Sunday
2017 Goals (and 2016 Reviewed)
'Tis the season for an overwhelming amount of goal posts. (That's posts about goals, not the things you have at either end of a football pitch). I happen to thrive on setting goals and failing miserably so you better buckle yourselves in for a whole week of posts dedicated to the things I definitely won't achieve in 2017.
LIFE GOALS
Complete my master's
My MA is only a year long so, assuming everything goes to plan, I will be finished in October. Ideally I'd love to graduate with a distinction, and I'm working super hard to gain it, but I'd be happy (kind of) with a merit. Perhaps I should work on my perfectionism this year...
Read 60 books
I intended to read 60 books this year but it didn't quite happen (see below). Next year I'm going to read my socks off to get it done. I have some specific books I want to read in 2017 but I have a post coming up on that soon.
Visit 5 foreign cities
This year I visited six cities (again, see below) so five may seem like a bit of a step down. However, I've got two trips to America planned- Orlando and New Orleans- so I think aiming to beat my 2016 count might be a bit ambitious! On top of the two America trips, as well as two more jaunts to Salzburg, I'm also planning on Venice and maybe Copenhagen.
Learn German
Linked to visiting foreign cities, I'm going to be continuing with my German. I've been learning on-and-off for the past year and since I'm visiting Austria a whole lot more, it will be useful to know a bit more. I've been using the Flashsticks app which is great as it is largely focused on playing games. It also has really handy features like scanning objects and telling you what they're called (I have no idea how!). I'll have a full post on this soon so look out for it.
Treat myself more
Gradually over the past couple of years, I've been prioritising myself more. From getting my acrylic nails to regular brow shapes, I realised that I can make changes to increase my confidence. Towards the end of 2016, I stepped it up a gear with sorting out my teeth, getting my Ortho-k lenses (a post is coming up on this very shortly) and experiencing an actual hair salon for the first time in 20 years. In 2017, I'm getting my teeth whitened and I plan to visit the hairdresser for a wash and blow dry more often, as well as eventually getting round to a Keratin treatment.
BLOG GOALS
Improve Instagram engagement
I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of Instagram and would like to continue with this momentum. In terms of followers, it would be nice to reach 5k (maybe a bit ambitious but I like round numbers and 4k- probably a more realistic goal- just isn't neat enough) but really it's about the engagement. I've been putting a lot of effort into interacting with others so I'll be continuing with this all through the year.
Write more travel content
Hand-in-hand with my goal to travel more is my target to write more travel content. I really love writing it, especially the kind of useful posts that will help people making travel plans. A lot of this content will probably be based around Salzburg which I know is pretty niche but I don't care.
Focus more
Speaking of niches, I've never really been a whole fan of the whole pick-your-topic approach to blogging. I've always liked the more free-spirited, posting-whatever-the-hell-I-like method. This year, though, I've started to feel as if I need a bit more structure. In 2017, I want to focus on three main areas: fashion, beauty and travel. I'll also throw in some book content and university stuff but I'm keeping everything as tight as possible.
Overhaul my design
I had this design commissioned in 2013 and I absolutely loved it. I still do but I feel like I've outgrown it. Now I need something a little more streamlined and sophisticated. One of my very close friends is a web designer so he's working on a little something-something for me in his spare time and I can't wait to unveil it (he is currently working full time around a 5 month old baby though so it might not be until the end of the year before my design is ready!)
2016 GOALS REVIEWED
This is the bit where I pretend I haven't failed as badly as I actually have. It hasn't been too bad but there are some notable targets from 2016 that I'm just going to gloss over.
Go back to uni
I did it! I quit the job that was slowly killing me from the inside and went back to uni to study for a master's in death. So far it's going really well with a merit in my first two assignments and I am so much happier than I was this time last year.
Start ice skating
Well, I put the brand new shiny ice skates that I got for Christmas into my car boot ready to get the blades sharpened and then, erm, I kind of forgot about them. I'm going to wait until I've finished my MA (or at least got most of it under my belt) and then book some one-on-one lessons. I will do this!
Travel more
Well I definitely did this! Visiting Salzburg, Vienna, Amsterdam, Salzburg again, Vienna again, Stockholm, Hamburg, Munich and Salzburg... again has been such an experience and I can't wait to see more of the world in 2017.
Read 60 books
I was perfectly on track for this until I started uni and was completely blown away by how much reading I had to do. Coupled with a lot of travelling and the last few weeks being unable to carry out my nightly reading routine because of my Ortho-K lenses, it all slipped away. Still I managed to claw back some books and finished the year with 52. Next year I'm attempting 60 again.
Blog goals
Well I definitely didn't reach my targets (although 20k on Twitter is probably achievable before my birthday in June). However I have re-started (in November) book reviews and I've definitely increased my fashion content, thanks to the motivation that my brand new camera gave me.
As we all know, 2016 has been a difficult year. As well as all the celebrity death and the general stirrings in the world, it's been tough personally with the death of two close family members. Despite this, there have been a lot of good things. I feel like this was the year that I finally found my feet and worked out what I want from my life. Now I just need to put it into action.
Flashsticks have provided me with a subscription to their app in exchange for a review- a full post will be coming later.
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You did pretty well in 2016 - don't beat yourself up! Good luck with your goals for 2017, they all seem pretty achievable! x www.aimeeraindropwrites.co.uk x
ReplyDeleteI think you did so well with your 2016 goals! Good luck with this years, sure you'll smash them x
ReplyDeleteSick Chick Chic
I'd love to learn German! I'll definitely be reading that review! Hope you visit all these places as if love to see your recommendations!
ReplyDeleteIsobel x
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