Happy New Year! I’ve been thinking about what I want to achieve in 2019 for a few weeks now. I’ve been creating mental checklists, planning personal goals, anticipating where this blog will go, and wondering how far I can cast my net in spreading the mission of safer beauty.
Thank you so much for following along this past year. It was a very stressful and trying year due to our kitchen fiasco, and the loss of a very dear friend to a tragic car accident. However, it was also a year where I met lots of local influencers, forged lasting friendships, saw more of Jacksonville, and even traveled to Arizona for the first time.
I wanted to look back on my goals from the last year, document my progress, and set some new goals for 2019. Here are my goals from last year.
2018 Goals Recap + Progress
Personal Goals
- Kitchen – Thank God almighty, I am free at last! Seriously though, I was almost a prisoner in my home with the lack of organization and communication in this project. The renovation and mold remediation is complete. I just need to install our floating shelves and then we are 100% done-zo.
- Home office + gym – this is mostly finished. I managed to buy a used treadmill from a neighbor, and adjustable weights from the in-laws. I finished painting and added curtains and artwork. I have some more DIY artwork to finish + hang. This space has also come in handy to store all of my Beautycounter goods.
- Pantry, master closet + garage organization – negative. I did not get around to this at all last year thanks to the kitchen taking all year to finish. But, thanks to the Marie Kondo special on Netflix, I’ve already started purging clothes and shoes from our master closet. 2019 is the year for organization. I can feel it!
- Garden – I never finished the second hedge (blame it on the kitchen again). I had moles destroying shrubs and had to replace the dead ones, but I did install edging that stopped them from killing the plants by the roots.
- Fitness – I completed Kelsey Wells’s 12-week PWR program (review here). I started out at home, but eventually opened a gym membership at Planet Fitness to continue with the moves. I made it all the way to week 18 and decided I needed a change again, haha.
- Spend less time on Facebook – LOL. It’s hard to separate personal + business use of Facebook now because it’s so intertwined in my businesses. I can’t count how many times I stopped writing this post due to FB checks. I’ll detail my 2019 FB goals below.
Professional Goals
- Blogging – While I didn’t blog as much as I would have liked, I did grow in this arena. I started filming YouTube videos and got better with video and photo editing.
- Instagram – this is one area I did see growth. I had let this social network grow unattended in 2017, and I saw success with planning photos and posts.
2019 Goals
Personal Goals
- Kitchen – only mentioning this here because I need to finally get those floating shelves hung against our subway tile backsplash. And also, decorate them. I’ll be using the skills I learned in decorating our living room bookshelves.
- Organization – I really want to get our closets, pantry, and garage under control. We still have moving boxes in some of our closets, and I don’t want to put it off anymore. I’d also love to have our master closet and pantry organized and not get stressed out when my husband leaves those doors open. I heard somewhere that your home should “rise up and greet you.” I’ve started practicing this mantra by making our bed daily. It’s unbelievable how much this helps me be more productive and carry less stress around all day long.
- Wake up earlier – My husband’s a night owl; I’m more productive when I wake up earlier. This has always been the case and almost 10 years of marriage later, I haven’t found a nap-free schedule that allows me to get up early yet spend quality time in the evenings with him. P.S. I’ve always hated naps so that’s out of the question for me.
- Get in more cardio – I don’t generally have a problem lifting weights for exercise. It’s the cardio that I usually procrastinate on. I keep putting it off before I know, I’m full of regret that I let another week slip by. I stuck to a schedule when I did RunBet; maybe I should do it again? Any Apple Watch users up for a personal challenge?
- Be mindful of clothing materials – I recently learned that the athletic gear we wear shed lots of microfibers that are ingested by wildlife. I want to cut down on polyester clothing and catch those fibers before they’re released into our ecosystem, and shop second-hand stores for cotton goods.
- Embrace my wavy/curly hair – I’ve never liked the natural texture of my hair and have always envied the glossy straight hair of others. I need to find a way to style my hair every day (it’s ironically also super super oily, so washing daily or every other day is a non-negotiable) and still feel presentable without spending 30 minutes on my hair every day. Recommendations needed!
Business Goals
- Plan content weeks in advance – It’s a little over a week into January, but I want to start planning blog, social media, and YouTube content several weeks in advance. This way, I don’t feel rushed to publish something quickly to meet a deadline. The feeling when things are scheduled and auto-post is priceless.
- Time Management/Time Blocking – I need structure in order to get things accomplished. I told my husband that I need a schedule and I need a routine and I need to stick to it. Flying by the seat of my pants leaves me frazzled and drained…and I’m less productive. Planning has never been my forté, but it’s something I must master.
- Create partnerships with new brands – I love learning about new brands, and I also love creating new content. I’d love to work with more brands this year, and also create new YouTube videos showcasing them.
- Learn about more clean beauty brands – This kind of goes along with my last bulletpoint, but there are a growing number of companies in the clean beauty movement. I love my Beautycounter makeup and skincare holy grails, but I want to spotlight other brands as well.
- Grow social media + newsletter subscribers – This is a rough one for me. I’m a homebody and can get 100% absorbed by getting things done and fail to document the mundane. But the mundane is what people are interested in, and I need to get better at Instagram stories.
Lastly, I do not have a “word” for 2019. I tend to forget those assigned words after two weeks anyway (just being honest). I am curious as to whether you have a word you want to be mindful of this year!
Blogging Survey
I’d love your help in making La La Lisette better this year. I really appreciated last year’s responses (remember, they’re 100% anonymous and I don’t know who enters anything). Your answers helped me create better content for YOU last year, and I’d love to continue doing the same.
This is a great opportunity for you to also submit ideas you’d like to see on the blog. I love helping people, and if there’s something you’d like to learn more about, I’d be more than happy to create content you’ll find useful.
Thanks, again, for reading my little space on the web. It means the world to me!
