Every year I have a list of goals for the different parts of my life: love, family and friends, fitness, personal development, travel, random,and of course personal finance. If I meet half of my goals or more, then I feel like a bad ass! So, here is the list. Wish me luck
Financial
Already discussed this in the previous post. Here is the link 🙂
Blog Goals for 2013
I have some very definite ones! First and foremost, continue to work on and grow as a writer. I don’t think I am there yet as it is a skill that gets better with practice. I really am glad that I began blogging again as I have met some wonderful people, begun to get a lot of things out of my head that I think about, and have created a voice for myself through this forum.
- Grow my social media platform by July 24 (my birthday) I would like
- Twitter: 1,000 hardcore followers! What I have now: 381
- Facebook: 1,000 hardcore followers! What I have now: 443
- Pinterest: 200 hardcore followers! What I have now: 38
2. Rock some frugal fashion posts
I plan on doing more with the fashion part of the blog. I have some plans for this and will be introducing them soon.
3. Get some media mentions:
- Lucky Magazine, Essence Magazine, The Denver Post, BBC.com, Huffington Post, The New York Times, Black Enterprise, Marie Claire, Elle, and Self. In no particular order. No, I’m not greedy…hehe. Go big or go home. I’m just being honest about what I want.
- Four-ten guest posts for other bloggers. Basically, 1 every 3 months.
- Six-ten guest posts on my blog. It would be great to collaborate and work with other bloggers
4.) Monetize the blog
I love working on this blog. It has given me a new purpose and a new skill set. I spend a lot of time researching different topics that I’m writing about, researching technical aspects to blog more effectively, and work constantly on marketing. I am being honest when I say that basically I am learning a new job. So, I am thinking about ways to monetize what I’m doing but stays true to the blog. I have 2 specific ideas that I will launch. One in February and the other in October. These are in addition to any ad revenue that I can generate.
5.) Run some Giveaways!
I love prizes, and schwag. I also like the fact that doing giveaways enables me to learn a new skill set. Writing a successful pitch is not for the faint of heart!
Travel
I have two major trips coming up one in May and one in July. I also I have a couple of small ones, and hopefully 3 for work.
- London-my sister’s wedding
- Lucerne-my reunion
- Illinois-to visit my Grandma 🙂
- Trip with my mom (long weekend) for her birthday.
Fitness
Living in Colorado we have a lot of pressure to be fit. There is always a race, a walk, a hike, or just some physical event to participate in. I even have friends who win regularly when they participate or place pretty high.
- Lose these freaking 15-20 lbs. I am so sick of the extra weight. I feel like it is not only physically weighing me down, but mentally
- Fight for Air Stair Climb (February)-I finally did this last year (without training) and finished in 21 minutes. Sadly, the average time is between 14-18 minutes. As I gasped, crumpled over in a ball on the 8th floor a 60 ish lady blazed past me. She stopped at the top of the stairs, asked me if I was ok, and after i squeaked out a pathetic”yes” she kept on trucking leaving me to eat her dust. As I resumed the task (climbing stairs ) there were people scattered throughout the stairwell almost like the Zombie Apocalypse without the attacking of other people. This year, I’m kicking some ass and taking no prisoners. Last year was an embarrassment. I will actually train this time.
- Cherry Creek Sneak 5k-I did this last year…again without training. I did fairly well despite this and didn’t have a heart attack. This year I’m training.
- Firefly Run 5k-I did this last year…again without training. Refer to the above comment
- Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon-This is really scary for me. I’ve never run a 1/2 marathon. Luckily it’s in September or October so I have plenty of time to train for it.
Work
I applied for a personal development program offered by the professional organization that I belong to. My supervisor has a agreed to pay for this program. I will know if I have been accepted in two or three weeks. I will have to travel to 3 different locations throughout the year for the program and happily my job will pay for all expenses. Wish me luck!
- Start kicking butt at work again. In an earlier post from this year I talked about the fact that I’ve worked my job 4 years longer than I intended and that it was ok. The Great Recession (Depression?) seriously affected my professional plans. Like many people I decided to stay put and do what I had to do to take care of myself. I don’t regret this decision even though there were days, weeks, months when I questioned this decision. I must admit that the energy and passion that I had for my job waned in the later years
- I used to be the first one at work everyday for 3 years. I was that employee. The Rockstar. Even though I commuted further than 90% of the 35 other colleagues I arrived before they did, and I took the bus! I knew the names of all of our clients, their kids, and spouses. I was 150% engaged, passionate, and on task. As time went on as frustrations mounted the level that I set for myself (and met) wasn’t as high as before. I was still a really good employee, but I wasn’t a great employee which is a huge difference. I want to be that great employee again. Please read the book “Quitter” by Jon Acuff that talks about this topic (and more). Re-think how you are at work.
- Be a positive force at work. It is so easy to get caught up in gossip, talking to much, and complaints. We are human. But, if you’re engaging in a behavior that doesn’t show you in your best light or distracts from your work, then it’s time to step it up.
- Enjoy what I am doing
Love
I want to meet someone. He is out there and I am finally ready.
- I joined Match.com I really like their Stir events. I like the idea of both an online and in person component. It feels a lot more natural for me
- Changing my regular coffee shop. I love my coffee shop, but all the guys that go there are married. So, for the days when I’m hanging out I need to go somewhere else.
- Doing fun activities
- Will try out speed dating
I live in Manver, it’s not hard meeting guys. It’s just been hard meeting the right one.
Vegan Challenge
Successfully completing a month long vegan challenge. I have been prepping for it for since late October. Basically, I would eat vegan Monday-Friday and eat whatever I wanted on the weekend. I actually found this fairly easy to do. My long-term goal is to continue doing this after the challenge. I will begin on January 1, 2013. I am armed with a number of great recipes and strategies to be successful at this. I will write some posts about this so that you can see how things are going.
Secret Goals
I have two huge secret goals that I am not willing to share yet. If I meet these goals you will definitely know!
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MICHELLE! Why did you not tell me about your little space on the internets! Love it – love the goals. But girlfriend, you have got to add one more place on that travel list, don’t make me beg xx
ps – now you have another follower too!
Usha! I’ve been working on this blog for awhile. But, to be honest I quit before so I wanted to see if I would stick with it! Might be in the NYC Labor Day Weekend. I want to go to the tennis open and take my mom (who hates crowds) but wants to see New York. Will keep you posted. I LOVE your blog. Did you get the AltSummit info that I sent?