If you struggle with setting and keeping goals, especially crochet related ones, then keep reading!

I want you to know that if this is you, then you’re also not alone.

I am not motivated by goals. Never have been and I doubt I ever will be.

I am motivated to always do better and be better and I use that as my focus to keep progressing. So instead of creating a goal I look instead at creating a project or habit that will move me closer to what I really want to achieve.

If you really want to set a goal, then they need to be S.M.A.R.T., which is specific, measureable, achieveable, realistic and time bound. To me that stifles creativity, creates pressure to get something done and sets yourself up for feeling deflated if you don’t meet it. It doesn’t take into account life. Life throws us curve balls all the time, so if you have something that is time bound it creates pressure and maybe even anxiety when things outside of your control interupt that timeframe.

Crochet isn’t meant to cause us stress and pressure. It’s a craft that can help us alleviate all of that. It’s a therapy and a stress relief.

So what can we do if we want to achieve something in crochet if we don’t want to set goals? We can set intentions!

Intentions are like building habits. I have achieved so much more when I set an intention and create a new habit instead of setting a goal. For example, I wanted to read more. I like to set a reading challenge through good reads every year and I have never met it yet. I have however been getting more and more consistent in reading and I have been dedicating more and more time to reading. I started to see improvements when I changed from trying to read a set number of books per year to instead read for a set number of minutes daily. When I first set myself a target of reading 10 minutes a day I found a time of day that would work and I set myself a timer. Over time I read more days than I missed and eventually I was able to stop setting the timer and just sit and read.

The same idea can be set to crochet.

Instead of setting a goal to make a granny square blanket this month, you could instead set an intention to make at least one square each day or to sit and crochet for at least 10 minutes each day. Over time you’ll find it easier to achieve, the squares will quietly build up and before you know it you’ll have the squares that you need. It might take longer than a month, it might take less, but either way you made progress regularly and you might just finish a blanket!

Intentions also allow us to flow better with life. You might hit an unexpected busy period with work or kids or a health issue and the goal you set can go out the window. Knowing you can’t meet the goal can demotivate you and might even have you give up all together. But if you have an intention, you can adjust the plan. You might have to switch to a project that allows more flexibility with where you can crochet. Or maybe you need to change the frequency or length of time you can crochet each time that you pick up your hook.

This has worked for me when I tried to get back into regular exercise. I had signed up to peloton so that I could go back to working out at home. I love a mix of exercise types and going through perimenopause and now post menopause my body started to respond much differently to exercise. I was determined though! I started out trying to meet a weekly streak for movement or meditation. In the beginning it meant that some weeks I moved one day a week but other weeks I moved three or more days. Over time I found it easy to maintain the weekly streak so I upped it to a daily streak. It didn’t matter it if was only a five minute session or meditation, my focus was to choose something each day. Over time the sessions that I did got longer and there were fewer and fewer meditations taken to keep my streak up. I had some health curve balls during that time so I would switch to stretching or meditation until my body was ready again. My weekly and daily streak are now well an truly embedded. At the time of writing this I am passed a three year weekly streak and I’m on a 416 day daily streak.

From my perspective, intentions work. They make it easier to achieve something and build a habit. There are fewer restrictions and it’s much easier to stay on track or get back into a rhythm.

Intentions are why I have included some specific things in my Hooked on Crochet Club. Every month members have the opportunity to announce something that they want to be accountable for. This can be crochet related or related to something else entirely. We also celebrate! So at the end of the month members get to acknowledge something that they have achieved, no matter how small or insignificant it might seem. And the monthly projects that get delivered and weekly hook and learn lessons help to keep members engaged and interested in crochet. Members like Janelle are not crocheting more frequently because of the motivation provided.

If you’re making crochet your focus this year then I encourage you to set some intentions instead of setting goals. You might surprise yourself with how much you achieve!

If you want some guidance and support then I encourage you to find a level that suits you in the Hooked on Crochet Club. The full experience provides all of the support you need, but there are other levels that will help you to get there instead.

Seona x