So, here we are… 2017! Although I wasn’t posting last week, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t still thinking about the blog and about work. (Can you ever REALLY disconnect?? I don’t think so.) I actually really missed you guys! And I missed posting and sharing. It’s crazy how much it becomes something you NEED to do instead of just something you like to do. Without the pressure to post last week, I had a lot of time to think about 2017 and what I wanted to achieve in the new year.
Want to know why so many resolutions fail?? It’s because most people are great at visualizing what they want to be different in their lives, but lack the follow-through needed to make it happen. I think a big part of that is that we all see the end goal, but we gloss over the hard work that it takes to achieve what we want. Changes don’t just happen, they take planning and work.
Goal setting is IMPORTANT. Probably the most important aspect of growing your business or your blog or achieving anything, really. Rich Wilkerson Jr. from Vous Church recently said something that really resonated with me: “Every area of your life that lacks a plan, lacks progress.” I love that! We so often know what we want, but don’t set a path on how we’re going to get there. Without a plan, it’s never going to happen. Some of our goals can seem so big and overwhelming, but when you break them down and plan how you’re going to get there, it makes the goal a lot more attainable. The same applies to businesses to. We all have a goal of progressing, but we need to make sure they are manageable. Whether one of your goals is to get in touch with specialist companies like Lalea & Black to help deal with your financial management of your business, then make sure you set out to do this. Finding help to effectively reach your goals is a good move to make. No matter what your goals are, try and work towards them. You’ll definitely feel a sense of achievement in the long run.
Lofty goals need be broken down into mini-goals. It can be hard to stay motivated when your goal seems so far. Checkpoints along the way help keep me on track and motivated. Reward yourself when you hit those mini-goals!
I thought I’d share just a few of my goals for this year. Honestly, my list of goals is a long and involved one. I’ve got tons of ideas on how I can make these things happen as well as schedules, timelines, and ideas. I thought you might like a little peek at a few of my big work and personal goals and how I’m going to achieve them:
Grow my blog and Instagram following. This goal has a bunch of really small mini-goals and checkpoints of course. Planning is key to this! I’ve made a list of all the things I can do to increase my blog’s pageviews and my Instagram followers. If for any reason these goals don’t give me the results that I want to see when it comes to increasing my following, I can always decide to read something like this buzzoid review to see if this particular Instagram growth service can provide me with the results I want to see instead. But you’ll never know if you don’t try. So, here’s what I’m going to do!
- Post consistently, 5 days a week
- Plan my content out better and be more intentional about my time
- Join a Tailwind tribe
- Up my Pinterest game
- Work on improving my SEO rank (I’ve already been working with chloedigital on this!)
- Engage with my readers/followers
- Integrate more video in 2017
- Start a Sunday newsletter, recapping the week and including some subscriber exclusive extras
- Rework some of my older posts that are still relevant
Travel more. Create more Travel content. I LOVE traveling and feel so blessed to have been able to take some amazing trips in 2016. Spain, Italy, Boston, Charleston. I’d love to travel more in 2017 and explore new places. And share them with YOU of course! I love creating travel content and sharing new places with you.
Stop working for free. In the new year, I’m taking my blog to the next level. Part of that is increasing my income. As bloggers, so many of us are so excited about working with a great brand, sometimes we sell ourselves short and don’t ask for what we’re worth. We end up doing so much work… sometimes at a loss to ourselves. At the end of the day, I LOVE blogging… but it’s a business. This is my JOB. We need to not feel guilty about asking to be compensated for doing our jobs. This is something that’s kind of hard for me… because I truly love working with so many wonderful brands and feel so blessed to be able to do so.
Start waking up earlier. Since I work from home and am on my own schedule, I’ve sort of fallen into the bad habit of staying up late and then waking up around 9 or so. On days I get up at 6:30, I am SO much more productive and I feel like I get way more done. I’m going to start training myself to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier. I love these melatonin gummies from OLLY, so they’ll definitely be my BFF at first while I get myself used to an early bedtime!
TV only 2 nights a week on weeknights. This one is sort of a contributing factor to my late bed times! I love binge-watching a show on Netflix and I end up staying up way later than I should. I think cutting back on my TV time will help me get to bed earlier. I want to make reading more a priority. I love, love, love to read. I go through stages where I’ll read, like, 4 books a WEEK and then I won’t read for months.
Work out 3x a week. OK, I used to be GREAT about working out. When I lived in New York, I went to the gym 6 days a week. Working from home makes it a lot harder on me to make the effort to get out and hit the gym! We’re doing the 21 Day Fix, so I think working out from home will be a much easier way to get back in shape. Since I’ll be getting up early, I think that fitting in a morning workout will be much easier!
Those are just a few of my goals for the new year! I’m really excited for a new year that I truly feel will be the best ever. I’ve spent the past few days really reflecting on the new year as well as last year and coming up with strategies and plans to stay on track with my goals. I’d love to hear from you– what are YOUR 2017 goals? How are you planning to achieve them? Hit the comments and let me know.
