As most people do, I’ve reflected on 2023 and thought about what I’d like to achieve in 2024. This past year was a big year for me – I started working on my blog again, had another baby, and moved into a bigger home! Lots of change and growth. I would love to continue growing, so I made sure to come up with 5 goals for three different aspects of my life: personal, professional, and my business. If you like any of them, feel free to take one! These are just important to me, but maybe they can apply to you too!
Personal:
- Get to 175 pounds.
This goal is not about growing more ha! I recognize I had a baby in September, so I’ve been slowly losing weight from breastfeeding and starting to get active again. This is more of a “I want to get to this weight” through continuing what I’m doing. I’ll be losing about 20 pounds from where I’m at now – absolutely doable!
- Build a better wardrobe.
Now that I’ve had my last baby, I really want to focus on my clothing and finding stuff that I feel comfortable in. I’m planning on building a capsule wardrobe!
- Pay off credit card debt.
Both of our credit cards are pretty high on the usage right now, so I’m hoping to pay them both off this year!
- Once a month, make sure I spend time 1 on 1 with each kid.
Now that I have two kids, I want to make time for each one. This is super important for my 3 year old as I want to make sure she gets time with me without her baby brother!
- Once a month, have a date night with my husband.
It’s so easy to fall into a roommate phase with your significant other after having a baby. So my husband and I have decided to focus on our relationship this year and I want to make sure we have date nights once a month!
Professional:
- Complete 50 clock hours.
As a teacher, we’re always completing professional development. I would love to have 50 more hours recorded by the end of this year, as they help me move up the pay scale!
- Read 15 books.
As an English teacher, I wish I read more. But with two littles, I find it really hard to do. So I’m starting with a small goal of reading 15 books this year, just a little over one per month.
- Understand the new grading system and gradebook.
Our district has gotten a new online gradebook system AND has changed our grading practices to standards based. Although they’ve had a couple of trainings about it, it’s a huge change, so I want to feel more comfortable with it.
- Advocate for myself when I go back from maternity leave.
I go back to work this school year at the beginning of February. My school is really great about acknowledging new moms, but I want to make sure I’m advocating for my needs, especially when needing to pump. I’m not a burden on the school by needing to pump – I’m a mother first.
- Give myself grace.
It’s okay if I don’t get all the extra things done this school year. I’m a new mom of two, I’ll be tired. I need to start with focusing on creating my lessons, maintaining my grades, and taking care of myself while at school. Classroom transformations, attending sports events, and super complicated prep lessons are not needed if I don’t have the bandwidth! I’m still a good teacher.
Business:
- Have at least 20 new posts.
It’s important that I continue to keep posts coming on here! So at least 20 is the goal! (And this one counts as one ha!)
- Create 20 new items for Teachers Pay Teachers.
I just started my Teachers Pay Teachers store this year, and I want to make sure I continue adding to it with at least 20 new listings.
- Reach 2000 followers on Instagram.
Right now, I’m near 1400, so I really need to focus on building my Instagram following!
- Make enough money to break even.
This past year, I was able to start making money from my blog, enough to cover my first year costs (from 2020) and get a chunk of my renewal covered. But I’m still in the negative. I would love to break even this year.
- Get up to an average of 100 views a day.
Right now, I average about 30-40 a day, so I would love to see this go higher – which will happen with more posts, SEO focus, and promotion!
3 Comments
I’ve also been working on building a better wardrobe. As a stay-at-home mom, I don’t always have a lot of reasons to dress up. But dressing up is still important, even as a homemaker. So I’ve been doing a little retail therapy lately to upgrade my wardrobe!
I love these New Year’s Resolutions! I’m still working out what I want to accomplish this year, and you may have given me some ideas to add to my own list of goals. Have a Happy New Year!
Love these! And I’m right there with you on quite a few, including the date nights and page views! (Similarly around 30-40 a day on average. Some days more, some days less.) Let’s crush it!