New year, new life, right? Why of course! Who doesn’t love the opportunity for a fresh start? I know I do! And there’s no better time to re-evaluate our prior year’s behaviors, desires, achievements, failures, and dreams, then at the beginning of each new year. And we all know, we don’t have to wait for the new year to start making improvements in our lives, right? Every new day, week and month is the perfect excuse to start living our best lives. #livingmybestlife For the purpose of this post, I’m going to be focusing on the new year – 2019 – and sharing the personal and professional goals and resolutions I’ve set for myself.
Before I share, I want to break down the difference between the two and how I view them, since they are often intertwined and it can become quite confusing. A goal, according to the world wide web, is the object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result. A resolution is, a firm decision to do or not to do something or the action of solving a problem, dispute, or contentious matter. I like to look at goals as objective based backed by a plan of action vs resolutions I view more as behavioral based. So now that we’re a bit more clear on the difference between the two, time to share what I’ve come up with. (keep scrolling to continue reading)
New Year Resolutions/Goals
Personal:
- ACTUALLY READ MORE (Goal 1 book every month or 2 months)- This is a resolution that’s always a work in progress for me. this year, I’m determined to make it a regular habit. I mean, if Lia has to read 20 mins a day then so should I! I plan on achieving this by sitting down and reading while she is reading, which is usually after school. If that doesn’t work then I will definitely make sure to schedule it in my morning routine. Are you an avid reader? If so, what times work best for you? If not, is this a resolution or goal you’ve started 2019 with?
- Don’t Argue with My Husband – I’ll be the first to admit – I don’t like to admit when I’m wrong. Without getting too much into detail. This year I commit to not taking offense to any constructive criticism my husband shares with me, while also trying not to be combative with him. As much as I love being right, I love him and value our marriage much more!
- Declutter My House -We moved into our home in 2014 and since then, I feel like we’ve accumulated so much junk, especially after selling a business and storing all the excess equipment, going through 2 remodels and losing track of what we had, and not to mention all the mindless items we naturally purchase on a yearly bases. We have 4 floors, 2 of which are only really occupied. So the other 2 floors (the basement and top floor) are used to store our excess STUFF. This year I plan on selling, donating and/or tossing anything that either isn’t worth saving or keeping. I just want to simplify everything.
- Get Back to Saving and Stop Mindless Spending – My mother did a great job of showing me how to budget and most importantly the importance of saving. I can still remember receiving my first paycheck and my mother taking my earnings and only giving me enough for my bills. Back when my bills only consisted of a sell phone and car payment. I remember being so upset and not understanding why she would take MY MONEY. Of course she told me she was saving it but I wasn’t seeing where or how it was being saved! Well, after about a year of this, she handed me a check book where she had logged all of the deposits of what she had taken and low and behold, the balance on my account was a little over two thousand dollars! I don’t know about you but when you’re 15 years old, 2 thousand dollars is like A LOTTT of money! From then on, I was hooked with saving and watching that balance grow. Even when I was a poor college student in Twin Falls I always had a decent savings account. Fast forward to now…, I’ve definitely been spending more than saving. So this year I’ve decided to change that. No more sporadic spending for me, which is really, the root of not being able to save. Especially in this day and age where one can’t even log on to their phone without being temped to purchase something. Steps I’ve taken to help with this resolution: I unsubscribed to 80% of retailers, removed my CC from my iCloud keychain & I’ve committed to thinking twice, maybe 3 times, before purchasing ANYTHING, especially when it comes to fast fashion and designer bags!
- Schedule In My Workouts – I’ve always been an active person, however I haven’t been as diligent with my workouts as I would like to. Recently, I noticed a few of my favorite bloggers mention how they treat their workouts, as important work appointments and schedule their workouts as they would any other work meeting. My preferred time to workout has always been in the early mornings before my body can recognize what is happening, so I am determined make sure I work out at 6 AM in the morning at least 3-4 times a week. I will need to make sure I go to bed by 10 pm to get at least 7.5 hours of sleep. What time do you usually workout and how often do you workout a week?
- Eat more veggies & Fruits – a common resolution for many and I’m no exception! A couple months ago I shared how I was on the Keto Diet and although I’m not currently following it. I will say it’s changed my relationship with food, specifically carbs and sugars, making it much easier to make better choices when it comes to what I put in my body. My goal is to snack on fruit during the day, serve at least one veggie for lunch and dinner. Always opting for lettuce wrapped sandwiches and burgers and salads when possible.
- FOCUS on the Important tasks at the moment & Work on my OCD & Let go of being Superwoman- Working from home can be both a blessing and a curse. This past year, it’s been more of a set back then anything, mostly because I’m such a neat freak and I obsess with trying to accomplish it all, hence the word superwoman in the title of this resolution. A clean and tidy house, all done up, all tasks done, lunch made for my husband, cooking and cleaning, driving Lia to her extracurricular activities, working on our e commerce businesses, etc. It’s gotten so bad there are days I end up cleaning, running around and doing everything else but the important work done. Important work like blogging and working on my passions. The last 6 months, have really been hard; I’ve been forced to come to terms with this obsession and forced to start making changes to disrupt these behaviors and way of thinking. For example, I’ve started making little changes like letting go of certain expectations when it comes to my home – there’s no such thing as a 100% clean home 100% of the time! I’ve made it a goal to only stick to 15 mins of cleaning a day (when Lia does her chores after school I will work on my chore/s of the day). I only cleaning the kitchen at night time, instead of cleaning it in the morning, after lunch and after school. If there’s clutter and it belongs to Lia or Jay, as much as it annoys the hell out of me, I will wait until they come home and have them put it away. Bottomline, if It doesn’t need to be done right now it can wait. It’s been hard, trust me, but a necessary step in the right direction.
- Become A Morning Person Again – This year, I want to get back to my kick ass mornings, where I’ve accomplished 50% of my todo list by 12pm. Ever since I can remember, I’ve always been an early riser. My husband, however, is quite the opposite. His work schedule is partly to blame for this, since there are days he’s at work until 8 pm or later. And then there’s the days, we just need to unwind and Netflix always seems to suck us in.
I’m not sure if there’s a recommended number of resolutions or if eight is too many. What I do know is, these are areas I’d love to improve in my life. Now that you know mine. What are yours? Did any of these spark the start of a resolution for you or did you work on any of these areas in 2018? If so let me know!
Now on to my professional resolutions. (Keep Scrolling)
Professional:
As far a my professional resolutions and goals, they’re pretty lofty and will require lots of work on my part. But I’m ready.
GOALS:
- Take My Blog Seriously & Start Monetizing Consistently: For the longest time I’ve allowed self-doubt and insecurities get in the way of taking my blog seriously. I’ve hidden behind excuses like -“I don’t do it to make money, it’s just a passion or I’m not a real blogger”. The truth is, I genuinely love blogging and connecting with you all, I’m just terrified of failing at something I love. So instead of going for it, I’ve found it easier to discredit myself. Impostor syndrome is real and she’s a bitch. Well, I refuse to live another year with her. No more watching everyone else achieving their dreams and goals. I wrote out a detailed plan of action to help me get on track with this goal. One of the action steps is to create a media kit and start reaching out to brands. Another action step is to get back to daily story telling through different types of posts other than just outfit posts. Here’s to a year of giving it my all!
- Help Aspiring Bloggers Start Their Blogging Journey – When I first started, my number one objective was to help and inspire others to pursue their dreams. And over the years, I’ve received so many DMs asking for tips and recommendations on how to start a blog. So naturally the idea of creating a blogger’s course came along. Now, this is a desire I’ve had for a while but I knew I needed to work on myself before I could help others. That’s exactly what I plan on doing. I’m going to dedicate the next 3-6 months to learning as much as possible, while also implementing what I learn so I can turn around and create the most comprehensive blogger’s guide. Wish me luck! I plan on sharing more about it as I start my plan of action for this goal. In the meantime, if you are a an aspiring blogger/influencer and have any questions or would like to chat let me know. Send me an email at jennifer@stilettoconfessions.com
- Create & Follow a work routine – stick to it! The biggest tool that’s going to help me with this is going to be google calendar and discipline. I’m committed mapping out my work week and following it as if my life depends on it. Even if the pile of shoes under the coffee table taunts me all morning. 😬
Alright loves! I hope you enjoyed this post, it turned out a bit longer than I anticipated. Now that you know my goals and resolutions for this new year, it’s your turn! I’d love to hear/read yours!
As always, thank you for meeting me here and if I can ever do anything for you please don’t hesitate to shoot me an email or send me a DM!
XOXO,
Jennifer Puente
