I don’t do goals. I do BINGO.
Traditional goal setting is completely unsuited to neurodivergent brains, so - inspired by creator Hannah Witton - I'm trying something different this year: a dopamine-driven Bingo Card approach that actually works with how my wonky brain operates rather than against it.
In this video I'm walking you through my 2026 Bingo Card - what's on it and why those things made the cut.
(And yes, it's March. Spring is a far better time to plan the year. Fight me.)
✨THINGS MENTIONED IN THE VIDEO✨
Hannah Witton’s original Bingo Card video
Orla Stevens YouTube channel
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If you prefer to read, here’s the transcript:
My 2026 Bingo Card (AKA Not Goal Setting)
I really hate goal setting. I especially hate doing it in January when you're supposed to. I've always felt like the year doesn't really get started until March — when the world is waking up in the Northern Hemisphere, spring is springing, and the light is coming back. That feels like a much better time to start thinking about what you want the year to look like.
I've done elaborate goal-setting processes in the past and they're fine, but I nearly always end up abandoning the whole thing within two or three months because all the dopamine's gone out of it. I am a complete dopamine junkie — it's just how my brain works.
So rather than a rigid list of goals, I came across a fantastic video by a creator called Hannah Witton, where she'd created a bingo card for the year — all the things that felt fun or interesting in the moment, with no pressure to get any of them done. A visual reminder, not a to-do list. That is absolutely my speed.
So I made one. Here's what's on my 2026 Bingo Card.
Use Up Art Materials
This might be my favourite item on the whole card. Last year I spent the entire year working on Things Men Have Said To Me Instead Of Hello — an intense, soul-excavating project that used a lot of unusual media and required a huge amount of emotional and creative energy. Since finishing that and getting the exhibition up in January, my aim for the rest of the year is just to play.
I have an incredibly well-stocked studio and a lot of stuff I haven't touched in a year — markers, coloured pencils, pastels, an enormous box of collage material. I just want to burn through it, make things of no particular consequence, and get the dust off everything.
Do a Life Drawing Course
Life drawing is one of my favourite things and I've been neglecting it. If you can draw the human body, you can draw pretty much anything, and I'd like to do a proper refresher. There's a Patreon I love called Draw Brighton which has the most comprehensive life drawing course I've come across — I think I'll sign up again and just work through it. Good for keeping skills sharp, whatever direction my practice goes next.
Make a Calendar
This has been on my list since I became a full-time artist three years ago and I've just never gotten around to it. My friend Orla Stevens recommended a print-on-demand company she uses for hers and they look really good — so I think this year might finally be the year. If I start now, I can have it ready for the Christmas period. I'm thinking sketchbook work, or maybe some flower paintings — or possibly a Things Men Have Said To Me Instead Of Hello calendar, which could be quite something. Leave me a comment if you have thoughts on what you'd like to see.
Create Another Cool Campaign
One of my guiding principles for my art business is that marketing should feel like making more art. Last year I created a treasure hunt campaign for The Flourishing collection — a whole series of props, photographs by Lars, a trail through Copenhagen, found objects with handwritten notes. It was completely immersive and absolutely enormous fun. Someone actually emailed me to warn me to be careful because the person leaving the clues might be a stalker. As an indication of how well the illusion worked, I was thrilled.
I'd like to do at least one more of those this year. I have a collection that's never been offered for sale — I Feel Your Eyes On Me Like Beetles — and I've got ideas involving stop motion and a film noir, black-and-white detective aesthetic. Watch this space.
Create Three Campaigns for Clients
Something that came out of last year's campaign work is that I absolutely love creative direction and world-building — that place where my artist brain and my marketing background collide to make something genuinely weird and interesting. I've also missed working with other people. So I'm opening this up as an ad hoc service.
I have a beta client I'm working with this spring, and three campaigns over the year feels like a good number — something to get stuck into during the creative lulls between my own projects. If you run a cool business and you want to do something strange involving puppets, photography, and storytelling, drop me an email.
Make T-Shirt Designs
I used to make t-shirt designs back when I was an illustrator and I loved it. Now I want to do something more hands-on — hand-painted, upcycled, that whole world. I've been collecting words and phrases for t-shirts for years: funny, provocative, completely random statements that make me and Lars laugh. I've been thinking of calling them non-sequiTEEs. Some are personal, some are just beautifully stupid. Last year was heavy and dark and challenging. Rewarding too, but right now I just want to play and make cool t-shirts.
Make a Puppet Music Video
My friend Jennifer and I made some puppets last year — there's a video about it coming soon — and we had a brilliant time. It was much easier than expected and we both made puppets in an afternoon. What we want to do now is actually design a puppet, design a set and storyboard, and film a proper little music video. Jennifer's an animator, so she's brilliant at storyboarding. It's probably a longer-term project given how busy we both are, but it's on the card.
New Collection
This one is a bit of a wildcard. I have a few ideas composting at the back of my brain. At some point, one of them will grab me by the hair and pull me under, and that will be my sole focus. I don't know when that's going to happen — there's always a long fallow period and then suddenly I'm completely in it. It might happen this year, it might not. I have plenty of work to sell and plenty of other projects. But it's on the Bingo Card, because if it happens, I get another chance at a Bingo (I don’t really know how Bingo works).
10 Podcast Interviews
One of the most effective ways I've found to grow my audience is getting in front of other people's listeners. I love being interviewed, I have a lot of thoughts about a lot of things, and it's a brilliant way to connect with people who've never heard of me. One a month for the rest of the year feels about right — so ten is the loose target. Putting it out into the universe and seeing what comes back.
Make 25 YouTube Videos
Last year I made 12 videos and I want to double that. I love this channel, I love talking with you, I love when the comments section actually becomes a conversation. Right now, while I'm in this spacious, between-projects period, I might as well be making videos — and everything else on this list is brilliant material for them. So: 25 videos, as consistently as I can manage.
Make More Zines
I made my first proper zine last year as part of the Things Men Have Said collection and I loved every bit of it. I've always loved making books of my work. I also want to produce next quarter’s cultural recommendations for Friends of the Haus as a zine rather than just the usual blog post. And I've got loads of collage work and sketchbook material that doesn't fit neatly into any collection but would be beautiful in zine form. No specific number on this one — just a reminder that when I'm in the studio wondering what to make, a zine is always a great answer.
Get to 3,000 YouTube Subscribers
I debated including this because I obviously can't control it directly — only make good videos and hope people stick around. I'm currently just under 1,500, so doubling feels achievable. It doesn't really mean anything in the grand scheme of things; it just makes me feel good, and helps get my work in front of more people. I've spent a few years figuring out what I want to do and how I want to do it. Now I feel genuinely confident in it — the artist, the cultural commentary, the whole creative monster. I want more people to know about it, and 3,000 is a good start.
Create Fabric Designs
Another one that's been on the back burner for years. I love textiles, I love paint, and there's a missing link I haven't quite cracked yet between the two. I'd love to extend my painting practice into wearable work — maybe even make clothes from my own fabric designs eventually. I think working out how to do it and sharing that process on YouTube could be really good fun.
Make a Book of The Flourishing
The treasure hunt campaign, the stories behind the locations, the paintings, the whole experience — I want to put it all into a book. Partly for you, and partly for me. As the paintings gradually sell and go to live in new homes, I want a tangible, physical record of that work and that chapter of my life. I think all artists should be making books of their work. A zine or a book is just a lovely way to collect art when you're not in the market for a large original painting.
Finish the Big Canvas Painting
Before Things Men Have Said grabbed me and pulled me under, I'd just started a large canvas — a platter of fish, lemons, garlic. I was really enjoying it and then I abandoned it entirely. I've missed painting at scale, and this piece is part of a little trinity I'd like to complete. I won't lie, there's a small voice telling me I might have forgotten how to paint after a year of mostly hot-gluing things — but I'll ease back in through sketchbook work first and ramp up from there.
Take the ‘Things…’ Exhibition to Another Country
Things Men Have Said To Me Instead Of Hello has had a response I genuinely did not anticipate. I'm completely blown away by it. There's been some early conversation about a possible showing in the Netherlands, and I would love to take it somewhere like the Vagina Museum in London. However — and I say this with full self-awareness — the logistics of organising that are beyond me. I need someone capable to handle all of that. I just need to show up. If you're reading this and that someone is you, my inbox is open.
That's the full Bingo Card for 2026. Will I do all of them? Who knows. The point is that they're all things that genuinely sound like fun right now, and having them front-of-mind makes it more likely that they'll actually happen. And if they don't, they roll over to next year — or I drop them entirely because what felt exciting in March feels deeply boring by August. That's the beauty of a Bingo card over a goal list.
No pressure, no arbitrary deadlines, just a collection of things that might be cool.
That's much more my speed.
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