Saying No to New Years Resolutions, Yes to New Goals!

Happy 2019!!

I love a new year. I love the chance to have a fresh start and a new beginning. There is something about going into a new year that makes you feel like you can achieve anything.

When the new year is approaching my hubby and I will chat about the previous year. We talk about what were some of our favorite memories (travelling Europe for 3 weeks, celebrating our 1 year wedding anniversary, family vacation in Mexico). We talk about things we are very excited about for the upcoming year (Mexico with the family again, Hawaii, Halifax for a best friends wedding, and the International Women’s Day Gala I am going to). And in the past we have talked about New Year Resolution ideas… Because New Year New Resolution.. Right?!

Our new years resolution ideas tend to be somewhat generic ideas of what we vision would make us happy this year. There is always something along the lines of wanting to eat healthier and go to the gym more consistently. Maybe something about starting a new project like the blog. But after New Years Day they never really seem to go anywhere.

This year when we talked about it we decided instead of setting new years resolutions, we are setting new year goals. By setting goals we are talking about actionable, achievable ideas instead of just concepts. It’s way easier to work towards success when you know exactly what it looks like!

I have a vision of what I want this year to look like. I want to really grow my blog and my Instagram. I want to be more intentional with my time and not waste it mindlessly scrolling social media or Netflix. I want to feel more in control of my life and not just barely making it through the days. When I was thinking about all of this and how I was going to action my goals I decided to split my goal setting into 4 different categories….

• Personal
• Health
• Finance
• Business (this includes my blog!)

This year I am also trying something new that I have really seen start to grow… And that is coming up with a word of the year! I was looking for a word that captured all of my feelings towards the future and my goals. Then it hit me! I can’t wait to share with you what I came up with. Keep reading to find out (and then to find some new year goals ideas)!

I am going to dive a little more into my word of the year and my goals… Talk about accountability!

2019 Word of the Year

Drumroll please….

My 2019 word of the year is intentional! The more I thought about it the more excited I got. I have a lot of great ideas and a great vision and heck, I can even be super organized. But at the end of the day I’m not always on track with the way I’m spending my time or trying to achieve my goals.

So this year I want to be intentional about the way I spend my time. I want to be intentional about the way I’m trying to achieve my goals. And I want to be intentional about the way I’m bringing happiness into my life!

Personal Goals

In 2019 I want to feel more personal accomplishment and more control over my life. This means less TV and more quality time.

Goals:

• Read minimum 1 book a month. I love to read and this is something that has gotten away from me. I think I have a stack of 10 books waiting for me!
• Enjoy my travel without feeling guilty. And take a few minutes each night to document my trips. This comes back to my finances (or foreshadows I guess as the finance goals are below) and trying to be better with my budget. But travel is one of the things that brings me so much joy in life. I want to travel as much as I can right now and not feel guilty about it!

Health Goals

Keeping good care of my health is something that has become really important to me. When I am eating healthy and being more active I feel much more productive, motivated, and capable. Working full time and starting a blog has distracted me a little and I really want to focus on getting back to where I was!

Goals

• Go to the gym 10 times a month. I like this goal better than setting a weekly goal. By setting a monthly goal it gives me flexibility in case I miss one one week I can make up for it and not throw away my goal! I track how many times I’m going to the gym in a month in my monthly habit trackers.
• Drink 8 glasses of water a day. Seems like a simple goal but proper water drinking is something I struggle with! By setting it as a goal, I’m hoping it will be more front of mind.
• Commit to having more fully vegan days. I’m setting this as a goal to help keep myself more accountable. I also hope that by starting a plant based lifestyle blog that will help me become more accountable too! I really want to strive to have a more vegan diet… I just have to do it!

Finance Goals

Since I graduated University my husband and I have gotten married, bought a house, and travelled to Bali, Mexico twice, did a 3 week Europe trip, and this year have Hawaii, Mexico, Nashville, and Halifax coming up. Between all of the travel, my love for spending, and other adulting we have done I feel like I haven’t gotten my feet under me.

This year I really want to buckle down and start to get my finances under control. My plan is to stick to the Dave Ramsey method in The Total Money Makeover. The only exception I am giving to myself is my travel. My husband and I have agreed to travel as much as we can before we have kids! My ultimate goal with this is to become debt free. By no means do I have a lot of debt but the student loans, credit card payments, and car loan payments all add up!

Goals:

• Completely pay off my visa (this should be done in the first 2 months of the year!)
• Pay off a minimum of 1/3 of my student loans
• Stick to my envelope budget system (let me know if you’re more interested in seeing how this work and how it turns out!! Considering a blog post on it.)

Business Goals

I am so exciting to be setting goals for my blog! I’m prepared to work really hard, stay organized, and hopefully I can begin to inspire people through my plant based lifestyle blog! I really want to grow my following through inspiring people through my plant based food and creativity!

Goals:

• Instagram Following of 10,000. This is by far my most aggressive goal I have set. I’m not sure if it’s possible but I am really going to go for it and at the end of the year I know I will have tried my best! This goal makes me feel SO excited… So we will see how it turns out.
• Monetize the blog so I can invest more back into it. I have big dreams for the blog but to make some of it possible I’ll have to monetize to put back into it!

Well… That’s it! I think 2019 is going to be an incredible year of growth and I can’t wait to see what happens!

I would love to hear about your goals! Let me know what your 2019 goals are in the comments!