2016 Goals Update
If you remember back to January – among all of the other many and important things you’ve done since then – I did a 2016 Goals post called “New Year, New Goals” as a part of #ArchiTalks. I set four goals for myself which you can read more about in the original blog, but in short, they were: Publish the (first) #AREsketches book, continue to learn and share, #ThisOldHouse improvements, and me time. While most of them are broad and vague, it seemed worthwhile to do a check-in on how progress towards the goals is going. After all, we’re already in July…yeah I don’t know where the first half of the year went either.
2016 Goals: #AREsketches
If you’ve been following along, the first visual study guide was published in early April and sales have been going well. As of this week, there have been 164 sales and 370 weekly newsletter subscribers. (You can take a look inside the guide here.) To say that I’ve been overwhelmed with the support and thrilled at all of the emerging professionals taking the task of licensure head on…would be an understatement. I love getting the emails from each individual on their journey, wanting to make sure they’re scaling the ARE mountain properly or simply asking for career guidance.
So what now?
I’ve already started the sketches towards the second volume and am currently almost 60 sketches into the process to date. I’m hoping to knock that one out by spring of next year as well, but we’ll see what the scheduling gods have in store. Life has a way of getting busy when you least expect it.
I’ve also been talking with an app developer about what it would look like to take this digital. It is still very much in its infancy, but it’s there on the radar. For the most part, though, I’ve just been hustling away towards the next book, setting aside each bit of meager royalty I get (more on that later) and trying to share my knowledge and motivate young professionals.
2016 Goals: Sharing and Learning
I intentionally left this one vague in the initial goals post because I’ve found that learning lessons and some of life’s biggest growth opportunities come in unexpected places. Since the goals post, I’ve written a series on social media, a post about priorities, 3 letters to architects, and answered some common ARE questions…and that’s all online. I’m also involved in other community organizations, the local YAF and AIA groups, and started an ARE study group for those at work looking to get licensed. In between all of that, I try to meet up with friends and in my community because you don’t realize how much things overlap and how much you can help until you get into the thick of it. Sometimes all it takes is just starting a conversation, which is how this next opportunity to share came up.
At the end of this month, I’ll be flying down to New Orleans to lead a workshop for Emerging Professionals as a part of the AIA Mississippi convention. What the what?! Yeah, it took me by surprise too. A former boss emailed me back in the spring and said they were looking at EP topics for their annual convention and wanted to know what EPs want to hear. I rattled off a couple things and then somewhat jokingly said “…I’m actually publishing a book on the ARE in a month or so.” And then came a big moment of growth because he asked me if I would speak. What I thought would be a 1 hour chat turned into 4 hr workshop and to say I’m both nervous and excited is an understatement. I’m battling massive impostor syndrome feelings as I put together my presentation but I just keep reminding myself that even the smallest nuggets of information can be helpful to a person finding their path. I know I was veracious in searching for and taking in information during my early career years, so if I can make the process any easier for a future young architect, then it’s worth the nervousness.
This preparation for an out of state conference gave me confidence to also submit for my own regional AIA conference and I’ll be co-presenting a similar workshop this fall for some of my awesome local peeps.
…so as I said, there’s reasons to keep the goals vague. Growth happens in new and unexpected ways and I’m so excited for what’s in store for the rest of the year (and the future). I’m just going to keep burning that fire and sharing what I learn.
2016 Goals: #ThisOldHouse
The week before the #ArchiTalks goals post, I wrote a goals post for #ThisOldHouse. This is one goal where less has happened than I’d like, due to a variety of reasons. The main one being time. In order to keep up with #AREsketches and work and life in general, something has to give. The house has been the thing to give…with the added reason that I haven’t yet found my money tree.
I have this thing where when I see @ikeausa boxes…I.MUST.BUILD. #whatanarchitectdoes
A photo posted by Lora Teagarden (@l2designllc) on
The office has been relatively finished…outside of some art that I actually started this weekend. But other than that, nothing much has happened. I’ve been in full save mode to get the exterior refinished, but have had a couple setbacks – the latest of which being a gremlin in my attic. I’m still saving towards it and having some estimates for work done, but I also need to take the time to put together some drawings to go before the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission and worth through some other design details (like window types and paint colors).
The full bath actually took a step backward in March when the hot water supply line busted and I came home to water geyser-ing in the bathroom and coming through the ceiling like a waterfall into the first floor…and down into the basement. Needless to say, I was less than thrilled with my plumber because I had initially stated concern about the installation quality (compression fittings on an angle never work out). What it did teach me is to stick to my instincts and my intellect. Yes I’m a female and it’s really easy to give into an older male contractor (especially when you know him), but that doesn’t make my intelligence less valuable. Being thorough at the forefront would have saved lots of headaches down the road and it has come to help greatly in projects since then.
So….the goals are still going and I’m still saving towards the exterior work and the project after that…and after that…and after that.
2016 Goals: “Me” time
Oh man, this goal. I believe I was spot on in the initial 2016 goals post when I said that my mindset is to “DO ALL THE THINGS”. There have been moments since then where I’ve questioned my sanity and found myself wondering when and how I was going to get everything done.
“Neither desire to help or desire to overcome lead towards taking time for myself or stopping to enjoy the moment.” – New Year, New Goals
I’m happy to say, though, that I’m slowly, sporadically finding ways to give myself time to unwind and recharge. And now I circle back to a comment made in the #AREsketches section earlier. Remember how I said I was setting aside every meager royalty from the book? Those royalties are the only way I am monetarily paid for the last year and a half’s worth of work. I’ve spent many hours working on the sketches, book formatting, marketing, etc that could have otherwise been spent relaxing and recharging. So I made a promise to myself that whatever amount I received from book sales would fund travel (I’ve written a LOT about how important that is to me: see here, here, here, and here) and I’m happy to say that I’ve made good on that promise by booking my first trip.
A photo posted by Gergely Vass (@gergely_vass) on
Later this fall, I will be taking two weeks (all of my PTO) and doing the first half of the Camino Frances route of the Camino de Santiago. It is a pilgrimage to the burial site of Jesus’ apostle Saint James in the town of Santiago de Compostela, an act which has been happening for over 1,000 years. Some people now take it simply as vacation or as their own search of enlightenment. I have been considering making the trip for awhile, more intensely after my cousin and her husband took a month off between relocating to do it recently and could only speak highly of their time. While two weeks will only afford me time enough to get halfway (at about 16-20 miles a day), I am so excited about this trip. While I will begin alone, you are never truly alone on this trip. Many others, with varying reasons, will be starting in and around the time I will. I’m eager to see a new part of the world, to experience the culture and an architecture that has grown and been maintained out of service to those on pilgrimage, and to make new memories. I can’t begin to imagine what awaits me and what I will learn in those two weeks…and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how much I’m looking forward to the fantastic (and cheap) wine of the region. I’m sure that wine will be what gets me through at least a few of those 300 miles over the span of two weeks. I’ve been starting initial research and training for the hiking – which helps the “me” time in the interim – but am trying to not allow myself to plan this trip and burden it with expectations. The only promise I’ve made myself is that I will stop in every church I see along the way, regardless of time, to experience the culture and the architecture. If you want to see pictures from other’s trips, here’s a link to the camino hashtag on Instagram. Some of the scenery is downright gorgeous and gets me even more excited for the fall!
So there you have it, an update on my 2016 goals. What has the first half of 2016 been like for you? Let me know in the comments.
Until next time,
