping my children and other's children reach their potential.
• When I was 50 my passion was making arrangements for a good retirement. I increased my super deposits. I insisted we invest in something concrete like real estate so we bought a block of land with the intention of retiring there eventually and we spent holidays there getting used to the place.
• When I was 60 I started to struggle with finding a passion and purpose for my life.

I realised that I had to work out what was important to me now. I am retired now but you can use the same process at any time of your life.

2. What matters to you?

Choose the areas of your life that are relevant to you now. I left out 'Financial' because I am not trying to get loans or buy a house or pay for education. I have a simple budget that doesn't require lots of goal setting to make it work.

This article by Travis Robertson is perfect for explaining the areas that you need to consider.

The areas he covers are:

• Spiritual
• Personal Development
• Health
• Romance
• Family
• Business/Career
• Finances
• Fun and Recreation
• Social

Get your free brainstorming sheets and record everything about each area that you want to focus on in the long term.

3. Clarify your life purpose

Study all those things you recorded in your life areas. Create some sentences that bring them together. You can have 1 or 2 sentences for each life area or you may be able to link some together under general terms such as communication. For example " I want to communicate and really connect with friends, family and colleagues by listening and helping when needed."

I am still making slight changes to the wording of my Life Purpose as I set goals. Something that is really important to me but I don't think I expressed it specifically enough in my Life Purpose was 'What do I do with all the things that I learn?'.
I have added in that I want to share how I use what I have learned. 

4. Take action

If you know there is something you are passionate about but you keep telling yourself that you don't have the time or resources to follow it then you need to start by implementing some of the things passionate people do.

• Setting up a productive morning routine is a good start.
• Getting up early is pretty much a given. See why HERE
• Exercise regularly
• Eat breakfast
• Work to a 'to do' list
• Focus on actions rather than outcomes
• Be positive, think big and be grateful.

You can see more about the things passionate people do HERE

My favourite quote is:

"Vision without action is just a dream, action without vision just passes the time, and vision with action can change the world."

Nelson Mandela

Don't forget to download your free Life Areas printables.

Cheers,

Val

January Successes and Goals for February.

A busy month for pattern publishing.
I managed to finish both the dress and matching jacket 1828 and 1829. Such a cute outfit in the 50s style.

I agonised over which pattern I would do next. They are all so pretty. I decided another jacket with a challenging flared hem and a flared skirt with panels would make a nice addition to the 50s Collection. The flared skirt was easy to draft it will go with the jacket as pattern 1830. I will be working on this outfit during February.

I worked very hard on updating 1802 to include Pictorial Tutorials for printing. I really want all my patterns to have the same look. Unfortunately I got a little bogged down with the sewing. I just had to make a new blouse to go in the photos and also decided to put in another sleeve option. It is almost done.

Look out for my series of posts on the first Doll Clothes Wardrobe Capsule I am presenting with lots of help to decide on garments, patterns and fabrics. They are all ready to go through February and March. I have also started to write up the information into a PDF booklet so you can download it to keep as a resource. This is what the it will look like. I hope to get it finished for the last blog post about this wardrobe capsule.

Check out my Gallery page. I have added 2 new images. They are of the same PJs for the two sizes of doll. There are so many outfits that you can make from just the blouse and gathered pull-ons patterns.

Make sure you look in on my Free Patterns page every month because I will be adding at least one new free pattern or design every month. I planned to do some more pleated skirt styles but ended up posting a free pattern for panties.

Designing and testing patterns means lots of doll clothes in my sewing room that need to go to good homes. Most of them are American Girl Doll size but look out for the Australian Girl Doll size every now and again. I offer great sets perfect for play at a clearance price. Only to Australian customers.

On a personal level I have been meditating for 20 mins every second day. When I started a few months ago I could hardly sit cross legged for 5 mins. Now the 20 mins is pretty easy.

The jigsaw was a real challenge but it is all finished now and a new one is ready to go. I find that the jigsaw gives me a nice distraction but also engages me rather than just passively watching TV.

I will start this one on the weekend. It came in a cute cane box.

I am still trying to change my snacking habit. I have scheduled some breaks into my daily planner to try to stop me just wandering into the kitchen without a plan. It has only been 4 weeks so I still have another 4 weeks to start to see some changes in my actions.

I have enjoyed working towards my goals even though I have not managed to complete everything that I listed. My February goals list keeps some of the January goals and I have added a few new ones.

• Cut out all the applique pieces for my Go Wild Garden quilt.
• Snack healthy and follow the plan. This one involves changing a habit.
• Publish one more 50s pattern.
• Update one more of my older files to make them match the new files.
• Finish writing up the PDF booklet covering all the information in the Wardrobe Capsule posts.
• Add two more images to my Gallery page.
• Add one more free pattern.
• List two sets of doll clothes in my Etsy store.
• Finish the jigsaw.

I highly recommend that you write down some goals for February. It feels really good when you can see you are making progress each month.

Happy Sewing,

Val

Perfect Doll Post Cards and Goals for January

The little post cards are perfect 18" doll size.

You can see the bag is small.

Compared to the exciting find I had this morning my January goals are a bit boring so I will deal with those at the end.
I needed some nice paper clips so I lifted several boxes out of my cupboard so I could get to my stationery box. It was even fun to rummage in the other boxes as I got them down. I keep so much great stuff.

In the stationery box I pulled out an old Cavallini desk calendar. The exciting part is that it is perfect for doll post cards and doll wall charts or posters.

The front and back covers are nice sturdy card. The front has a full size image and the back has thumbnails from the whole calendar. These little images make great post cards. The paper of the calendar (in 2011 at least) was a nice weight and feel. All the pages are blank on the back as well.

The calendar pages (posters) next to two of the post cards.

With calendars 25% and 50% off right now one or two would be a bargain to add to your doll accessories. You can even use it for your calendar. Cut the front and back pages off now and add to the poster collection each month.

The 2016 calendars are mostly lovely vintage images. Vintage Australia is only done in a wall calendar but the back page probably has thumbnails that would make good posters. I don't know.

You will probably have to look around a bit to find the Cavallini desk calendars. They are full price 12.95 USD and 24.95 AUD.

You can see some of the calendars on their website.

I will be checking out my big newsagent next time we go to town. After finding my butterfly cards and charts I saw the new American Girl Doll of the year likes rain forests so my butterfly collection will be perfect for her back pack and office.

I have really been into setting goals lately so I was thrilled to work out that the empty desk calendar stand was perfect for a mini vision board.

If nothing ever changed there would be no butterflies

My short term goals for January are:

• Snack less to reduce my sugar intake. This one involves changing a habit.
• Publish 1828 and 1829 50s dress and jacket.
• Publish one more 50s pattern.
• Update two more of my older files to make them match the new files.
• Finish a series of posts about my first Wardrobe Capsule for doll clothes and schedule them for Feb.
• Add two more images to my Gallery page.
• Add one more free pattern.
• List two sets of doll clothes in my Etsy store.
• Work on the doll hand bags patterns.
• Meditate 15 mins every second day. This one involves building a habit.
• Finish the jigsaw on the coffee table.
• Make a start on some digital books and papers for 18" dolls.

I have lots of other short term goals on saving and exercising and sewing written in my special journals. I also break them down into daily and weekly goals to go on my week at a view desk pad.

Fingers crossed the list of goals achieved at the end of Jan will look just as long.

Happy Sewing,

Val