2020 Vision: My Goals for This Year

Hey y’all-hope y’all have had a great weekend. I’m bummed that my Clemson Tigers lost in the National Championship game this past Monday night, but thankful they at least had the opportunity to play. In addition, I’m thankful that Dabo Swinney (Clemson’s coach) both wins and loses with class. (For more on Dabo, check out my previous post). And at least Clemsnon’s basketball team lifted my spirits by beating Duke the next night. Anyways, today I want to share my 2020 goals with y’all. I know we are over two weeks into the new year, but between the Lilly sale, Beautycounter sale, and Clemson’s championship game, I’m just now getting around to sharing New Year’s Goals content. However, I do want to share my 2020 goals before we get too far into the year, so here goes!

Goals vs. Resolutions

I honestly prefer using the term “goals” rather than “resolutions” when talking about my hopes and vision for the upcoming year. To me, “resolutions” has the connotation of something you give up on and abandon in February if you’re struggling to make progress. On the other hand, “goals” implies something that you constantly focus on making baby steps toward throughout the year. Taking baby steps doesn’t mean you are striving for mediocrity. Rather, it recognizes that a succession of baby steps takes you towards your bigger goal. Furthermore, I honestly get too overwhelmed if I focus on a big goal all at once. Celebrating the little steps of progress along the way really helps.

Also, several of my 2020 goals are continuation of goals I made at the beginning of 2019. I did make some baby steps of progress towards some of these goals last year. However, I really want to push forward with making sustainable lasting change in these areas during 2020.

My 2020 Goals

Be more productive in the mornings.

I’ve mentioned how my schedule got a lot fuller during fall 2019. I feel like I’m constantly dashing around from place to place, and that there aren’t enough hours in the day. Although I can’t add additional hours to my day, I can start my day earlier. Currently, I either press the snooze button multiple times, or scroll through my phone before getting out of bed just in time for a quick run, shower, and getting dressed before work. It would make a huge difference in my life if I actually got up when my alarm went off, and accomplished some additional things in the mornings. Here are some examples of a few things I envision doing in the mornings with this extra time: Bible reading, journaling, cleaning, working on my blog, 7:00am Target run. Then on the evenings that I have an activity after work (which is at least twice a week), I hopefully won’t feel quite as rushed.

Be More Punctual

Punctuality has always been a struggle of mine, and I really want to improve on this in 2020. I’m hopeful that becoming more productive in the mornings will also help me be more punctual throughout the entire day. I believe that starting my day off less frazzled and hectic will set me up to be more organized so that I am not constantly throwing things together at the last minute before I have to be there.

Be a Better Steward of My Finances

I definitely made some positive changes with respect to my attitude and mindset towards finances during 2019. In addition, I am much more financially responsible than I was 10 years ago. However, in 2020 I really want to put this more responsible mindset towards finances into action. Specifically, I strive to make 2020 the year where I consistently put at least 10% of my income into savings and tithe 10% of my income to my church each month. This is going to require a lot of discipline with sticking to a budget and cutting back on some non-essential purchases each month. I’m confident that I can accomplish this with God’s help and provision though!

I am beyond blessed not to have any debt, and I’m grateful to have a decent cushion for unexpected expenses in a savings account. Yet, I want to consistently add to that savings account this year for an even larger cushion. Then once I’ve reached that goal, I want to continue to add to my savings account so that I will have more money for travel in the future.

Be Consistent with Journaling

I’ve wanted to be better at keeping a journal for awhile now. Although I have a really good memory (just ask my high school friends!) and take lots of pictures, I want to have a tangible written reminder of various seasons of my life. This will be a really easy way for my future self to look back and reflect on God’s faithfulness. I have my “Every Single Moment” Prayer Journal featuring specific prompts from Stephanie May Wilson that I want to be more dedicated to this year. In addition, I have a blank notebook where I can write down any non-prompted thoughts and feelings. Hopefully a more relaxed morning routine will help me with this goal as well.

Become a Manager with Beautycounter

I was really thankful to end 2019 with my best month ever with Beautycounter. This gave me a lot of encouragement and momentum heading into 2020. I’m excited to share safe and high-performing beauty products with even more people this year! In 2020, I want to advance to “Manager” with Beautycounter. As Beautycounter consultants grow their business, they can advance in title based on personal sales and business volume. Although “Manager” is by no means the highest title a Beautycounter consultant can earn, it is a goal within reach over the next 11+ plus months based on where I am now. In addition, it will still put me in the top 15% of all active Beautycounter consultants. Earning additional side income through Beautycounter will also help me with my financial goals for this year.

I’m also encouraged because Natalie Lewis, my awesome Beautycounter mentor, advanced to “Director” at the end of 2019, which is even higher than “Manager.” And she did this by passionately sharing Beautycounter’s mission to get safer products in the hands of everyone with her network. She did not spam her friends and strangers on social media with DMs. I also refuse to use any of these tactics to grow my business. This is a big reason why I wholeheartedly believe Beautycounter is the best direct sales company to join. It is very possible to have success without using the spammy and sales-y tactics that many direct sales leaders in other companies teach their teams.

Get All My Blog Posts Pre-written

Another one of my 2020 goals is to write all of my blog posts ahead of time so I am not scrambling to finish the day I want to publish them. Starting this coming week, I want to consistently publish a new blog post every Monday and Thursday. In order to stick to this posting schedule, it’s crucial I get them written in advance. I’m aiming to get blog posts written at least two weeks in advance. The exception to this is certain posts that are impossible to complete in advance, like Lilly After Party Sale top picks. Aiming to write posts two weeks prior to publication will give me wiggle room during busy weeks and weekends when I am unable to work on my blog much. Also, I think I will enjoy writing more if I’m not attempting to write and publish on the same day.

Grow My Blog Traffic & Affiliate Sales

I want to continue to grow my blog traffic and increase affiliate sales in 2020. There are two things I want to focus on to help with this. First, I want to utilize Pinterest to its fullest potential to drive traffic to my blog. I get decent traffic on certain blog posts from pins I created around 18 months ago. This makes me realize how much more traffic I could drive to my blog if I really started focusing on Pinterest more. Second, I want to start sending out an email newsletter. I’ve talked about doing this for awhile, but 2020 is going to be the year I finally pull the trigger. If you would like to be on the Palmettos & Pineapples e-newsletter list, let me know!

Be More Organized

I want to stay more on top on daily and weekly tasks that will help me be more organized in 2020. This includes tidying up areas of my apartment daily, and organizing receipts, purging junk mail, and filing papers weekly. I’m actually already making some positive strides in this area. For instance, since January 1 I’ve washed all dishes in my sink almost nightly. This really helps prevent overwhelming amounts of dishes from piling up. I also feel like I’ve been getting better at sifting through junk mail when I take it out of my mailbox, rather than shoving it in a junk bin and letting weeks worth accumulate.

Be More Content and Present

Finally, I really want to focus on being more content and present in my current season of life, rather than wishing it away. Particularly, whenever I feel burdened by the hard parts of being single, I want to shift my focus to what I can invest in because I’m single. For instance, I have more time to grow my blog and Beautycounter businesses. I want my daily attitude in 2020 to be “this is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad” (Psalm 118:24).

Bring on 2020!

I hope that you enjoyed reading about my 2020 goals, and that they inspired some of your own! I’m looking forward to what the Lord has in store for 2020. Cheers to another year of making memories with friends, visiting some of my favorite places (particularly the beach), and enjoying some of my favorite things. However, the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo are what I’m most excited about this year! Although I won’t be traveling to Tokyo for the Games, I will be glued to NBC for Primetime coverage all 16 nights of the Olympics. The Summer Olympics are one of my most favorite things, and I highly anticipate them every four years. Get ready for lots of Olympic coverage on the blog this summer!

What are some of your goals for 2020, and what are you looking forward to the most this year?

-xoxo Liz