Let me just start by saying, sorry for the lengthiness of this one. I went back and forth about how specific I should be here, but ultimately I wanted you to get the full picture and help you get on a path to set and achieve your goals as well. Whether you already have your goals mapped out or you haven’t even thought about it yet I encourage you to take time for yourself to do so. Yesterday I shared some tips on how to set goals and achieve them so today I want to share my specific goals for the year. I broke them up into personal and professional, though the two are so deeply intertwined that there is a lot of crossover. I also created one big/overarching goal that relates to my personal and professional life. I’ve kept some things private (mostly financial and business related) but tried to share as much as possible. So here goes…
Personal & Professional Goals
Overarching theme/goal: Create and follow a schedule
Since quitting my job and going full time (and even before then) I lost any sense of work life balance. I’ve mentioned before I’m never not working. I had this issue at my old job as well, I found it very difficult to turn it off and I am sure many of you feel the same. The difference now is that I really LOVE my job and genuinely enjoy doing it so “turning it off” doesn’t feel as important. But it is. Having a balance between work and life is crucial, and being a small business owner has made it even harder. I spent the last half of 2016 saying “I have to make a schedule for myself” and I never did. So I spent the last week of the year planning out what that would look like and creating a daily schedule for the entire week (yes even the weekends). Here are a few specifics:
- Monday-Friday: Working hours are 7:30-5pm. I created a few different breaks throughout those days for personal stuff like exercise, walking Nora, etc.
- Within that schedule I’ve mapped out specific times for different work activities, for example I’ve created blocks for emails, photo editing, social media scheduling, weekly financials, etc. The goal is to work more efficiently on a daily basis instead of being all over the place 24/7.
- Saturday & Sunday: This is dedicated “me” time. I’ve added a few things to the weekend schedule like cleaning, organizing, etc. which we typically do on Saturdays, but nothing work related (with exceptions for some social media posting I have to do for work).
Business Goals
Now that I’ve shared my main goal/theme here are my specific career goals for the year.
- Email Content – Create consistent weekly emails and exclusive content for email subscribers
- Increase newsletter subscribers by 50% (I’ve created weekly targets to reach) – Help a sister out, you can subscribe here (wink, wink)
- More Video Content – Create at least 2 videos/month to be shared on either Youtube and/or Instagram
- Increase blog traffic (monthly uniques and page views) by 30%
- Dedicate more time to engaging with readers and followers (that’s you guys!) through various platforms (comments, Snapchat, Insta-stories, emails, Q&A, etc.)
- Increase monthly affiliate commission
- Work with at least 1 new brand a month
- Partner with at least 1 outlet a month to increase blog exposure
Personal
I’ve got some lofty personal goals but I truly believe I can accomplish these this year.
- Buy a House – This is the big one this year. Craig and I spent a lot of time talking about this for the past 6 months and while it’s a little terrifying it’s also really exciting. There’s a lot of preparation and planning that goes into buying a house so we’ve hit the ground running, as we get more into the process I’m happy to share more about it with those of you that are interested.
- Savings – Set aside 15% of all income into a savings account. Particularly since we are about to step into the world of home buying this is essential.
- Exercise – This is basically a goal every year and I never stick to it. This time around I made it a part of my schedule so it just becomes a part of my routine. Here it is:
- 3 classes/week (Barre or another studio class)
- Yoga/Stretching 2 times per week
- Dog walks (Craig usually walks Nora most of the time so I want to help out more here)
- Summer – Bike rides, tennis, swimming
- Nutrition – I’m continuing to pay more attention to what I’m eating. We had an incredible garden this summer and it was so nice to grow our own food. We definitely want to continue that this year.
- Increase water consumption. At least 6 glasses per day (I bought a few different water bottles to keep on me at all times).
- Eat less meat. I really want to incorporate more vegetables and cut back on meat, it has become less appealing to me over the past year.
- Buy local. This infographic popped up in my feed the other day and it’s pretty startling. I’ve seen it before and I’m determined now more than ever to shop local whenever possible and avoid purchasing products from these brands.
- Charity/Volunteering – I want to do more about the issues that are important to me. Sharing a Facebook post doesn’t go far enough. I outlined the top causes important to me and I am researching the best ways to have an impact so I can dedicate more time and resources either locally or through larger national/international organizations.
- Women’s Rights
- Animal Rights and Rescue
- Environmental Issues
- Veterans
- Homelessness/Food Pantries
- New hobbies and personal development – I want to try and learn new skills so I’m challenging myself to try a new creative hobby and a new sport or physical activity. I’m doing a knitting class this month so we’ll see how that goes. I haven’t decided on my new sport yet.
- Practice kindness – This is last but certainly not least. I want to focus on practicing more kindness in my everyday life not only toward others but for myself. I think we can all use a little more kindness in our lives right now.
If you stuck with me this long, thank you and bravo. I know it’s a lot but I feel excited and hopeful for the next year. I’d love to know what your goals and aspirations are as well so please share in the comments and let me know your plans for 2017!
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