Reflect, Reset, and Reignite Your Year: Let’s turn the page to your most productive year yet
The KidLit Creator's Chronicle - Issue #01
Hi ,
At the end of each year, I take time out to reflect on the year just passed. I look over the goals I set for the year—which ones I achieved, which ones I didn’t, why I didn’t achieve them, and what I could have done better, and also take time to celebrate my wins.
Then, I look to the new year and set my goals for the year ahead, covering all areas of my life: professional, personal, family, and so on. This is a powerful exercise I believe everyone should do.
I'm lucky enough to do this while taking a couple of weeks off in the beautiful Gordon's Bay, near Cape Town, South Africa.
A new year always feels full of possibility, but before we leap in it, it’s valuable to pause and reflect.
The most successful creative journeys start with understanding where you’ve been and envisioning where you want to go. Reflection provides insight and the opportunity to learn from both successes and challenges, so you can build on strengths and avoid repeating mistakes.
Then, resetting your focus gives you a fresh start, strengthening your inspiration and drive, and developing a clear vision gives you direction.
Today, I want to guide you through a process to help you reflect, reset, and reignite your creativity and motivation for 2025 as an author. Feel free to apply this to all areas of your life!
Reflect, Reset, and Reignite Your Year
1. Reflect
Start by reviewing 2024. Ask yourself:
What were my wins? Which author goals did I achieve or make progress on?
Celebrate your wins! This actually helps you, not only to see what you’ve accomplished, but to feel more motivated and capable.
Which challenges taught me the most?
Think about what you had to overcome and how you did it. We often learn more from failures than from successes, if we take the time to do so.
Which projects did I enjoy the most?
Can you create or take on more projects like this? You’ll probably think of something you hated here too. Maybe now is the time to decide not to do projects like that, if possible.
What didn’t help me make progress towards my goal?
Get rid of things that are a waste of time.
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2. Reset
Before you can take on new goals, you need to free up time and bandwidth. This might mean:
Wrapping up unfinished projects that you’re still excited about (or need to complete).s
Shelving ideas that no longer spark joy (it’s okay to do this!).
Organizing your creative space, whether it’s tidying your desk or decluttering your digital files.
This helps you get rid of noise and to give yourself space and more clarity, so your energy is fully focused on what matters most this year.
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3. Reignite
Now you get to dream about the year to come. Think about:
Your Big Goals: What would you love to achieve by this time next year? Maybe it’s finishing your manuscript and the illustrations, or finally hitting “publish.”
Your Creative Habits: What small steps will move you closer to your dreams? Perhaps it’s writing for 20 minutes every day or regularly attending workshops that inspire you.
Your Impact: What impact would you like your books or writing to have? What do you want them to mean to the children who read them? How many children would you love to reach?
Write these dreams down. Big or small, they will guide you towards your goals.
And, talking about guiding, if you’ve never done a North Star Vision, I highly recommend it!
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4. Write Your North Star Vision
To me, this is the most exciting part of the process—envisioning your ideal life three years from now. Your North Star Vision is your guiding light, showing you what’s possible and giving you direction for everything you do.
I do this exercise with members of my Children’s Book Mastery Author Coaching program and have told them how amazing it’s been to see parts of my North Star Vision come true, down to uncanny details.
Write your North Star Vision in present tense, as if you are describing a snapshot of your ideal life three years from now. So don’t write, “I will be a published author.” Write, “I am a published author.”
Do this for your author career, but I recommend doing it for all parts of your life, including personal, family, financial, health and legacy.
1. Picture Your Ideal Future (Three Years From Now)
Imagine your life in January 2028. What does your author career look like? Consider questions like:
How many books have you written, published, or sold?
What impact are your stories having on readers?
What does a typical day as an author look like?
2. Be Specific and Visual
Make your vision detailed. Instead of saying, “I want to be a successful author,” write something like, “I have three beautiful published picture books, and I sell 2,000 copies a month. I visit schools and events 2-3 times a month to inspire young readers.”
You can write as many things as you like. I like to divide it into the different areas of life (personal, family…) and then make a bullet list for each one, noting everything want my life to be in three years.
3. Write It Down
Write your North Star Vision (remember, in the present tense, as if it’s already happening). Write each part fully, and keep it somewhere where you can review it whenever you want. I recommend looking at it from time to time to keep you inspired and on track.
Forget Perfection, Focus on Progress
As a perfectionist, two quotes that changed my life are:
Done is better than perfect.
You win or you learn.
Focusing on actually completing things, rather than obsessing over getting them perfect, is liberating and boosts your morale. Plus, you become much more productive!
And realise that not getting the outcome you were aiming for isn’t failing, but an opportunity to learn. That’s still progress.
If you’re a perfectionist, remember:
Progress is more important than perfection.
And it’s not just more important–progress is the foundation of success. Striving for perfection often leads to stagnation, while this mindset of progress over perfection allows for growth, and… well, progress!
Why perfectionism holds us back:
Perfectionism often leads to procrastination. When we’re afraid of not getting it “right,” we don’t even start (or at least, we don’t finish) due to fear of failure.
It discourages experimentation, which is vital for creativity. If we only aim for perfect outcomes, we miss the lessons learned from trial and error.
Perfectionism leads to burnout. Constantly trying to meet unrealistic standards can drain your energy and enthusiasm for your work.
Instead of perfection, focus on a system that encourages consistent progress:
1. Break Goals into “Micro Commitments”
Big goals can feel overwhelming, but breaking them into smaller, achievable steps reduces the pressure to get everything perfect.
Ask yourself, “What is the next step I can take that is so small, it would be impossible to fail?”
For example, instead of: “Finish my manuscript this week,” try: “Do 20 minutes of revision each day.”
Micro commitments help you to keep moving forward, even when life gets busy.
This approach aligns with the Japanese philosophy of kaizen, which focuses on continuous improvement through small, consistent actions. By identifying and taking the next smallest possible step, you can build confidence and progress, making it “impossible to fail”.
2. Redefine Success
Change how you think about success. What if success is showing up and trying, rather than striving for perfection?
Celebrate effort rather than just outcomes. Even if you don’t like the results of your 20 minutes of writing, you’ve still made progress just by making the effort.
To see how little steps add up over time, keep track of your progress. A notebook or habit tracker, for instance, can help you see your progress and be more motivated.
Remember: Creativity isn’t about perfection. It’s about experimenting and improving.
What’s Your Word for the next year?
As part of my yearly goal setting and planning, I choose a single word as my focus for the year ahead. It’s a simple way to stay aligned with what truly matters, especially when life brings distractions or challenges, as it always does.
One of my favourite books is The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller. It emphasizes the importance of identifying your “one thing,” by asking yourself:
What’s the ONE Thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?
It’s about focusing on a single, most important task that can simplify and enhance all other aspects of your work and life.
Another quote from the book:
Extraordinary results are directly determined by how narrow you can make your focus.
While the book isn’t about choosing one word, I like to choose one word to keep me on track when distractions come my way that could derail me.
For me, my word is...
Consistency.
Without consistency, even the best ideas and most magnificent goals remain dreams. With consistency, we make progress.
For writing, it’s about showing up every day, even when it’s hard.
For personal growth, whether it be emotional, mental, physical or spiritual, the only way to really grow is to work at it consistently. Healthy eating only helps if you do it consistently. The same with physical exercise, or mindfulness exercises.
This year, I’m focusing on building better habits in my personal and work life, so that I can achieve steady progress. I encourage you to do the same!
Over to You!
What’s your one word for the next year? Hit reply and let me know. I’d love to hear about your word or creative goals!
Let’s make this the year we stay consistent and make our lives and stories the best they can be!