2019 Goals
‘New Year, New Me’ seems to be the general feeling around this time of year and it can be hard not to get caught up in making grand plans about all the wonderful things we will do this year, without keeping in mind that all of the time pressures and obligations from last year will still be here too.
Still, as much as I feel cautious about setting myself up for a failure by being too ambitious with my goals, I also appreciate the opportunity to reflect on the last year and think about what I want to achieve in the next 12 months.
What are you hoping to achieve in 2019?
Do you have goals for both your personal and professional life?
I’m going to split the goals into sections:
Personal Goals
- Similarly to most people, getting a bit fitter in 2019 would be great. I am happy with my weight, but not with my fitness, specifically my cardio-vascular fitness. I’m going to try to keep up doing yoga and some simple exercises, but also try to add in something to get my heart rate up. Recommendations welcome if anyone has any ideas!
- Move into our new house! We had an offer accepted on a house on 31st October, but are still wading through paperwork so haven’t received the keys yet. We’re hoping for a moving date soon. The house needs lots of work done on it, including electrics, walls and carpets. Getting the house decorated and moving all of our stuff in (plus, of course, buying some more bookshelves and establishing a library) will probably take up loads of my time. We are also hoping to get a dog, which I am already incredibly excited by!
- Dedicate time to do more creative activities. I love art, photography, gardening and crafting, but these hobbies often get pushed to the side when life gets busy. I am going to set aside time each week to enjoy being creative.
- Make sure I don’t let my languages go rusty by fitting in a bit more language learning each day.
- Read a bit more about Emotional First Aid, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Mindfulness in order to take control of some of my own worst tendencies.
- Make a special effort to connect with the people I love and reconnect with old friends, even if it’s as simple as a text message.
Professional Goals
- I love my job, but I really need to continue working on getting my work-life balance back into some semblance of a balance. I regularly spend 11+ hours at work, then go home and do more. My plan is to block out certain times for marking, etc and give myself a deadline to go home. If it’s not done by then, its going to have to wait!
- Interact more with the professional community on Twitter and continue reading widely. There are so many great ideas out there!
Blogging Goals
- I am over the moon with the growth my blog has enjoyed in 2018, compared to 2017, especially as it was my first full year of blogging. However, I feel like I have learned a few things this year that will help me to make 2019 even better. I need to get better at scheduling posts to avoid gaps when life gets busy and promoting the posts that I have already written by scheduling tweets.
- Continue to broaden my reading horizons and make promoting diverse books an even bigger focus on my blog.
- Attempt to improve my photography skills and post on bookstagram/ use on the blog. I am particularly excited to potentially have a garden when we move house so will have better natural light than in an apartment!
- Link to other blogger’s posts to continue building a network of bloggers and supporting all the dedicated content-creators out there.
What do you think of my goals?
Are they similar to or very different to yours?
Can you give me any tips on achieving my goals in 2019?
I know that many of my goals need refinement to be achievable, but these are the general areas that I will be hoping to improve on over 2019.
What are you planning to do differently in 2019?
What are your favourite memories or achievements from 2018?
What piece of advice would you give to someone to help them achieve their 2019 goals?
Let me know in the comments!
I would also love it if you link your 2019 goal posts below and I will visit and leave a comment!
Find me on Twitter , Goodreads or Instagram
Thanks for reading!
Chrikaru Reads 
Awesome!!! I’m going to steal some of your blogging goals.
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You’re welcome to! I don’t know if writing our goals down makes us any more likely to achieve them but I’m going to try!
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Best of luck with your goals this year!
I want to get fitter too, going to start running again once my cough is gone.
Here are my blogging goals – http://nsfordwriter.com/plans-for-2019/
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Good luck with running and hope you manage to do it without any injuries! (Many of my friends have been over-zealous and are already resting up!)
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Good luck ☺️
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Thank you!
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These are really great and obtainable goals, I hope you succeed in reaching all of them! You’ve got this!
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Thank you – here’s hoping they work out!
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I love how focused your goals are! Your idea for putting in links to other blogs is brilliant and very thoughtful 😊 Best of luck in 2019!
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Scheduling posts to avoid gaps is a goal of mine as well! I know I have time to write the posts, it’s just finding the right time before it’s too late… good luck with your goals in 2019 🙂 (PS – I’ve switched from Disqus to WordPress commenting on my blog. Just letting people know in case that was a barrier to commenting previously!)
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I have days when I do loads of work on my blog and others where it is the last thing on my mind because of lots of other things happening in life – scheduling means that I can relax a little and not be worrying about a blog post not having been scheduled when something unexpected comes up! I am hoping to be able to schedule some weekly posts e.g. Waiting on Wednesday a few weeks in advance so I can spend a bit more time on posts that take longer too. Hope you get the hang of it too!
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Great goals! What kind of dog are you hoping to get? We just recently got a cocker spaniel puppy. Exhausting but worth it.
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I saw your cute puppy pictures -so adorable! I am a massive fan of border collies (grew up in the Irish countryside surrounded by sheep and sheepdogs and dog trials were event of the year!) so I would really love to get a collie. I’m not fussy about pedigree or anything though, so would happily rehome from a shelter if it’s a possibility. Sometimes I wonder if I’m more excited about getting a dog than a new house… What has been the best and hardest thing about getting a puppy? 😀
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Collies are adorable! My friend got one a few months ago. We weren’t fussed about pedigree either. We have an older dog that we re-homed and the puppy happens to be from the same people who bred the existing one, so we knew the parents and that they were well cared for. The best thing is just how utterly adorable and cuddly he is! The hardest thing has been the toileting but I don’t think it helps that I’ve been working. In hindsight we should have taken some time off to settle him in a bit. With an older dog we didn’t have the same difficulty but he did have some bad habits (pulling on his lead and barking a lot) so needed a lot of attention and training. It’s hard for them to unlearn things. But he got there. Whichever you choose they just need a lot of love and patience.
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Maybe I should get two and then they can keep each other company too 😁 We’re thinking of trying to time it for when I have some time off ( great thing about being a teacher is the school holidays!) so we can hopefully get the dog settled in a bit. Luckily, we also have a dog-walker living a few doors down so I’m hoping that she will be able to take the dog out at lunchtime once we’re back to work! I think it’s really important to see the parents, like you said. Collies don’t seem to be that popular where we live now in England though, so I will need to have a look around. Back in Ireland there were tonnes of collies looking for homes, usually because they were too timid to be working dogs. Our dog was scared of loud noises and liked to chase tractors so she was better suited to a family than a farm! I’ m trying to read up on puppy obedience and toilet training too, so I have some idea of what to do. Will you /Did you take either of your dogs to a training class or something like that? Sorry for all the questions!
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Feel free to ask as many questions as you like! It sounds like you’ve thought it through really well. Yes, the dog we re-homed has done training /obedience classes. He did two levels of them and it made a huge difference to him. The puppy will be going too but he can’t be enrolled until he’s had his second injections in a week or so, so we’re probably looking at starting those in February. I do think when you have a dog breed that’s bred for working they need something like the classes to give them a mental workout.
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Aw, just think of all the cute puppies who will be at the training course with you in February! And thank you for offering to hel with answering questions – I will probably have a million! As I had a collie growing up I know that they are full of energy and extremely intelligent (i.e. escape artists). They can also develop destructive or self-harming habits if they get bored. Like you said, dogs bred as working dogs need some mental stimulation or they’ll probably drive you or themselves mad! I did obedience and agility with my dog when I was younger and we both loved it! I don’t really want to get involved in competing or anything like that, but would love to do an agility class. I’ve also been watching some videos of clicker training as I’ve never tried it before but have heard so many good things! Going to start looking for local breeders now, lol
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Agility training is great. I’d also recommend a snuffle mat. Our dog sitter makes them but you can get them loads of places now. It’s basically a rag rug with different textures and you hide food treats in. They have to sniff and search for them and it’s great for keeping them entertained and giving them something that challenges their brains.
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