Being An Artist of Life – 2022
For 2022 I’m trying out something a tad different when it comes to goal setting. I still love my powersheets but I’ve been wanting to add something to the goal planning collection for a while and haven’t know what product to use until now.
The only thing I’m not happy about in the 2022 Powersheets is that the Quarterly goal breakdown pages are now gone. I did really like the addition of 90 day goals in 2021 and so I feel a bit annoyed that this is now gone. The main reason I’m sticking with Powersheets is the tending list has remained unchanged at large.
I started thinking about printing off wildcard pages for each quarter and then adding them to the powersheets but I know how tedious this would end up being. I wanted a printed ready-made solution. I have my journal but it’s not divided into sections. I kept on browsing and looking around at goal products.
There is Makse Life and Happy Planner and even Erin Condren Goal planners. But I felt that these duplicated my daily planner too much. I wanted something more abstract and big picture and purely goal focused. Powersheets help me to focus on the tiny action steps and also move towards monthly items. I realised that I enjoy the monthly prep pages where you get to use the braindump page and journal to get everything out of your mind. This is why the new product I’m going to be using along side my powersheets feels like a natural fit. It’s philosophical and journaling based……
It’s called the Artist of Life Workbook and it’s by a company called Lavendaire. It’s run by Aileen Xu and she also has a YouTube Channel of the same name. Her videos focus on topics like self-care, mindset, well-being, productivity and life skills to name a few. I started following along with her monthly Plan With Me videos a year ago and realised that she has her very own workbook called The Artist of Life Workbook. She launched her first one back in 2017. Each year the workbook has got better and better and 2022 marks the 6th year of the workbook.
What is the Artist of Life Workbook?
Well it’s a goal workbook and by that I mean it’s a workbook that helps you look back at the past year and then dream about what you want for the next year. It is very similar to the powersheets and many people feel like it’s a double up of the goal setting process contained in Powersheets & other planners. I however find that it feels more reflective and artistic than other planners I have used. It just has a different vibe or feel to it. Now I’m not saying you should go and buy more than one goal planner. That’s assuming you buy any at all. It’s more that I’m experimenting with really digging into writing out my goals and getting to the heart of the important things I want.
One thing I love about Lavendaire both on the youTube Channel and on the website (https://www.lavendaire.com/) is Aileen’s philosophy for creating a authentic beautiful life.
The mantra she includes on her website and in the Artist of Life Workbook is this:
“Life is an art, so make it your masterpiece”
She then goes on to say
“being an artist of life is to deeply understand that you have the power to design your life in any way you can imagine. You are the artist, and you get to decide what you want to create with your life, from the grandest vision to the tiniest details.”
That paragraph alone has a slightly different feel to the prompts in the powersheets. Not better or worse, just a different perspective.
My thoughts:
Having filled in all the prepwork pages I can now say that I am excited to use this along side my powersheets. The prompts are different and there is a whole section on self-love and eliminating fear which I thoroughly enjoyed digging into. For me this feels like the introspection process that comes before the Powersheets.
I plan to go back to the Artist of Life Workbook quarterly and review my goals along with the tending list from the powersheets. I really feel that this will ensure that my focus is on the big picture and the micro details in equal proportion.
On a quarterly basis there is minimal duplication as the two systems are slightly different. The prepwork pages are intense and whilst some people may not want to do two sets of prep work I feel that having two processes makes me more likely to dig into real goals rather that stay on the surface. I’m doing what works for me so please remember that. If you find you’re tempted to try out two goal books, please please please think about why you want to do this before you go and buy any new goal planner.
My favourite parts of the Artist of Life workbook so far:
The Bucket List Spread
The Current Me vs Future Me doodle page spread – I thoroughly enjoyed drawing! A complete first for my planner a type personality!
The Self-Love and Self-care prompts
The Mindset refresh section.
I really enjoyed the prep work for this book and one point to mention is that it did take quite a bit of time! I set aside two hours a day for a week to really dig into the book and wrote out authentic honest answers. I’m not setting goals for anyone else’s life but mine and therefore it’s important to me to really think about what I’m doing and why.
Now important stats:
Price: $38
International Shipping: $19.91
This brings the total price to $57.91 which works out to around £43. It’s not on the cheap side but it’s also not at the pricey range on the scale. It works out to be fairly cost effective as a basic goal planner. For me it works because I have the back up of the foundational system in Powersheets. Artist of Life for me is an add on and not the base.
Please note that the shipping cost is roughly the same whatever you buy so I would advise you to buy everything you want in one go to avoid multiple shipping charges. The bonus with international shipping is that you do not need to pay import taxes or customs. I found that to get this shipped to me in the UK it was smooth and arrived one week after ordering via DHL courier service. I’m impressed as this was during the COVID-19 pandemic when there were shipping delays!
Now for the fun part! The pictures!!
It wouldn’t be a new product blog post without some photos right? Here are some pictures of the workbook. I absolutely love the product and will be doing an update post later in the year along with a vlog on the YouTube Channel to go with it. Stay tuned for both of those!
If you have any questions or want to know more about how I’m using the workbook feel free to leave me a comment.
