goal setting – Leave it to Lea

Hey guys! I’m back from my unannounced break! Sorry about that, I did announce it on my Instagram but didn’t say it on here or on my Youtube. Originally I was going to take a break between Christmas and New Year but pre-film and write to still have posts go up during that period. Since I got COVID-19 I was too tired to work ahead so I had to work during that week. I was just going to muscle my way through going back to work and making content but when Ontario announced another lockdown I knew I needed a break. I’m back now, but I think in the future I need to be better at planning and announcing my breaks. Something to add to the goal list.

Speaking of goals, the past couple of years I’ve shared my goals with you guys so I thought I would continue the tradition. I like to call them goals versus resolutions because these are things I’m planning to work on all year instead of an immediate change. Some of my goals directly impact my blog and Youtube and others are just about my life, but I like sharing them as an accountability thing but also to give you guys inspiration for your goals. Let’s get into it.

1. Pick a new healthy habit each month

In 2021, I had a goal to do some form of movement five times a week. This could include going to the gym, going to yoga or even walking my dog. And I have to say I did a pretty good job of accomplishing that! There were some weeks here and there but I would say I exercised pretty consistently, even during lockdowns, so I felt satisfied enough that it’s now a habit and doesn’t need to be a goal.

I want to continue improving my health but couldn’t figure out one area that I thought deserved my attention the whole year. So that’s why I came up with the idea of picking one healthy habit each month to focus on. If I’m successful, hopefully I gain 12 new healthy habits by the end of the year. For January, I’m trying to up my water intake since it’s pretty poor right now. The goal is a litre a day, which might not be a lot for some but it’s way more than I was drinking before. If I’m successful I’ll pick a new habit, if not I’ll carry it over to February.

2. Read 20 pages a day & 20 books this year

I was pretty ambitious last year with a goal of 50 books. Maybe if I was unemployed all year I could have hit that goal. But as soon as I got a job (which I am very thankful for and rather have than read more books), my reading rate when down. I ended the year with 36 books. So taking into consideration the rate I read while working, my goal for this year is 20 books.

Along with that goal, I want to read 20 pages each day. One of the things that affected my reading rate was that some nights I was too tired (or spent too much time on TikTok) and didn’t get the chance to read anything that day. By reading at least 20 pages a day, I’ll read around 600! I often find that once I get into the rhythm I often read more than the 20 which will just help me read more books!

3. Track my expenses

A big goal in 2021 for me was to get a job and have some money coming in. Once I accomplished that goal, I decided that I needed to be smart about my money and not spend it all at once. I created a budget for myself and was trying to take my expenses.

Like many people, I found that budget went out the window come the holiday season. I want to get back into the tracking and saving mode I had created last year. I don’t currently have any savings goals, but that might be something I add later in the year.

4. Do one big self-care moment a month

I got this idea for Sierra Schultzzie. She’s a new mom and one thing she’s doing is once a month she leaves the house and does something special for herself such as get her nails done, get her hair done or go to the spa. I’m not a new mom, but the idea of treating oneself to a big thing each month sounds pretty good to me.

I have a bad habit of spending on frivolous things in the name of self-care, such as getting a Starbucks drink or buying a new shirt. But I think it would be smarter to channel that money into one big thing that is more of an experience. I’m not going to remember when I bought a new eyeliner but I will remember when I treated myself to a spa day. I haven’t decided what I’ll be doing this month since I’m not sure what’s open with the lockdown restrictions but I am very excited to do something for myself.

5. Increase my income from my blog

If you guys are unaware, I do currently have it set up that I get some money from the ads on my blog. At this point it’s a pretty small amount – I make a few pennies each day – but I want to continue increasing that amount to where I can finally get paid out and earn some money from my blog.

I also want to start doing some sponsorships and partnerships as another way to increase my income from my blog. This is a goal that I’ll probably be working on later in the year, but I want to push myself to start pitching myself to brands instead of waiting around for opportunities to come to me. I have some specific goals and objectives around this, but I want to keep those to myself for now.

6. Increase my social followings

And finally, I want to increase my social followings. Obviously, numbers aren’t everything and it’s not something I follow on the day-to-day level. But I do like to track my followers month-to-month and also see how much I’ve grown over a year.

Instagram is where I’m currently struggling the most. My growth has really stagnated and I’m really unsure what direction I want to take my page on that app. I do have a goal but it’ll take some serious work to reach it. My TikTok page really grew last year but unfortunately also stalled because in the fall I really dropped off posting as much because I just wasn’t reading as much! I want to try and diversify my TikTok to help me have more content to continue to grow. Finally, for my Youtube, I think I did pretty well last year. I have two videos that got over 1000 views, and my overall average is going up. I think just being consistent with my Youtube channel will hopefully have the best impact.

And those are my goals for 2022 guys! I would love to know what some of your goals are for this year. And if you have any advice for me I’d be happy to hear it!

xoxo

Lea

Hey guys! Today I am sharing some of the goals I have set myself for this year. I thought I had written a 2020 goals post but apparently I didn’t, even though I had one in 2019. Anyway, for a couple of years now I sit down at the beginning of the year and create some goals for myself. I don’t call them resolutions because I find New Year’s resolutions are most habit based (well I have a few habits as well). Now I didn’t accomplish many of my 2020 goals because you know, ~it was 2020~. Some of my goals I am repeating and others I am modifying. Let’s get into them!

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1 – Journal three times a week and reflect on goals once a month

Okay so these are technically two separate things, but I wanted to have six goals so I put them together. I thought they went together anyway because they are both are reflection and accountable. Journaling three times a week was my goal last year. I was okay at the beginning, great during the height of the pandemic, dropped off in the summer, and improved again late fall. I want to journal more often because I like to look back and see what I have done and thought in the past. I don’t think I could journal every day, but three times a week seems like a good number.

The second goal is related to this because it’s how I got the idea. I started journaling again in the fall once I looked back at my 2020 goals. So my thought process is if I reflect on my goals and think about them more than just writing them down I am more likely to accomplish them. I created a tracker so I can see how I did and I will hopefully continue using it the whole year. And maybe if I accomplish a goal I can set a new one.

2 – Read 50 books this year

I finally got back into reading in 2020 and I couldn’t be happier. I was a huge reader in high school but dropped off during post-secondary education. Once I finished school in April I was able to read so much, and I finished the year having read 33 books. So this year I want to read more! I was averaging around 4 books a month – which would be 48 books in one year. I decided to just round up and go with 50. I have so many books on my bookshelf and so many I want to read, so it only makes sense to me to read them. This is a goal I am very excited about and hope to achieve.

3 – Have a way to financially support myself by the end of the year

My goal last year was to have a full-time job by the end of the year. That didn’t happen since I’m currently unemployed. I had three jobs last year lol. While I still would love to have a full-time job by the end of the year, I am being flexible. If it’s part-time or a contract and I’m doing something I love I will still be happy. I just want to move on the track of being able to move out of my parents’ house.

4 – Reach 1000 Instagram and 1000 Tiktok followers and 500 Youtube subscribers

This is my social media section. I know that followers are everything (except for Youtube because I need a certain amount to get monetized). But I think it’s useful to have goals. More followers mean more opportunities.

I have been struggling with Instagram lately. I have plateaued around 700s for a while now. I have lost my love for Instagram for a while, but I am trying to get back to it.

TikTok on the other hand is the place where I’ve been gaining more followers. I think it’s because I’ve been active and enjoying myself on the app. I’ve also found my niche among booktokers which I think is a fun change from Instagram. I think this one is pretty attainable.

Finally Youtube. This one is the biggest reach because I only have 20 subscribers right now. But I remember while watching someone talk about manifesting to not settle. If I wanted the goal to be easy I would say 100. But I want 500, so I am going to aim high.

I am also going to say if any of you guys aren’t following me on any of these social media I would appreciate it if you were to give me a follow and help me with my goal. 😊

5 – Earn $100 from my blog

You don’t think I could leave out this blog, could you? One of the few goals of 2020 that I accomplished was getting my domain name and enabling ads on this blog. Well, the next step of that is to bring in some money! Blogging has been my hobby and something to put on my resume for the past couple of years, but I would love to be able to earn some money as well.

So how can you guys help me accomplish this goal? Read my posts and interact with them! The more people that see my blog, the more money I can make. From my end, I am going to be working hard to create content that you guys like and trying to optimize it the best I can.

6 – Do some form of movement five times a week

In the past, I have fallen prey to the mentality that I need to lose weight and go on a diet. I have been working on my self-love and body positivity. I’m still not perfect, but one of the ways I’m working on it is by not setting a goal weight and not going on a diet. Instead, I just want to focus on moving my body.

I left this ambiguous for a reason. Moving my body doesn’t always have to be working out. It can be going to yoga, going on a run or even just walking the dog. But I want to get some movement in. Obviously, there is the physical benefit of keeping in shape, but I see so many other benefits to regularly working out. My energy levels are higher, my immune system is stronger and my mental health is better when I regularly exercise. I think five times a week is pretty easy and attainable for me. Right now I’m doing a combination of working out in my basement and walking my dog. But this will probably change as (hopefully) the lockdown lifts and I can go to yoga again.

And those are my 2021 goals guys! Going to work my ass off and make them all a reality! Let me know in the comments what some of your goals are for this year! ✨

xoxo

Lea

Tag: goal setting

2022 Goals!

My 2021 Goals!