This post contains affiliate links
It blows my mind that we just have a month and a few days left of 2016. This year was a lot about transition for me, and while I have no complaints, I am definitely excited to see what 2017 brings. This year I am being a little bit more intentional in setting myself up for success next year both with my businesses and personally, and today I am going to share a few things I am doing.
2016 saw me cutting back to part time in the salon, and this blog becoming a bigger part of my career and income. Even though I have been blogging for quite a few years, I spent most of them without a plan and essentially throwing things at a wall and seeing what stuck. This year I was more focused and intentional, and I saw great results from those changes. In 2017 I want to grow my blog even more, and eventually I would like it to be my main priority and focus of all of my businesses.
2016 was also a year of growth for my Young Living business. I have never pursued this heavily, but I love the products and my business growing has been a natural extension of that. I have a specific goal in mind for 2017 and I plan to be more intentional in reaching it.
I have been a hairstylist for 20 years, and that will always be a part of my life, but cutting back in the salon left me a little bit confused and demotivated about where I wanted to see that business go. I feel like I have had some time to really think about it, and have a clearer direction of what I would like to see in 2017. I have cut back my client list pretty dramatically, but I am so thankful for the clients I still see on a regular basis. I truly feel I have the best clients in the world and I am so lucky that I never have to work with someone who is not an amazing person.
In my personal life I have some health related goals, time management goals, and productivity goals. I also have some financial goals that I made great progress on in 2016. I feel that a lot of these things tend to be intertwined and when you find self-discipline in one area, the others tend to follow suit.
Obviously I have a lot of goals for 2017, so how am I setting myself up for success in achieving them?
Your Best Year 2017: Productivity Workbook and Creative Business Planner
This is a workbook and guide for creative entrepreneurs that I have been going through with my BBFF (best blogging friend forever. I didn’t say we were normal). We have been working our way through this workbook together via Facetime and WOW! It goes through a recap of 2016 – what did you do that worked? What was a waste of time? What goals didn’t you accomplish that you set out to? and walks you to a comprehensive plan to map out and achieve your goals in 2017. This is unlike any guide or book I have ever gone through and I am absolutely loving it! It definitely speaks to the creative mind who wants to succeed at business, but doesn’t realize it has been sabotaging itself by bad habits. You can buy a physical copy of this on Amazon, or you can buy a digital, printable copy on Etsy. I bought the physical copy, but in hindsight it would have been nice to be able to print it out and pop it in a binder since I am doing so much writing in it. You really can’t go wrong with either format.
2017 Erin Condren Life Planner
If you have ever read my blog before, you know how I feel about planners. I’ve never met a planner I didn’t like, but the one that I come back to over and over again is the Erin Condren Life Planner. I ordered my planner for 2017 back in October, so I am starting to get it set up and ready to go for the year.
Some of the things I am setting up in my planner are a page to track our debt snowball. In 2016 we decided it was time to really get control of our finances and we started using the Dave Ramsey system. Being able to see where we are at in paying off our debt is a huge motivation to keep going! I shared some of how I track our budget in my planner here.
I am also using my planner to track my progress on decluttering our house, things I want to buy for the house, and some of my personal and professional goals for the year. Getting these spreads set up ahead of time eliminates any excuses for me once 2017 hits. A lot of people ask me how I stay so organized – this planner is how!
Making Health A Priority
My health is something I have pushed way on the back burner in the past couple of years. WAY on the back burner. I used to get up at 4:45 every morning and go to the gym, and 6 or 7 years ago I lost over 100 pounds. Stress, being busy, and not making time for self-care have undone all of the progress I made and it’s finally time to change that.
I have been into essential oils for a few years now, but I haven’t been using them to their full wellness potential. Some of my goals this year are to start exercising, stop eating so much processed food, and to be more strategic with the oils I use and supplements I take. I’ve seen dramatic results from oils in other areas of my life, so I can’t wait to see how they support this journey.
If you haven’t gotten into essential oils yet, check out some of my other posts about them. From now until December 31 I am going to be offering a special gift to anyone who wants to join me on this journey and purchases a premium starter kit under me. As my gift I will send you a copy of The Daniel Plan by Rick Warren. A good friend of mine read this book earlier in the year and it has dramatically changed her health picture! I am reading through it now and I love the concept of looking our health and relationship with food as another way to worship. Click here to get your starter kit ordered (make sure my number, 1710487 is filled in the form) and I will send the book directly to you.
Leave a Reply