When it comes to sewing, 2010 is going to be a very different year for me. In the past, I've been haphazard about my projects and you can see it from my sewing room. I have a habit of starting things and then not quite finishing – like my friend's chair over in the corner crying out for a promised slipcover. (I think I expended all my energy just wrestling it up the stairs to my sewing room.)

The projects I did get done were pushed through by necessity – like the blinds for my little sister's new house. At night you could see in all their windows! I don't care how nice your neighbors are. That's an emergency.

But this year, it's going to be different because I actually have a plan. I'm going to determine way ahead of time what I need to get done. I'm going to set a reasonable timeline. And then, I'm going to have my materials and workspace ready ahead of time.

"Oh, really?" You say to me. "Have you ever set lofty goals like this before and then not followed through?"

I answer, "Let's not talk about the past. Besides, those weren't sewing goals."

Things really are going to be different in the new year. I think it's very appropriate the Winter Olympics will be held in 2010. An important training component for these elite athletes is thinking through every aspect of their performance, mentally rehearsing their success. I remember reading about one athlete who was injured and so for most of her training before the games could only visualize her routines. She ended up winning a gold.

In the same way, I've repeatedly pictured myself on New Year's Day walking into my sewing room to begin the year. My husband is in the living room watching football with my brother. The are kids lazing around doing nothing productive.

But I am organizing piles of fabric according to color. I'm taking a box full of decorating ideas I've ripped out of magazines and putting them into topical order in my filing cabinet. I'm tacking up a big wall calendar with people's birthdays, marking the days I'll need to start making their gifts. I'm packing up my sewing machine so on January 2nd I can take it in to my dealer for its first-ever cleaning and tune-up. (I REALLY hope they don't ask how long it's been.)

By the time 2011 rolls around, I will finally have our bedroom redone. I will have made at least one quilt (it can be a small quilt). My friend will be sitting in her slipcovered chair. And my sewing room will not look like it's just been burglarized.

I have a good friend who's a Hiring Manager for a large company. She says the best predictor of how someone will perform on a job is how they've performed under similar circumstances in the past.

Yes, I'm sure that's true for most people. But not me next year. People really can change, especially if they've visualized success and start first thing in the morning on New Year's Day.

When it comes to sewing, 2010 is going to be a very different year for me.

Comments (2)

Karla Doodlebug said:

... I am so with you! I have started out every year with the idea of getting organized and all pretty in my sewing room..which doubles as our bedroom! This year I started my 2010 organization in October of 2009. I decided that I had to get rid of everything that was not being used, not on my website for sale, or just plain in the way! So now I have several empty tote boxes and I am ready to organize the stuff that is staying! Ahhhh!

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January 05, 2010
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Liz Johnson, Editor, Sew4Home said:

	... Yay! Good for you. You're already several empty tote boxes ahead of me :
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January 05, 2010
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