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It may be obvious to you, but this is something that I have only come to know recently: strategic planning is the only way to actually make progress toward your goals. Very often my plan for the new year was built upon nice dreams: wouldn’t it be great if I could accomplish this, life would […]

When I spoke with Joy Vetterlein a few weeks ago (go meet her and read about our conversation here), this topic of creative discipline came up towards the end of our conversation. And it got me thinking — what’s the impact on our own businesses if we practice creative discipline? How does that kind of consistency then end up creating an impact for the people we’re creating for?

Surprisingly enough, with the plan outlined in Part One (if you haven’t read part one, go do that quickly or this post won’t make much sense!), you now have a system for creation.

But I’m creative, you say. I don’t need a ‘system to create’, you claim. My creativity comes and goes – there’s no possible way I could use a ‘system’ for my creative genius, you declare.

Oh my friend, do we ever understand each other.

Let me give you a quick peek into my last decade as a testimonial for the necessity of having some kind of creation system.

Prior to creating The Creative’s Almanac, my plan for a new year was usually built solely on my hopes and dreams. Wouldn’t it be great if I could accomplish this? Life would be so great if I could only do that one thing…

And that was about it. I had very little action built into my ‘plan’ filled with big ideas for the future.

It took me a while to realize that there’s nothing wrong with big dreams as long as they’re backed with an intentional plan.

For a long time, I operated under the assumption that clarity is something I find outside of myself. Like, I need to scour Pinterest and Instagram for the most quote-worthy, mind-blowing sentiments that will suddenly provide a burst of clarity.

As I get older, I’m learning that for the most part, we have everything we need. Outside sources like strangers on the internet, coaches, or therapists can help guide us in our quest, but ultimately, what we seek is already within us. Sometimes we just need the right structure to help us uncover it.

For at least the past decade, I’ve done some kind of year-in-review marathon planning session in December — typically in that in-between time right after Christmas and just before the new year. I’d search Google and Etsy for creative planning worksheets and download the comprehensive and sometimes overly fluffy versions other people were producing.

I’d plan an entire day around this planning session…