So, here we are. A new year, and for many of us - new resolutions.
Open social media and you’ll see that the new year hasn’t even started yet, and people all over the world are already planning how they’ll finish it.

But what if we did it differently than usual?

Instead of focusing on the goal - to lose x kilos, save x amount of money, visit x countries, achieve this or that - what if we put the emphasis and all our focus solely on the process?

The process is the only thing that keeps you here and now.

Setting a goal means constantly looking into the future without any guarantee that you’ll reach the intended point. Chasing a goal is a constant fight with weaknesses, limitations, lack, motivation, doubt. This fight always carries the risk of losing.
Creativity doesn’t like this kind of fights.

As I was writing these words, a newsletter from James Clear (the Atomic Habits guy) landed in my inbox with this quote:

“New goals don’t deliver new results. New lifestyles do. And a lifestyle is a process, not an outcome. For this reason, all of your energy should go into building better habits, not chasing better results.”

The process requires only one thing: dedication.

All of us, more or less, struggle with this - we look into the future while life is happening right now.

It sounds like a cliché from a life coach’s handbook, but haven’t you fallen into the same trap with your photography?

You picked up a camera because taking photos with your phone was fun and you wanted to go deeper into it.
Because you like spending time outside, alone with yourself.
Because it gives you joy when you take a cool photo.
Because you calm down while walking through the city in the morning.
Because you like getting into the car and driving nowhere in particular, searching for frames while everyone else is still asleep.
Because you can’t imagine doing anything else at that time.

You weren’t thinking about likes, views, followers, monetizing your hobby, creating BTS reels, going viral, gaining popularity, being recognizable. You didn’t want to create content, but art. You weren’t meant to post regularly, optimize your photos for social media. You didn’t even know what a damn 4:5 ratio was.
You didn’t sweat when your stats were going up, and you didn’t sweat when they were going down either.

You started taking photos because you liked the PROCESS.

Taking fucking pictures at every fucking possible moment.

All of us, or almost all, have fallen into the trap of needing to be awesome, creating beyond measure, delivering content every time the algorithms call, as if we were machines set up purely for productivity.

If you don’t want to end this year in a miserable way - burned out, stripped of the joy from one of the last things that used to give you pleasure - reset your goal-driven mind.

Go out and walk wherever you like to walk with your camera. Take a few photos, it doesn’t matter if they’re below your standards, really. Let yourself be stopped by things that make you pause. Without inflated expectations. Post it, or not, whatever.
Tomorrow, repeat the same. The day after tomorrow, again. The same next week, next month. In every free moment.

When you feel tired - rest. When you’re hungry for more - steal a bit more time from life and spend it on leaving the house.

It really is that simple. Be kind to yourself, the world is cruel enough.

Nurture curiosity. Feed it. Let yourself be inspired, not influenced.
Explore and dream.

The results will come anyway, new doors will get open, you will see the progress - the difference is that instead of carrying the tension of pressure and stress, you’ll welcome them with wide open arms.

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