25% of 2017

Can you believe we’re already a full three months into the year? Every year seems to go a little bit faster. I wonder if that’s just one of the many joys of adulthood: time flying by.

Even though it feels like I’ve only just blinked since January 1, I would still believe you if you told me a full year has passed because so much has happened and changed in just three short– and long– months.

I don’t want to completely forget about my goals for 2017. I think it’s important to check in on them so I can keep them fresh in my mind as we go into this second quarter.

Personal Updates:

– I wanted to be more forgiving, and I think I’ve been decently okay with this. An improvement from the past, but I still have a lot of work to do. To be more forgiving with myself, though, I’m going to acknowledge that I have made some good progress on this one.

– My fitness goal is where I think I’ve made the most progress. I felt pretty good with what I was doing at the end of 2016, so I didn’t expect there to be a huge change. I was pretty focused on just committing to going but now that that’s become more second nature, I’ve noticed myself getting so much stronger phsyically– and mentally– during my workouts. Last week, I went to the gym five times and had amazing workouts each day. The only “problem” is that I am now sore all day, every day! Ha! I have more fitness content coming up to share some more of my journey! I keep telling people: if I can do this, you can do this. And I whole-heartedly believe it.

– It took a little bit of time for me to get into the swing of reading. I mentioned last week that I had (finally) come out of a reading rut. Now I’m feeling better about the amount of reading I’m doing. I could make time to read more, but I’m content with where I am.

– Next to fitness, the one goal that I’m doing so much better with than I expected is getting more sleep. I’m coming up on one year since the worst health scare I’ve ever had, and it was such an eye-opener regarding listening to my body and truly taking care of myself. Sleep is a major component, and I’ve been SO GOOD about getting enough. Only once or twice (due to traveling) have I let things slide a bit. Reading before going to bed, getting new blackout curtains, and using Headspace to clear my mind have all helped.

– And I have to come clean. The one thing I haven’t made much progress on? Remembering people’s names. UGH!

Business Updates:

Interestingly, this has been my best first quarter of the year ever business-wise. Normally this is the slowest time of the year, and I can get my bearings coming out of the holiday rush. I’m not complaining one bit about this! It’s been kind of fun to hit the ground running, and I’ve been so excited about some of the things I’ve been able to do and accomplish already in the year. I wrote down a list of five goals (that I kept private) and two of them have already happened: being in another print magazine and partnering with J. Crew!

As far as the goals that I shared on here:

– I’ve been okay at posting eight times a week on the blog. Honestly, I just feel like there’s SO much content swirling around everywhere that I skip the extra blog post. Between Snapchat, Instagram stories, Twitter, Instagram, etc. etc. etc. Even though I’ve skipped that extra post most weeks, I have been pretty happy with the content I’m sharing elsewhere.

– I’m particularly proud of the quality of photography for the year. It sounds kind of lame to admit, but I prefer reading blog posts with normal iPhone photos and watching casual Snapchats but to appeal to brands (which is part of my business at the end of the day), the photography has to be at a certain level. I was nervous about how to work out my photographer situation since I no longer had one available “in house” so to speak, but I’ve been loving being able to work with Courtney here in Connecticut, Bekka in New York, and Carter while traveling.

– While I have said “no” to a lot of events, I’m saying “yes” to a lot more than before. I’m still selective so I don’t completely burn myself out, I’m making a better effort about it.

– I have been, on the other hand, really good about taking more meetings (and phone calls). I try to schedule them for one day a week while I’m in the city to cut down on the back and forth, but it’s been going well. Even if there isn’t a direct business opportunity, it’s been good for me to continue to practice “pitching” myself as well as just meeting with interesting people. I always leave inspired, and it’s much more than just closing on a deal!

– And, of course, I’m ending on a negative note. I still haven’t been able to crack into the Youtube thing. I have ideas on what I’d like to do but need to figure out exactly how to execute in a way that I’m comfortable with. For now, Snapchat it is!