My Personal and Professional Goals in 2017
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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What a great way to increase engagement by being your true self! I’ve been following you for quite some time and I enjoy how your blog/”brand” seems genuine and free of facade. I have a newborn blog so I also really appreciate you choosing to share your work goals–it helps me reevaluate mine and grow my insight into this very specific job.
Good luck with the house buying!! 🙂
Thank you so much Amber. I really appreciate your readership and support. Good luck with your blog and your goal setting this year! xx
Love all the goals and the motivation! If you ever want to knit together I am down and we can donate some things to the homeless! Kill two birds with one stone 🙂
Thanks girl! I have to learn how first, haha.
I appreciate you sharing your thoughts and goals – it was very inspiring! They are obviously well thought out, balanced, and valuable. I hope you are highly successful in everything!
Thank you so much Donna. I really appreciate your readership and encouragement. Best to you in the New Year.
Great post, Jess! One of my biggest goals this year is to pick up the phone and call my loved ones instead of texting. More human connection, more kindness, more volunteering, and simplifying my life. Cheers to one of the best years yet!
I LOVE those goals Becky. I think we can all benefit from less screen time and more human connection. Happy New Year to you. Hope to see you sometime soon. xx
I loved yesterday’s post and today’s detailed article. Thanks for sharing your goals with us! I carved out time this morning, writing 4 pages in my journal, and finally saw my over-arching themes for 2017. I plan to post my goals and detailed action plans on my fridge, where I can see them throughout the day, and stay on track. I’ll probably check things off as I do them, since I tend to be motivated by that action. I just discovered your blog/Instagram, etc and following your adventures, recipes, dog walks, (and seeing your collection of the most comforting, cocoon-like sweaters! ?) and generalized musings has added a lot to my day. Just what I needed right now. ☺️
Good for you Betsy. It’s SO important to carve out time for yourself and it’s not always easy so bravo for doing that. Great idea to post your goals somewhere visual, I’ve done the same and I hope it will keep me motivated and accountable. I’m so happy you found us and I really appreciate your kind words and support. Wishing you the best in the New Year. xx
great goals love! cheers to an amazing 2017! x
Back at ya!xx
Love that you shared all of these in detail. Yes and YES – to taking fitness classes.I take barre classes too and started last April. it makes such a difference when you have a class to go to versus motivating yourself to exercise. It forced me to commit to certain times and dates every month. Now I’ve done almost 100 classes!
We have a garden too! This summer my husband and I will plant our third garden. We’ve loved having the fresh veggies all summer long – makes such a difference picking them fresh.
Good luck with your goals – I need to sit down and chart out goals with my own blog too – I only started back in September but I think I need to sit down and think about what I want to accomplish with it in the next year.
Thanks again for sharing all of this – you give great content to your readers as always.
http://www.stephanieterrone.com
love all of these and can relate a lot, i’ve got some really similar blogging goals & buying a house is top of the life goals too 😀
Mel x
http://mediamarmalade.com/
Ps: i’ve subscribed to your newsletter so hopefully you’re on your way to hitting that goal 😀
I love this post. I think it is so important to set out realistic schedules especially if your working from home it can get hard to switch off!
CharlotteSamantha
Loved reading this detailed post – I just subscribed to your newsletter!
Lisa
http://www.theeverydayelevated.com
Inspiring goals! So excited for you both about the home-buying process. I don’t anticipate that happening for me any time soon, but it’s one of the stages in life I’m most looking forward to. x
Jen | affecionada
I love these goals and I love how they are realistic to achieve! I really think you’ll be able to stick to it! I really like how you create a schedule during the day so that you can shut off work during ‘off hours’. I should try that more when I work from home!
http://www.rdsobsessions.com
These goals are great and so inspiring! Working on my fitness is the biggest thing for me this year as well as growing my blog! You got this, girl 🙂
xx Tess | Sequins are the New Black
I love this post! And your entire website, actually. Ha. Looking forward to reading more. x
Thank you so much!