I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that October has come and gone already. This month flew by! We were really busy in October, but with good things.
It is the start of a new month, which means it is time to share my goals with the world. I share my goals with my readers because taking them public adds a layer of accountability that I need.
What I learned in October.
Blog: Timing is everything. Do you remember in September when I spent a good deal of my free time revamping old posts? Those continue to drive a ton of traffic to my blog- specifically the holiday related ones. I had a Halloween post bring me 3k worth of page views in 48 hours. For someone who doesn’t typically get thousands of page views a day, that is huge.
I’m also collaborating on a new project with a friend. We’re knee deep in details, but we’ve got something up our sleeves that you’re going to love. Our target launch date is January 2015.
October blog goals hit:
- Revamp 3 old posts
- Pitch 10 companies for my holiday gift guide
October blog goals missed:
- Complete 31 days of Blogger Rehab- I decided that this series will be best done spread out over time instead of back to back. Look for a few new Blogger Rehab posts this month.
- Sell three blog posts as a virtual assistant- I missed this one, but gained a new blogger as a virtual assistant client. I’m thrilled to be working with her. So maybe that is a hit instead of a miss after all.
Life: On a larger scale, the events and activities we said yes to this month didn’t seem overwhelming. But on a day to day basis, we were weary and stretched too thin this month. A lot of these things were good things- things that align with our family mission statement and places where we want to invest our time. I will be protecting our time much more aggressively in November as I want to prevent the burn out we felt in October.
October life goals hit:
- Sent five pieces of snail mail.
- Organize and attend a girls night out.
- Go on a date with my husband. We didn’t get out of the house for a date, but we had four Monday night couch dates.
October life goals missed:
- Complete Whole 30
Motherhood:
October motherhood goals hit:
- Take Malone out on a date.
October motherhood goals missed:
- Return the back to school paperwork I’ve had since September. (YUCK).
- Go through Lola’s outgrown clothing. Pack away, donate, hand down, or sell them.
SMART goals for November 2014.
SMART goals are:
These goals are:
- Specific
- Measured
- Action based
- Realistic
- Time Bound
I set SMART goals because I need a specific target to work towards. I could set a goal that said “I want to run a marathon someday” but without breaking it down into smaller more actionable steps, I would never get there!
A better goal would be “I want to run a total of 30 miles this month and complete a 5k race so I can lay a solid foundation as I begin to work towards a marathon.” I totally have a marathon on my bucket list, so I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit.
My November 2014 SMART Goals
Blog:
- Order Lara Casey’s Powersheets.
- Develop a better system of managing my time spent online (includes social media).
- Revamp three old posts.
Life:
- Buy a new planner for 2015
- Go on a date with my husband (out of the house).
- Organize a girl’s night out with the women from my church
Motherhood:
- Return Malone’s back to school paperwork.
- Go through Lola’s outgrown clothing. Pack away, donate, hand down, or sell them.
- Take Malone on a date.
- Find a weekly story time to take Lola to.
I love setting SMART goals and I love sharing them with you. Did you set goals for November? What are they?
I love that you do this and hold yourself accountable. I also love the idea of revamping old posts. I blogged for over two years before I really “dove” in and started any kind of promoting. Surely I could find something good in all of that!
Lisa @ The Golden spoons recently posted..If I Could Turn Back Time . . . .
You should totally go back and revisit your old posts! You’ve probably got a ton of content that would go really far again if you gave it a refresh. The Halloween post alone killed it for me. I’m about to get super nerdy and create a master spreadsheet of all of the posts I want to redo!
Wow where did November go? I feel like I just read your October recap! Though this does remind me that I need to go back and fix up some old posts of mine.
Bev recently posted..{Vlog No. 1} What a crafter’s studio space really looks like
Going back and fixing up old posts has been the BEST use of my time lately, even more so that creating new content. It seems weird to say it, but it has literally helped me step up my game!
Wow – you had a pretty huge October!!
My youngest son brought home a parent assignment the first week of school (mid August) that was due sometime in September – I still haven’t done it – big fail!!!
Kim recently posted..Family Dinner
It was pretty huge, wasn’t it!
Getting to the paperwork is one of the top things of my to do list. I’ve been re-organizing the systems and processes we have for our family so that I carve out more time for things like this. Aka- no more fun things for me until the “work” of motherhood is done!
Did you get the assignment done?
You had a few misses for October, but look at all you accomplished (as well as everything that wasn’t on your goals list!) Great job for getting family dates in and Girls Night! I was confused about Blogger Rehab so I’m glad you clarified that. 🙂 I’m excited to see what’s coming in Jan (if I don’t already know.) 🙂 Here’s the planner I got for 2015 and printed it myself. I used it last year and I love it. https://www.etsy.com/shop/IHeartOrganizing?ref=shop_sugg Happy November!
shelly recently posted..November Goals
Blogger Rehab is still happening, but it is going to be more of a weekly post. I realized that I was bombarding my readers with too much info and I was driving myself crazy with the posting schedule.
Check out my Love List next week, NJ – I just got a new planner that I LOVE!! I love the revamping old posts idea – I did one in October, and I definitely want to do a few in Nov/Dec.
Dana recently posted..My Challenge
Lara Casey is the mom to one of the kids in my son’s preschool class. I am her room mom – she is super sweet and amazing and kind.
Congrats to getting so many goals DONE, this is really is amazing, and excited for Jan 2015 for you!
Allison recently posted..9 Ways to Get Ahead of the Christmas Holiday