At the beginning of the year, I established and shared my 2019 goals. These goals were also affirmations in which I declared certain successes and accomplishments for my life this year. Seven months later, I am so proud to say that I am still going strong on keeping these commitments that I made to myself at the beginning of this year.
In this post, I share my original goals for 2019 and what I am doing to keep them going seven months later.
My 2019 Goals
These are my 2019 goals/affirmations. I created 5 different ones that I knew could be measured as SMART and empowering.
- I will be more optimistic and cast away self-doubt.
- I will focus on caring for myself first—and foremost.
- I will dissolve my debt and invest in something that will finance my future.
- I will be consistent in everything that I do.
- I will make influential moves professionally and personally.
Each month I have come closer and closer to these goals. In this blog post, I share the seven-month journey and what I am doing to achieve the plans I set out for myself for 2019.
I am surrounding myself with greatness
I recently ended a relationship(of sorts) that I actually thought was good for me. It’s no surprise that it was completely, and utterly not. The relationship was anything but optimistic and hopeful. It was comfortable, familiar, and explosive( for better and for worse). As I reflect on the relationship(I am still processing and in a state of resentment), I think about the many valuable lessons learned. One of the biggest—being around a great person.
There were many great things that we had going. Great food, great sex, great conversations. But that was it, pretty superficial to be honest. At least that’s how it felt towards the end. Like many of the relationships that have ended for me recently(platonic and not) they have mostly been like this. The relationships have had moments of greatness but were only inspiring for that short time.
This past relationship taught me that a lot of my optimism and confidence are driven by the people I surround myself with. Because of this, I should only be with people who exude that good and positive energy. This year, I want to be inspired by everyone in my circle and say, “Wow, I am challenged to be just like you.” And I want them to feel the same about me.
To achieve this, I am continuously surrounding myself with greatness by connecting with people professionally who I know are great people to have in my network. I am spending time with friends in more intimate, stress-free, club-free settings, and I am holding friends accountable in their commitments to grow—and they are doing the same for me.
I am managing my money better
I learned how to manage my money very young. I am blessed to say that my savviness of saving has allowed me to be more finically secure. Of course, I can always do better.
When it comes to spending less, I have started to use one of my go-to self-care practices of cooking to stretch my dollars. I am cooking way more now than I was seven months ago. On Sundays, I meal prep and have meals prepared for every single day of the week, from breakfast until dinner.
I have also started to monitor my spending by using bank tools to see where my money is going every week. Lastly, I have embraced the art of free stuff. I am an avid visitor of museums and cool public hangouts where my enjoyment costs me a grand total of zero dollars and zero cents.
My long-term goal for managing my money better is to buy some property like an investment property or a single-family home. I am so overpaying rent! Plus, I have always loved the idea of owning property and think to have my first in Chicago would be amazing!
I am regularly practicing self-care
Earlier this year I wrote some very easy and fun self-care activities. I have thoughtfully practiced these as often as possible—although I could take a bath a little more often(don’t worry, I am still showering). I believe self-care is not just limited to the activities that I shared in my post. I believe it also comes from expanding your surroundings as well—through travel. Since creating my resolutions, I have traveled to four different cities and one country. Traveling gives you time to disconnect, reset, renew(change this word) with a new perspective.
In every city that I went to, I have been able to do just that. In Tulum, I hardly had a service. This helped me to disconnect from distractions like social media, and focus on the peacefulness around me. Like, the sounds of waves crashing against one another, the cool sand between my toes, and the laughter between friends on this unexpected girls’ trip.
In Los Angeles, over rooftop brunches and west coast lounging, I was able to reset. Surrounded by palm trees and bright lights—filled with positive energy that can only be found there. Back in Dayton, the city that raised me, I was surrounded by unconditional love and encouragement. Over homemade peach cobbler, ribs, and firecrackers, I felt renewed among the people who know me and raised me to be the best.
With each city, came more opportunities to expand on self-care. This is an affirmation that I plan to continue through the remainder of this year.
I am using tools and creating plans to make myself more accountable
Earlier this year I resolved to be more consistent. Especially when it comes to my blog. This commitment has proven to be worthwhile! This year I have had incredible growth on this very blog. I had a goal of hitting 2,000 visitors in a month, and it happened! I couldn’t have done it without a couple of different tools.
One of the tools I started to use more to help myself be more consistent was my calendar. I know, not groundbreaking by any means, however, marking to-do’s and reminders on my calendar held me to be more accountable to reach my goals. I write all of my to-dos for my blog in my Google calendar as it carries across several of my devices. I can never forget it; I have a constant reminder. Using my calendar, plus some other self-made tools has helped me to be more consistent with my content and the direction that I want my blog to go overall.
I am exploring my passions in a new career
Making influential moves both ‘professionally and personally,’ was by far the biggest affirmation/resolution that I made this year. And I am so proud that I made it happen! This July, I made a career shift to a complete and different industry than the one I was in for four years. In this new role, I am given more creativity, influence, and autonomy than ever before. And it feels fantastic!
In addition to exploring my passions within my career, I am becoming a bigger influence outside of my career as well. This spring I spoke on my first panel. I also moderated my first panel. These were too tremendous opportunities for me, and I can’t wait for more!
Keeping my goals has not been an easy task. It’s been challenging, emotionally draining, and rewarding all at the same time. I am ready for the next five months of this year—continuing to make 2019 the best most fulfilling year yet.
