One Word a Year by Valarie Budayr

What happens after all this creativity in motion actually spawns a successful business? The lifestyle you always dreamed of?

I think I imagined it a little differently. That somehow with success all the worry and time crunching would just vanish because once one is successful it’s suppose to get easier right? Aren’t I suppose to have more time to create? More time to hang out with family and friends? More of everything but less of the negative stuff.

I find myself at the beginning of this new year in such a position. After working over the last year on starting a children’s publishing house and releasing our first book, I’m feeling a little overwhelmed and blind sided by success. It feels often-times like I’m on a treadmill at top speed and full incline.

So one day while I was actually on the treadmill I got to thinking about how I was going to cope with my dreams, and that’s when it hit me. I have to plan for success and it’s aftermath. Just like everything else in my business has a plan, success has a plan too.

To continue to flourish in my creative life I decided that I would assign one word a year which would be my focus. Anything that couldn’t be represented by that word probably didn’t need to be in my year. All within reason mind you. There are those things we have no control over.

The word a year idea gives focus and clarity to a myriad of ideas running through my mind. This year’s word is PLAN. Over the first few weeks of the year I’ve found myself writing down everything I do in a day and seeing where patterns repeat. I ask myself this question all the time, “Do I really need to do that or could I get someone to help me with that?”

Another question I’ve asked myself is “What’s really important to me?” These would be the items on my list that I’m not willing to get help for. The parts of my job and life that I cherish whole heartedly and love doing.

By dividing these areas of my life into little planned compartments has taken away the anxiety and jumble. Once I gave away some of my duties I was able to schedule weekly creative time. New ideas came into my mind and have flourished because of the mental house cleaning I’ve done at the beginning of the year.

As the days, weeks, and months, continue on throughout the year, I am writing down all of the responsibilities and things that need getting done on a mind-map. From our “Plan” I can easily assign things as needed to a variety of people. After installing this year’s word “Plan”, the anxiety and reactive life I was living has subsided and I am now fully enjoying the journey. As much as you plan and try different approaches to your creative life and creative business don’t forget that one day you will arrive at the success you have envisioned. What does success look like to you? Does it have a plan?
Here’s wishing you many wonderful creative moments and much success.

Valarie Budayr is the founder of Audrey Press and author of the book The Fox Diaries: The Year the Foxes Came to our Garden. She is passionate about making kid’s books come alive and you can find her doing that on her popular blog and website, Jump into a Book. When she isn’t being bookie, she is very happily the mother of three uber creative children, married to a wonderfully patient man who has come to love yarn, and caretaker of one adored cat. Other creative interests are music, travel, knitting (a bonafide yarn harlot), and gardening. She loves living a daily creative practice, where even a good cup of coffee is art.