New Year for a New You – Day 6
The past week has been very exciting as I have been reflecting and getting ready to move forward with my new plans. I am excited to make my blog my #1 priority this year. But before I jump into 2016, I need to do one last wrap up of 2015. Back in October I made a list of 16 Things to Accomplish Before ’16, with updates planned for once a month. While I didn’t complete nearly as many of these as I would have wanted to, I’m happy with the progress I made, and even happier that I’ve decided to delete some of my uncompleted tasks off my list permanently because they are no longer something I need/want to work on as I move forward with my new goals.
16 Before 2016
2015 Year-end Review
Personal
1) Lose 15 lbs. in 2015
Update: Not even close to making my goal. Actually I went backwards with my progress. After I had ACL surgery this summer I gained all the weight back that I lost the first half of the year. I just got the ok from the surgeon to slowly start working out again…..slowly.
2) Get on a schedule – my life is crazy! I still have 5 children living at home, I homeschool, and all 5 are heavily involved in dance. Plus I have my own business. But I want organization. I want set business hours. I want to know I have a moment set aside for everything that needs to be done.
Update: I left the above description of my goal and highlighted a portion because I’m craving organization right now. I believe I can do so much more with my time if I just organize my schedule, get rid of time suckers (fb), and stay focused.
3) Make working out habit again
Update: Some of the reason this isn’t habit yet is because I didn’t have the ok from the doctor (see #1), but I’m starting to make some progress on this and moving in the right direction.
4) Finish unpacking
Update: Nope…..I’m happy with the progress I’ve made, but I still have about 2 dozen boxes left, which are all those boxes that need to be gone through to decide what to keep and what to toss. My new plan is 1 – 2 boxes per week until I’m finished.
5) Budget
Update: This one is a wip. I’m going in the right direction but want to see this habit stick.
6) Christmas gifts – DONE
Business
7) Double my readership & income
Update: While I didn’t double my readership (was thinking way too out of reach) and I didn’t double my income I did see both move in the right direction. I’m taking that as a win!
8) Book outline
Update: Postponed
9) Sell one design to a publisher
Update: Postponed
10) Create editorial calendar
Update: Started….and it’s a work in progress. I would like to begin using it and tweak it as I get more involved in my blog.
11) Make 2016 business plan/outline
Update: I’m still working through this one, but I’m on track and will hopefully finish this week.
12) Evaluate all my 3rd party shops
Update: I closed my ebay shop and am in the process of transferring all my Bigcartel items to my new online shop that is right on this website.
13) Newsletter – DONE
14) Add downloads to my site – DONE
15) Have paperwork ready for taxes
Update: Didn’t reach this goal but I still have about 1 week before I need to scramble to get my state taxes done.
16) Classes – DONE
Update: I’m crossing this off because I’m working on it daily, but continuing education is a great way to keep moving forward, so this will be a daily/weekly task for me.
My hope is that if you have unfinished business that you wanted to accomplish before the new year, it’s not too late. Decide what’s important enough to stay on your list and what can be crossed off and forgotten about to clear your mind.
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As last year came to a close I wanted to truly evaluate my year, decide what worked and what did not work, and use that self-reflection to plan for a better year in 2016. My review was based solely from Marketing Creativity as I worked through her planner Your Best Year 2016. My favorite part about her planner is that she knows that a creative person cannot separate their personal life from their business, so she incorporates them both into one planner.
If you’re looking to take your business to a new level, or just would like a very reflective planner with tons of self-reflection prompts, you can purchase Your Best Year 2016 here. It has been eye opening and life/business changing for me and I am looking forward to what 2016 has in store.
To read the rest of my New Year for a New You posts: