Hello Ladies and happy new year to you all! I hope your new year has got off to a good start, mine got off to quite a slow start if I am honest with you, but ten days in and I am feeling inspired, creative and fired up! I had such a good year last year, that there have been moments when I have caught myself wondering, how the hell can I top 2019? Well, the truth of the matter is, I don’t even know how I managed to do all of what I did last year, so I am hoping that what I don’t know now I will figure out along my journey through 2020.
I am not a “New Year New Me!’ kind of person. I am working on myself daily and last year I believe I grew more as a person than I have grown my entire adult life. My goal for 2020 is this, just to keep growing. Pretty simple really, but maybe not so simple, when also off the back of my personal growth I want to be better than I was in 2019, like I was better off in 2019 than I was in 2018. I want to be happier, healthier, smarter, richer and wiser.
For me, it’s always important to make any of my goals or tasks as bite size as possible – this just makes them much less daunting and far more achievable for me. I always compare how I like to hit my goals to learning how to drive. First you learn where the gas is, the clutch, the break, then you learn how to mirror, signal, manoeuvre and the next minute you know, you’re driving and you didn’t even know it! Now I think about it, it’s pretty comparable to giving birth or motherhood, you don’t know you’re doing it till you’re doing it or it’s done! The next minute you know, you are well on your way to being the best mum of the year!
OK, so not quite. However, making small 1% incremental changes over a long period of time to make marginal gains, will eventually lead to huge overall gains. So I am applying these tiny changes across these four aspects of my life, work, health, finances and happiness.
Health
Drink one litre of water a day and replace two coffees with herbal teas.
Remove sugar from said coffees and allow myself only to have one sugar in my morning coffee (if I have to!)
Eat less carbs – so original! Cooks lots more colourful food bulked up with a lot more veg.
Allow the household one takeaway a month and eat soups, salads or sushi when eating out.
Go to bed before 1am and wake up before 7am.
Do Allegra’s hair on Sunday night so styling throughout the week is easier, therefore making the nursery run less stressful.
Only have one alcoholic beverage a night (if I have to) and try to make it gin!
Drink less wine and just drink less in general life!
Once I have settled into my new year groove, allocate time to get fit.
Stick to my goddamn skincare routine!
Meal prep like a boss! Fail to prepare, prepare to fail at my health!
Work
WORK LESS. PERIOD. DOT. END OF!
Figure out what working smart means to me. Write it down, create a weekly schedule and stick to it.
Create a content calendar and start anticipating calendar dates months ahead, not days!
Keep journalling – I am so much better when I journal. And DON’T STOP JOURNALLING – IT’S IMPORTANT,
Pencil in time for research and inspiration, this is as crucial to my job as execution – MAKE MORE TIME FOR IT!
Spend one day a month creating Instagram content.
Create a blog post a day and in less than three hours.
DON’T GIVE UP YOUTUBE – create a video a week!
Don’t create content for brands FOR FREE, unless it’s GENUINELY beneficial to me and don’t be afraid to ask for a budget.
Don’t be Instagram-centric.
Finances
Double my income without doubling my working hours! It’s physically impossible to work anymore! SLEEP IS IMPORTANT.
Start paying off credit cards.
Set monthly earning targets and work towards hitting them daily.
Stay on top of my money – know my figures, inventory and earning potential.
Lower my overheads and only subscribe to the apps and software I use on a daily basis.
Increase my streams of income.
Happiness
DO NOTHING SOMETIMES! Be at home, talk on the phone, watch TV, read a magazine or a blog post and cook.
Spend more on experiences, less on THINGS!
Light more candles, have friends over more and throw more dinner parties.
Write more.
Declutter more – do it monthly and keep my space and my head clear.
Spend less time on Instagram and curate and declutter my feed.
Feed my interests more, go to the theatre, watch more films, old favourites and those I’ve not seen.
Have more date nights, go the cinema more. Weekly cinema used to be our ritual and we lost it once I fell pregnant (there was no way I was going to stay awake through an entire film!)
Watch more food programmes and lots more Rick Stein.
Lose track of time, sometimes (NOT WORKING!)
Keep coming back to this list. Don’t forget what makes me happy. Never lose sight of my goals, my truth and don’t let quick fixes distract me from my journey.
Remember the road is long…be kind, be patient, stay inspired and enjoy…
Happy 2020 Ladies x
