I’ve never been big on New Year’s Resolutions. Mostly because so many people make resolutions at the beginning of the year only to break those resolutions in a few weeks or sometimes months. I am, however, a big proponent of setting goals. I always feel like having a goal to work towards forces me to work harder and gives me the motivation to do so. Knowing what my end goal is helps me to determine what steps I need to take in order to get there. I will be sharing a few of my goals for 2017 as a way to hold me accountable (if its written for all of you to read then I have to follow through, right?).

1. One of my goals is to grow this blog. I have only been blogging for a few months and not always so consistently (evident by the fact that I’m getting my New Year’s post up on January 9th), so that is definitely one of the things I want to work on in order to help grow my readership. I want to improve upon both my content and photography as I feel that is hugely important when trying to grow a blog. I also need to start focusing on my social media presence (Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest) as it plays such a big role in driving traffic to the blog. Sometimes it seems like there is an endless amount of learning when it comes to blogging. I researched tons of tips on starting a blog prior to writing my first post and still continue to research different aspects of blogging so that I can incorporate it into my blog to try to improve it. While it sounds like a lot of work, I truly do enjoy creating different content to share.
2. My second goal for 2017 is to unplug more. I feel like today it has almost become the norm to be glued to our cell phones. Between all the different forms of social media to having access to internet at all times, its almost hard not to get sucked in. I know I’m guilty of looking at social media and before I know it I have wasted 15-20 minutes. I also tend to get distracted when I am trying to get things on my to-do list done but instead get caught up on checking emails or something else on my phone. I want to be more intentional about spending that time that I typically waste on social media/internet doing things that don’t involve my phone or computer. I also think its incredibly important to be present in our everyday lives and by spending time with our loved ones instead of having our faces glued to our phones.
3. Thirdly, I want to try to stress less. About 7 months out of the year, my husband and I spend more time on the road and out of town then we do at home. Between all the traveling and trying to run my handmade jewelry business and now writing a blog, I sometimes get overwhelmed and feel that I don’t have time for everything. I want to try not to get stressed out if I’m not able to get a blog post up as often as I would like, or if I’m not able to get some of the things accomplished for my jewelry business that I would like. At the end of the day, it isn’t that big of a deal and I can always get it accomplished on another day.
4. Another goal I have for 2017 is being more consistent with my quiet times. I go through phases where I will stick with my quiet time on a daily basis for a while then I let our ever changing schedule throw me off and it takes me a while to get back on track. I want to start making my quiet time a priority and sticking to it. I feel I am a much better wife and over all person when I spend time daily reading the Bible. Do you have any bible studies that you would recommend? I would love to hear your suggestions.
5. My last goal for 2017 is to grow my jewelry business, Immeasurably More. I launched my jewelry website in June of 2015 and really didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I have continued to research and try to implement everything I have learned into my business but still have more to learn. I want to invest more time and effort into growing my sales as well as my social media channels.

What are some of the goals you have set for yourself for 2017? I think it is neat to look back on my goals throughout the year to see what progress I have made and what I still need to work on.