New year, new me, right? HA! We’re only 3 days in and I am already KILLING my goals. Literally, they’re dying. I’m not doing very well. Anyone else? There’s always next year, right? haha JUST kidding! I’m actually using two new tools this year to help me meet my goals (the Cultivate What Matters Powersheets and Start Today Journal).

Tomorrow is a new day. Try, try again. If at first you don’t succeed, dust yourself off and try again (dust yourself off and try again, try again, try again, ohh oh-anyone get that song reference?)

I’m going to go ahead and say that my “new year” and goals start on tomorrow, because that’s when work starts again for this 3rd grade teacher.

This is the first year in my life that I am actually writing down my goals and making real plans to make my dreams a reality. Last year was an awesome year. I started my photography business and it brought me a lot of joy and introduced me to several different inspiring people in the online community.

One of those people was raving about the Cultivate What Matters Powersheets. I hopped on the bandwagon and I am REALLY excited about it! It walks you through your thoughts and dreams and what is important to you so you can make goals that align with what’s important in your life. You review each month and reflect on your progress and adjust your goals as needed. You also determine a word of the year to help you stay focused. My word this year is intentional.

I’m going to try to be intentional about everything I do this year! I want to be intentional about the time I spend with friends, family, my business, my full time job as a teacher, and how I use my free time.

I know this won’t be surprising as a photographer, but for many years, I have tried to make it a new years resolution to take a photo a day to document my life. You would think someone like me would be the BEST at documenting my life, but I’m not! I always fall short pretty quickly and every year I resolve to do better! This year is my year! I am going to try VERY hard to be intentional about documenting my life with my family! Home videos have always been something I enjoy looking back one so instead of saying I have to do a picture a day, it’s going to be my goal to take at least one photo and one video clip a week so that by the end of the year, I have good documentation of all the things we did as a family and how much Hazel has grown!

Sometimes I think it is good to scale back on your goals so you can be successful!

I am also using the Start Today journal on a daily basis to try and keep me focused and mindful of my goals each day so I can make choices that are going to help me reach my goals this year.

I have so many dreams in my head that I want to turn into goals eventually, but many are far off. For example, I want to have a published children book(s), I want to adopt a child, I’d love to fund adoptions for any of my friends who want to adopt a child, I want to be debt free, I want to own a vacation home somewhere, I want to learn how to play the electric guitar, I’d love to own a plot of land with a photography studio for newborn shoots and an awesome field of tall grass for outdoor portraits, I think it’d be cool to own a winery, and last, I’d love to be able to buy a fancy truck for my husband in cash so he will stop whining about “needing” a new truck. You can tell I’m a dreamer, huh?

For this year though, I have narrowed it down to ten goals, that I feel I can actually make some real progress on. I once read somewhere that writing your goals down and sharing them with others makes you more likely to reach your goals, so even though it’s kind of scary, here are the ten goals I am going to be working on this year.

My 2019 Goals

1. Love my loved ones well.
2. Use my money wisely.
3. Live a healthy lifestyle.
4. Make God a priority.
5. Show up on a google search for “McKinney, Texas Newborn Photographer”
6. Be an organized and tidy person.
7. Create a draft for a children’s book.
8. Get Hazel potty trained.
9. Go on monthly date nights with Zach.
10. Inspire my students at school to work hard and try their best.

With my Cultivate What Matters Planner and my Start Today journal, I feel prepared to tackle my goals and be successful this year! I have a plan, and I’m going to try my best to stick to it!

What’s your goals this year?! Tell me in the comments, I’d love to hear so I can cheer you on and hold you accountable!

Do you use any special planner or goal setting techniques, anyone out there do a vision board?

Whatever your goals are, whether you’re brave enough to put them out there in the scary internet world or not, I pray that in 2019 you become the best version of yourself yet and that you are reflective of how you are progressing in your journey towards your goal this year! Celebrate the small victories along the way that bring you closer to your big goal, they’re worth celebrating!