Personal Goal Setting

Taking time to stop and think about the big picture for my life is truly helpful because it gives me direction. I'm very big on setting goals, and creating list and tasks to be fulfilled in a certain time period. I've learned this method of planning not only keeps me grounded, but focused and organized.

When thinking about the big picture for my life it's typically a combination of my goals, my dreams, my ideas about the life I want to live, and my vision of what the year has in store. Sometimes such forethought causes stress and anxiety, but for me it's very calming. From time to time throughout the year, I revisit my list of goals/tasks to tweak and add to it.

I'm not super big on New Year's resolutions but I am big on setting personal and professional goals and putting a plan in motion to achieve them. So for this new year I've compiled a list of my current goals (this list is subject to change at any point throughout the year).

Personal goals

- Continue to embrace positivity and self-love

I've been on a self-love journey for years and I plan to continue on that journey, to continue exercising self-love and trying to motivate others to do the same.

- Practice patience

This feels like a goal that continues to roll over month to month and year to year, but I'm working on it and that in itself is something that I need to have patience with. I recognize changes do not happen overnight and that I cannot control the pace at which a change is made so the fact that I feel little progress in this area is a bit disheartening at times but here's to still trying.

- Write more, blog more, read more

Let me tweak that a bit. More is not necessarily quantifiable and moving forward I want to quantify time spans and other things as much as possible, so instead of more I want to write, blog and read weekly, which is more than I've done in the year before.

- Develop a skin care regimen and hair care routine

I clean my skin daily and wash my hair weekly or bi-weekly but I would like to put more effort into those routines. I don't have terrible skin but I do believe everyone can benefit from a good skin care routine that nourishes and moisturizes the skin. I plan to do some research on some black skin care products and research what products are recommended for different aspects of skin care.

The same applies to my hair care routine, I think everyone should have one regardless of hair type. I do wash and style my hair regularly but I would like to put more effort into the products used on my hair and additionally find new ways to style my hair. Each year I've been energized enough to try new hairstyles and it's exciting to think of new styles to try. I've found and created a variety of styles with ponytails, weave, rollers, braids, and flat irons. My roommate and I were recently discussing clip-ins, so that's something new to try this year, who knows.

- Workout and cook more meals at home

For starters, I plan to start working out, rather get back to working out. The new year, new me thing is getting pretty old, as well as the theory that with new the new year comes the New Year's resolution of exercise for weight loss. Obviously there's nothing wrong with working out to lose weight but the world needs to get onboard with the theory that some workout to feel good, like me. I intend to work out for the endorphins.

This time 2 years ago I had a personal trainer who I saw weekly and a group of family/friends who I saw weekly for trail walks. I remember how I felt during that time and I enjoyed how I felt after working out. I remember feeling energized and happy and I'd like to get back to that. I also felt strong and I want to recreate those feelings for the new year.

Second, I plan to tweak some of my eating habits, to cook more meals at home to eat less processed food. Over the pandemic, I discovered the joy of homemade smoothies and air fryers, and saved lots of new recipes. Plus homemade food just tastes so much better.

- Travel

Both locally and internationally, which means I should probably add getting a passport to my list of goals for this year. There are still so many places on my bucket list that I want to visit and places that I visited that I wouldn't mind revisiting so travel is definitely on the list, whether I do it alone or with family and friends.

- Continue to practice affirmations

Affirmations are great.

- Get a physical

I did not go to the doctor for a physical last year so I'm going this year to make sure that I'm still in good health.

- Get more tattoos

They bring me joy, what more can I say?

Family, friends, and relationship goals

- More outings with family/friends and significant other

I have a small, established group of friends that I adore and enjoy spending time with. We've already discussed making time to see each other more this year. I'm thinking brunch, dinner dates, bowling, and Top Golf at least. That goes for the boyfriend too.

- Start a podcast

My gal pals and I have mentioned a podcast on both a playful and serious note. We've discussed names for the podcast and various topics to focus on but have not actually sat in front of a microphone and camera and produced anything, so this year I plan to bring those conversations back up and really see if we can dedicate the time to starting something fun and on trend.

- Find something to sell

For some time now I wanted to produce goods for sale, mainly affirmation/inspirational cards, journals or planners, or t-shirts and hats with inspirational words. I'm surrounded by family and friends who are the most educated and resourceful people that I know. between their smarts and mine I

wonder if I can come up with something.

Financial goals

- Acquire more streams of income

More freelance/contract work.

- Continue to add to my savings

- Find something to invest in

I'm not well-versed in stocks, bonds, real estate, etc. but I do want to make smart and informed investment decisions. Just looking for ways to build wealth over time.

- Acquire more contract work

As a marketing content manager I acquired a skillset that can be freelanced and I've been looking into how to get more freelance work. In addition to my primary nine-to-five job, I have a freelance gig writing for The Oakland press and I just acquired two contract positions at the end of last year. Ultimately the goal is to quit my nine to five, become my own boss and work as a full-time freelancer. I'd be able to set my own hours and rates and there's something very exciting about that.

- Obtain a new primary job

After 5 years it's time for something new. I enjoy working in marketing and will definitely be looking for something in that field, more marketing contract work ideally.

- Promote my skillset more and create a freelance rate for my work and time

I'm learning more and more about the need for my skillset and have been researching ways to promote that skillset. I've been trying to connect with people on LinkedIn with similar skillsets in marketing or similar freelance interests. I want to promote the skills so that in addition to me reaching out to people for work, I want to position myself so potential clients reach out to me requesting my work.

When obtaining past contract work, I've been asked about my rates and it's always been troubling that I never had a set answer and that I stumbled through that part of the conversation. So if the plan is to continue doing contract work I need to establish a set rate so that I can confidently tell people what I think my time is worth. It's slightly nerve-wracking but also exciting at the same time.

- Learn more about marketing/advertising utilizing free courses or classes

I'm always looking for new knowledge and ways to make myself more marketable. I feel that I know a lot about the social media and marketing world but I know for a fact that there are still so many aspects of marketing that I don't know so to bridge that gap I want to seek out as many free resources to learn from as possible. I've used LinkedIn Learning which is free to me through my employer, who I believe pays for an account. I've used HubSpot academy as a free resource for learning and plan to research more resources. Sprout Social also has nice resources.

I'm not opposed to paying for classes to learn but I would need to step back and evaluate what aspects of marketing I want to learn. I feel that that's really something that prevents me from starting to acquire new knowledge, the fact that I'm not sure where to start. There are many unknown unknowns, things that I don't know I don't know, so it's always been a challenge to pick a topic to learn about but that's fine. New knowledge is new knowledge and I'll take what I can get especially for gratis.

Setting goals and planning for the future, whether short or long term, can be dope. Thinking of what I have the time, energy, knowledge, and resources to do, everything on this list is within reason and doable. I'm excited for the year and excited to start working on my goals, and most importantly, checking these things off my to-do list.

Here's to a bomb-ass, successful year.