Make, Learn, Do: Setting Gentle, Post-Burnout Author Goals (+ free printable)

When my kids were younger and we were homeschooling through busy/difficult times, long summers, or times when I wanted to help them learn how to set and reach goals, I’d ask them three questions for the month or season ahead:

What do you want to learn?
What do you want to make?
What do you want to do?

One simple answer for each question was enough to keep us rolling without falling over.

My oldest has since graduated and my youngest is a teenager now, but we recently had a very rough health year that upended school work for a while. I remembered those questions, and the answers gave us some relaxed-but-valuable educational guideposts for a difficult season.

Then came winter.

Both kids are doing much better, but I landed in a nasty pit of burnout. I’m still struggling with recovery and overwhelm, but at some point in December when I was thinking about homeschooling plans, I remembered our learn-make-do questions. I had a moment of calm just thinking about how those questions got us through some educational burnout, and it made me wonder: Could I use those questions to get me through my own burnout?

YES!

First things first, though. I switched up the order.

I’m a creator at heart, and I need to prioritize creation. Not just words for a novel, since I’m still in burnout, but any kind of creative endeavor. Particularly things that sound FUN to make. Jewelry? Personalized planner pages? Blog posts? They all count for making, and I wanted them at the top of my list.

Learning is the most natural part for me, but I still neglect it when my responsibilities pile up. I have a bookmark folder full of mini-courses, a pile of research books beside my bed (not to mention my overfilled e-reader), and playlists full of YouTube videos. I’m less stressed, however, if I pick a theme or topic to focus on each time period, so I don’t overload my brain (which is already happening without my “help”). Otter training videos for an upcoming story definitely count here.

Last is doing. This section is where all the execution things fall. The things I can easily check off a list. The things that all too often crowd out the more important stuff at the top. cringe Again, I need more focus here. For me, this is the admin, marketing, and managerial stuff that keeps my writing business afloat. It’s where promos and spreadsheets and calendars live. For you, it might be attending a conference or setting up a website. Sometimes it’s the execution of things from the Learning section… important stuff! But too much here makes my plans lopsided, so this is where I need to make choices and be very selective.

If you’ve also found yourself overwhelmed lately, this might be a gentle way to ease into the new year. The key (especially if you’re coming out of burnout, like me) is to not overfill your list. Keep it simple and consider picking just one item to focus on for each section. For example, your learning could be on one topic, but you could make a list of potential books to read and videos to watch, following your energy and interest as you decide which to pick from during the month. If you’re making a list for a whole year, you could jot down several potential topics or projects in each section, but you might want to just focus on one at a time as you move through each month. When I put more than one thing in a section, I think about the items as more of a menu of options than a to-do list.

I usually scribble my list on a blank sheet of paper, but I decided a fun project for my Make section would be creating some cute printable pages. The bonus is I get to share them!

Make-Learn-Do Printable Goals Pages

(The download is absolutely free with no signup required. Payhip will ask for an email to deliver the .pdf, but you aren’t signing up for a list. These were just some fun sheets I made for myself, and this was the easiest way for me to share them. I wanted to have a full planner set available next week, but LOL that’s not happening yet.)

You can use this exercise and answer these questions alongside your regular goals and plans, or maybe this is all the planning and goal-setting you need for a while. Use the timeframe that makes sense for you: a month, a quarter, a season, or the whole year. Punch holes to put it in your planner or tack it to your wall beside your desk as a visual reminder to keep things simple while still building momentum.

If you’d like to share some of your plans in the comments, I’d love to hear your gentle goals! And if you have suggestions or requests for future planner pages, let me know that also!

Wishing you a restful remainder of the year filled with cozy dreams of your tomorrows.