Bluebird Chic ambassador Monisa Dobbins of Monisa J. Photography shares her best tips for getting your 2019 goals off to a great start!
With the new year comes a fresh slate and 365 more calendar days to start something you’ve always wanted to start, or maybe finish something you never got a chance to finish.
Each year brings a new set of resolutions, gym memberships, and maybe even a new haircut? But what if instead of creating a resolution, instead, you create a list of goals and a strategy to complete them by the end of the year? If you’re like me and prefer goals over resolutions, then here are 3 tips that helped me that will hopefully help you as well!
Tip #1 – Choose a planner for your lifestyle
I can’t tell you how many planners I’ve bought and ended up using for maybe 2 weeks. With the amount of planners with different options available, it can get pretty overwhelming with making a decision. The planner that works for your super organized friend may not be the planner that works for you. Maybe you need bigger spaces to write out details of an event, or maybe you need time slots. Whatever it is, choose a planner that’s tailored for your life specifically and stick to it. It doesn’t have to be expensive. There are some super nice planners out there, but the planner that fits me was only $7.99 from TJMaxx.
photo by Cassidy Slater of The Slater Story
Tip #2 – Early to bed, early to rise
Being well-rested is a crucial step to crushing your goals. After all, how can you expect to put forth the effort with little to no energy?
Do you feel more productive at night? I get it. As a mama of a wild toddler who goes to sleep every night at 8:30, I enjoy the silence of nighttime. Sometimes I do get some work done, but what also happens is I enjoy the silence a little too much and I end up just relaxing instead until midnight or later.
So instead I go to bed at a decent hour. I wake up 30 minutes (sometimes more) before he wakes and I use this time for myself. I spend some time with Jesus, eat some breakfast in peace, plan my day, or even do some yoga in my living room. When I take this route versus staying up late and getting up early, I feel so much better and am able to accomplish more.
Tip # 3 – Timelines are your best friends.
“A dream written down with a date becomes a goal. A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan. A plan backed by daily action becomes the life you dreamed of.”
How many goals have you set in your lifetime that you could never seem to reach? If you didn’t have a written timeline to reach those goals, this is most likely why. The above quote definitely puts it best and is 100% accurate. I didn’t start actually meeting my goals until I wrote down the exact steps it was going to take me to get there and tracked my progress.
For example, maybe you want more followers on Instagram? What’s your current number of followers? How many more followers do you want? How many days are you giving yourself to get there? How often are you going to post? How much are you going to engage with new or current followers? Will you advertise?
The important task is to ask yourself these questions and research exactly what it’s going to take to get there and WRITE IT DOWN. Write down your current followers so at the end of the timeline you will know how far you have come. The only way to track progress is to keep a record of where you started.
photo by Cassidy Slater of The Slater Story
I sincerely hope these tips help you! Every person is different, but just try these out and watch the outcome.
Is there a tip you have that has helped you reach your goals? I’d love to hear from you! Go ahead and share in the comments below!
Hi there! My name is Monisa Dobbins of Monisa J. Photography! I’m a natural light photographer specializing in capturing authentic moments of families, couples, and anyone awesome enough to book a session! Photography has always been a love of mine, but just recently I turned this hobby into a business. I was born and raised in the sooiet state of Arkansas (woo pig!). However, being an army wife, home is currently in the gorgeous country of Italy. My Nikon and Sigma lens are always with me! If it’s not clients I’m capturing, it’s adventures with my handsome husband and my sweet 4 month old! As long as I have life’s essentials (the good Lord, family, & my camera) my heart is bursting at the seams! And food. Food makes me happy, too.
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