#109 - Using Intentions as your Creative Compass for 2026

In this cozy year-end episode, I guide you through a gentle intention-setting practice inspired by wishes shared inside the Business Circle. This isn’t about goals or productivity — it’s about creating an inner compass for 2026 that feels supportive, spacious, and doable. If you’re craving more ease, courage, stillness, or time to create, this episode will help you clarify what you truly want for the year ahead.

 You know me as a guide, mentor and teacher, but I've also set off on a new adventure, coaching. Coaching gets a bad rep sometimes, but when it's done right, it can be really transformational. As part of my coaching education, I'll soon need to do real coaching sessions. And it could be a really great opportunity for you to experience it at no or low cost. If you've ever been curious about working with me in this way, now's the time. Just send me an email: info@ja-wol.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Year-End Check-In And Break
• 3:20 Berlin Trip And Creative Energy
• 4:10 Wishes And Intentions Theme
• 8:20 Intentions Versus Goals
• 14:22 Building A Compass For Decisions
• 17:22 Universal Creative Wishes
• 20:32 What An Intention Really Is
• 22:32 Step-By-Step Intention Practice

Transcript

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I'm doing thumbnails. I don't know what I'm doing. Hi, welcome back. Or welcome for the first time here at Patent Shifts. I am gearing up to gear down. Cause it's the end of the year and this is the last episode before I take my Christmas break. I'm turning this into a tradition where I don't tell you when I will be coming back because I know that I will, because I just love doing this, but I might just take a little bit longer or come back a little bit quicker, depending on what I need, what I feel like, if I have a lot to say, or if I'm simply just exhausted with the December things that are going on. So let's just say that I will most probably be back soon after Christmas somewhere. And also I just wanted to say that I don't think January counts as the first year of the month. I mean, January is just like getting over everything that has happened while you've been reflecting on the last year. It just takes time. And then February, you're starting to feel like, okay, I better get going. I better have like some sort of an idea of what's going to happen or what I want to happen in the next year. And then in March, you finally, yeah, things are happening. So that's how I usually perceive the end and the end of one year, the beginning of another year. And I also talked about how I basically have two reset points every year around this time of year, and the other one is around summer, when I also take a break. And when I take a break, my brain actually starts working again. It's miraculous what a little rest can do for your brain. And then I have all sorts of ideas, and usually the main idea is I'm gonna do everything differently, and then I'll calm down a little bit, and then I get to my senses, and then I make some healthier decisions, and that's kind of how my cycles go during the year. So I cannot believe this is the end of 2025. That is sick. I mean, how? Right. Um, for those of you who are watching on YouTube, I've got a new little microphone buddy here. Of course, we still have my emotional support pickle who's also with me. Um, if you're listening to this podcast, you're thinking, what is this all about? Then go hop on over to YouTube and have a little bit of a gander and see what's going on. I recently, last week, went to Berlin with my friend Angela, and this is where I found this little fella, and they're very, very, very cute. So this is my companion for today, and um, I am editing a little video about our trip to Berlin, but I'm also still really learning and finding out how much time it takes to edit a freaking video, it takes so much time, and so um it's four days, two travel days, two days in Berlin. Had an amazing time. We had um let's just say that it was all about needles, and I'll leave it with that for now, and then at some point there will be a video. But today we are focusing on, I mean, you're probably bored of it by now, but hopefully you haven't listened to a lot of other videos and podcasts about um reflecting and things like that. And I've done that before, and today I want to talk a little bit about wishes and intentions. So, welcome to the last episode before the Christmas break. Yay! I feel I feel very Muppetty. Did you know that there are chaos Muppets and Order Muppets? They're two kinds of Muppets. I did not know that. And um Andy J Pizza taught me that. Um, he has uh an amazing podcast, actually, the first ever podcast I started listening to. It's called Creative Pap Talk, and I love it. It's an amazing, amazing podcast. Um, so he talked about the Chaos Muppets. Why was I talking about Chaos Muppets? Uh anyway, let's just go back to the topic. Um, so it's this time of the year where we are tired, where we crave some coziness and we do the reflections, and everybody's got their own way of doing it. Some people just carry these thoughts around in their head and feeling very um edgy. Other people write things down, or they talk about it to friends, or they do it in their work environment, or perhaps not at all. Perhaps you just slowly move through your days and have not a worry in the world, not a care in the world, and you are oblivious to endings and beginnings. And if that is the case, I hope that works well for you because it sounds the way I'm saying it, it sounds really calm, calming. But I think most of us um have wishes for the future, and perhaps sometimes we wish we did things differently. And I have got some things to say about that, but first I need to do a little sniffle because I think I've got a cold coming, another typical thing for this time of year. Okay, sniffle out of the way. I had a recent coaching, group coaching set up with my business circle, and we did a similar celebration um for the last year, and we called it Little Lights and Well Wishes. I know it sounds corny, but you know, sometimes corny is good. We shared three wishes. I asked the members to share three wishes they had for themselves for the next year, and I asked them to share them with me, and then I would put them in the on the workspace so they could all see these different wishes anonymously, and then we would embrace them as wishes to all of us, and that was quite special. It was uh an emotional session and uh very clarifying and also very warm and loving. All of the all of the feels were there, and these wishes kind of inspired this episode. Of course, I'm not gonna share them literally. We've got a safe space there. I'm not gonna say who did what. I that's not what we're doing here, but I just wanna give you some idea of um the kind of things that go on in people's heads, what they wish for themselves as small business owners in the creative field, and particularly in the um needlecraft slow fashion and fiber arts world. So this episode isn't about planning or productivity, it's more about intentions. So your inner compass that guides everything else. That's where it starts, where you figure out what is it that you you want, you need. So let's take the next step and look um why intentions matter and not so much goals, and especially for creative brains. So lots of us, especially when we've had jobs that or still have jobs in a setting where you work with other people in a corporate world or in the cultural and creative industry, where I used to work in music venues and theaters and things like that. Um we usually work with goals and measurable goals, and a lot of creatives I have found that I work with have started to really not like setting goals all that much. Um, it can get very frustrating. They're about goals are about things you want to achieve and they're measured. Like by February of 2026, I want to be able to push 20 kilos across the road. I have a really bad example, that's what's happening here. But goals are measurable so that you can go back to them and see if you've actually achieved them. Um and they have something that's a little bit negative surrounding them. Because if you haven't achieved them, then what? How do you deal with that? And intentions are ways that you want to feel and how you want to move through your days, who you want to be in the world. So they by the fact that they are that, they reduce pressure and shame and perfectionism, and we want that because all of those things are bad, and we don't want that. And if you haven't heard, perfectionism is not something to strive for, it's really messing you up. And I'm just gonna be very opinionated about that because I know this for a fact, because it is true, and I lived it, and uh, I wish for everyone. This is my wish for everyone in the world. Please do not strive for perfection. Okay, that's out there, moving on. Okay, time for another sniffle. Intentions help you make the choices that fit the life that you want, whether that would be in business, creativity, your level of energy, relationships, all of that. And um they don't really require rigid systems, it's more of getting in touch with your feelings, actually taking the time, like taking it, because you have to literally take the time to be able to do this kind of work. It won't be given. Like there's there the time is the time, and you have to take it, make the decision to do this kind of thing, so that the future may be better. And if you feel like I'm too busy to sit down and think about my intentions, then uh remind yourself that doing this kind of work will make your life a lot easier in the long run because you are building a compass for yourself. And if there's people just love a step-by-step, they love to just tell me what to do. This first and then that and then that. And if you have a compass, then you can use that to make the decisions as you go along. Okay, so it's really tempting to have systems, and some of the I mean, you know, I love a good system. I do. I mean, bullet journaling is well, I call it a method, but it's also a system. Yeah, I don't know. I think my English might not be good enough to know the details in that. But intentions are the foundation that make the system meaningful, especially for bullet journaling. It starts with intentions. So let me just share the kind of wishes we shared in the business circle. And they they were so universal, they were so recognizable. Each and every person in the group, including myself, recognized themselves in these wishes for the future. And it was a f I think it was the first question I asked is what's coming up for you as you see all of these wishes? And everyone said, Oh, they all apply to me. And so it might be the same for you. Less procrastination, to be brave, to make difficult choices, a quieter head, a peaceful balance between work, rest, and play, and more private time and time with loved ones. And also, an important one that comes back all the time and is so ironic: stretches of peaceful time to create. Sometimes us creators don't allow ourselves time to create, not even sometimes, a lot of the time. We are so busy with all the bits and bobs around the business that we actually forget to do the thing that got us here in the first place. We don't forget, we don't allow ourselves to do it because the other things seem more pressing, more, more important, more, I don't know, expected of the people, whomever they may be. So these are actually we call them wishes, but they can actually also be called intentions. They're not goals. Nobody's saying, I want uh by Monday morning, seven o'clock, I want my head to have four thoughts less per minute. It just says I um want a quieter, I need or want a quieter head. And so the collective thought here is a lot of us want less noise, more softness, more clarity, more balance, more trust, more of all of that. And that's how we want to be in the world. Now let's go into some sort of a definition about an intention. What is it and what is it not? It's a direction, not a deadline. It's a feeling, not a finish line, and it's a way of showing up. So some examples. I intend to be kind to myself when things get hard. I intend to build my business at a pace that feels sustainable. I intend to protect my creative mornings for some of these things. I intend to be part of the solution, not the problem. I intend to connect people around me. So I hope this all makes sense. If you're up for it, I've got a simple intention setting exercise. So if you're walking, take a deep breath. If you're doing something, just take a pause. If you have the ability to do so, get cozy, go sit on the couch with a cup of tea, grab a cup of tea, get cozy, and step one. Look back with kindness. So ask yourself what felt really good this year, what was absolutely awful draining, and seemed like a good idea, but really wasn't. What surprised you about this year? And what did you learn about how you want to do your work or live your life? Of course, in bullet journaling, we have a system, a way of doing this, uh, which I truly love, and I'll tell you how to do it. These are some questions that can help you get going. What we do in bullet journaling is we take a spread, that means two empty pages in front of you, and we divide them in four parts. On the left hand side, we've got on the top what's working, and below what is not working. And then on the right hand side, on top we have more of, and in the bottom we have less of. So working and not working is all about the process of things, and more of and less of is more about the purpose of things. This all feeds into how you set up your new bullet journal, but it could be really helpful for you if you're not a bullet journalist. So just really taking time and thinking about your year. Of course, what's even more helpful is that if you are bullet journaling, then all you need to do is flip through your month, your months, and sometimes your weeks as well, and just you'll have a quick idea of what the year was like without having to do all the heavy lifting in one moment. It it you've already done it throughout the year. So if that doesn't sell you on bullet journaling, I don't know what does. It just it just the gift that keeps on giving. It's so easy. All I have to do when I reflect about the past year is to just flip through my bullet journal, and I immediately have the answers of what's working, what's not working, what do I want more of, and what do I want less of. And when you all have that in front of you, that will really guide you to know what your intention for the next year can be. Of course, you can have multiple intentions, but I'll invite you to start small and um think about what you do want more of. So that's step two. Step two is name what you want more of. And I already told you a little bit about that, how we do it in bullet journaling, but we'll take it a little bit smaller now, and we'll use the example of the wishes that were shared in the business circle group. So here are some prompts that connect to that example. Where do you want more ease? Where do you want more courage? Where do you want more stillness? What kind of time do you want to protect? And what do you want to release? Thinking, so it's an open question. Actually, a lot of that is also coaching questions, and you can self-coach on this. And then when you've done that work, you can choose in step three one or two intentions. You can phrase them in this way: In the new year, I intend to. Now, examples could be create a slower rhythm between work and rest. Be braver in the new year, I intend to be braver in choosing what I truly want. In the new year, I intend to give myself permission to say no sooner. In the new year, I intend to make space for creativity. Here's the banger, without guilt. So, who is feeling like I'm talking to them? You can say me. Step four. And then it's time to anchor them, to really let them drop. So you can either write it in your journal, um, you can add it to your phone wallpaper. I think a really nice way of doing that is going to Pinterest and making collage. So make a collage on Pinterest and add it to your phone wallpaper, or just make a drawing, take a picture, do that. Anything, like needlepoint it, whatever's your thing, write a song about it. You can just simply put it on a post-it by your desk on the fridge. You can share it with someone in your community just so you have some accountability and you can check in with each other, and um, you can use it as a compass for the decisions you make. Should or should I not get this new thing or accept this new offer or just keep it next to your intention? Does it fit my intention? Will it get me to where I want to be and to how I want to be in the world and live my life this year? I'm aware that the intentions that I gave as an example are very specific, and you might need more in one year. So you could do different ones or you can do a bigger one. Like for me in the last year in 2025, my intention, and it might sound very vague to you, but it is my intention. So just saying this year, I intend to cultivate harmony and balance across all areas of my life, and then I went into explaining mental and physical health, business and family, my values, connecting, symbiotic relationships with myself, others, nature, and the work I do. It was also very much around caring and growing from planting the flax that I had planted and growing it and caring for the puppy. And it was basically all about the connectedness of life and how I feel like if things are connected and balanced rather than separated from each other, that is feels like it is more connected to who I am as a person. And it's that's why the whole thing of work-life balance. To me, when I talk about it, I don't think about a container for work and a container for life unless that's what you need. For me, it means that it's moving symbiotically with each other. Oh, that's a whole different episode. But so I did a little drawing actually in my bullet journal to kind of visualize that intention, which is and I hold it up to the camera. It's a tree, and the roots and the canopy, the top of the tree and the bottom of the tree, look exactly the same. There are branches branching out and roots branching out, and there's a trunk in between. So they're the same thing. And I try to use that as a compass this year, and honestly, I don't think next year will be much different for me because I still feel like it's the same intention for me, and I don't need to revise it if it's still fitting, but I'll take the time to think about it and see if it's still fitting. So yeah, that is hopefully helpful to you, and I would love to hear some of your experiences with this, and you know where to find me, just go to the website and click on a bunch of buttons and you'll you'll get to me. Um, I really love hearing for you from you. I do not nearly get enough messages, and I know you're listening. I just my neighbor just told me that she has a person that she was talking about and told them about my podcast, and they like my podcast, and they said they like my voice. And so for a fact, I know people are listening. Something else, I actually found a new client, not through my podcast, through another kind of through someone else, and they happen to know me from my podcast, and they lived in the US. That is wild to me. So I know there's people there listening, they're just not talking to me, and I'm doing all the talking here. So I think your intention for 2026 should be I will at least send one message to Saskia um because I appreciate her podcast. There you go. I'm waiting. I want to see all the messages, so yeah, that's it. I'm wishing you a wonderful 2026, and also wish all the wishes that you have for yourself that they come true. Be uh careful, be uh loving, be carefree sometimes, and take care. Big kiss. Until the next one.