2018 Intentions and Goals

Does anyone else feel like “resolutions” get a bad rap? Seems like people are either all about them, or totally against them? Personally, I kind of love the new year, fresh start mentality and I love setting intentions and things to work on for the year. That way once the year has passed you can also look back and see how you’ve done. I think the new year is the perfect time to sit down, make some goals and decide where you want to go for the new year! It’s intimidating at first but once I got started I couldn’t stop! So, I’ve set a lot of goals and resolutions for 2018! Wahoo! I do think making them “bendable” and broad while also giving yourself attainable action steps and goals are the only ways to make these successful. You’ll see my action steps and plans below each of mine below.

As I mentioned in my 11 Things I Learned in 2017 post, last year I chose three things that I wanted to focus on for the new year. I put them in a note in my phone and I revisited them often. When I needed a little inspiration, when I needed something to ground me, when I felt overwhelmed by all the things I needed to do, to work on, etc. For once I really loved having these “resolutions” to work on throughout the year. This year I couldn’t narrow it down to just three so I have four for 2018. But I’m actually SO EXCITED about all of them! I’ve been taking notes on these in my phone for over a week now and I think I’ve just about perfected them. So here we go! I’ve broken down my four intentions for the year with some of my focuses and goals below. Then, at the bottom I’m also sharing my blog goals with you guys here. I thought that was a fun peek at the behind the blogging scenes and you can get a glimpse at what to expect for the new year!

Develop Better Habits

• Wake up earlier – being your own boss is great and all and it’s nice you don’t have a timeclock to punch in the mornings. But, It makes getting out of bed early a lot harder. I’d like to officially get back on a wake up early schedule. Whether I’m up to workout, work on something else, or even walk the dog. I need to get my butt outta bed.
• Kick my Diet Coke habit – I know 100% quitting is impossible and sounds miserable but I’d like to not drink it as often as I do.
• Spend time journaling – I go in and out of this habit, so I’d really love to make it priority this year.
• Try meditating – I do this once in a blue moon, but I’d love to get into the habit of meditating before journaling at night at least Monday – Thursday.

Spend Less / Save More

• Meal planning – As someone’s who always on the go and I basically live out of 3 homes, my spending on food is so bad. I eat out or I buy groceries with no real plan so more than I’d like to admit ends up going bad.
• Pack lunches/coolers – Again, packing lunches for work or a cooler for road trips saves you so much money in the long run.
• Rent out my condo – I tried Airbnb and got that shut down by my HOA and since I’ll be moving in with a boy soon, it’s time to let my little home sweet home go to someone else!
• Put back at least 10% of income into my savings account – I’m a sporadic saver. So giving myself a number to put back each month and making this become just like every other bill.

Learn More

• Read more books – I can’t tell you how many business books I have saved in a note in my phone for me to read one day! I’m officially setting a goal to read at least 4 business books this year. That feels like a silly little number but it’s pretty maj compared to last years goose egg.
• Take courses and put them into action – I’m currently enrolled in an instagram course and 2 blogging courses. I plan to REALLY dive deep into these and get the most out of them and make them part of my strategies.
• Decide on one topic a month to learn more about – Education is so important but it’s a little daunting when you want to learn all the things at once ha! So I’m planning to choose one topic to focus on each month to educate myself more on. I’ll be sharing more on that here very soon!

Be More Intentional with my Time

• Be a better planner – plan my months, weeks and days better. I want to be more intentional about all my days. Work days, off days, all of them.
• Practice batch working – While working I’m often faced with the “where to start” question and end up avoiding everything. I’ve gotten into a bad habit of working but not getting much done. So I really want to start practicing batch working and batching out all of my work time. This might be an upcoming blog post! (I also want this little timer to help! & You can read more about what I’m talking about here)
• Be more organized – When you spend the time organizing it saves you a lot more time in the end. So I want to get my work stuff organized, my blog stuff organized and systems in place for everything.
• Be intentional with my “unplug” time and my working time – When I’m working I’m working (and not scrolling instagram). When I’m not working, I’m not working, not checking emails, etc.

Goals for Pearls & Twirls

• Decide if I want to rebrand or not
• Make SEO a bigger priority
• Start pitching myself to brands monthly
• Get on a strict shooting and blog posting schedule
• Consistently post at least 3x a week (the goal is MWF)
• Create a monthy content calendar and stick to it
• Explore travel opportunities
• Feature other bloggers and business owners
• Partner with blogging friends on collaborations, weekend trips, etc.
• Reach 10K on instagram
• Share more lifestyle content (fitness, diet, home, behind the scenes, etc.) at least 1 post a month