It's 2017

Okay, I must have been in such a slump last week, because I'm reading what I wrote for this new year goals post now and I don't resonate with like, ANY OF IT!

I was like "I feel like don't accomplish half of the things that pop into my brain..." and "I probably could have done more in 2016..." and all these sort of depressing thoughts about how I am a big loser. Just kidding I didn't quite go that far, but it honestly looks like that's where it was headed! I mean, yikes.

Let me just be real with you right off the bat here and link my 2016 goals post. Without going into detail, I accomplished 2 out of 5ishhhh goals. There is definitely room for improvement, maybs why I was feeling so glum.

But in reality, I did a lot more than what was on that list. In that post, I did all this talk about not writing "vague resolutions," because they're hard to pinpoint and accomplish. And then I proceeded to not accomplish almost any of these resolutions I so eloquently listed in numerical order, and then went on and on and on about. From reading that post, I'm annoyed with 2016 Olivia (who I should be reminded, was with us until last week.)

I've been trying to do resolutions a little differently this year.

(find the really cool "this is my year" printable to use on Canva at Saffron Avenue linked HERE.)

I don't even want to call them resolutions, that's a scary word. These are just goals. Naming everything you're going to do this year on JANUARY FIRST seems daunting to me right now. A year is a really long time. A ton of the projects I took on last year weren't even on my radar until halfway through the year.

Some of my goals for this year have been in the works for some time now, and others I haven't even started. These are just things I'm hoping to work on getting a little bit better at throughout the year.

No pressure.

I think I'm fine on the amount of planning I do, but I worry a lot about completing all the things I have on my plate. Which is where "saying no" is going to come into play. I've been actively working on this, but I tend to say yes to a lot more than I can handle, and then feeling really badly when I have to say no. No more of that.

When I do a project, I prefer to do everything myself (#controlfreak). Outsourcing is something I really would like to/NEED TO start doing with my blog. I have no graphic design or coding skills, so it's hard for me to create a website that I'm proud to look at. Also, I like to do all my own photography even though I'm definitely not even close to being a pro at that either. I've been thinking about outsourcing a little of that too. Doing less will hopefully mean enjoying it all more.

I have plans to go to NYC with some of my bffs in March, yay! We're going to the opening night of Anastasia on Broadway, like true fans of 90s princesses.

Also: Stay tuned for my Midwest Mermaid rebranding.

I want to continue to read a lot, but I'm done holding myself to impossibly hard standards in terms of numbers. Silly girl.

And at the end of the day, week, month, whatever, I really want to take the time to realize how much I've actually accomplished. I didn't do much of that last year, which is probably why I didn't really feel like I met my goals. But upon thinking about it a little bit harder, I did a ton! And had a lot to be proud of.

I actually have like double the actual amount of goals for 2017, but I don't really feel the need to share everything with everyone all the time. (PS: That's kind of how I do the social media thing, I share just enough to let you feel connected to me, and not a thing more. And this is how you stay sane.) Some of them I just want to set into motion before releasing the info, but others would really just bore you to death.

In other goal-related news, I'm reading:

and I'm feeling totes inspired about life, you guys.

This one really makes sense to me. Jen Sincero really knows what she's talking about. She's explaining that what you put out into the world is what you're going to get back. So I'm going to put out good vibes and lots of goals, and hope that errrrrrythang manifests. You obviously can't sit and do nothing and hope for things to become your reality, but you get the picture. If you don't read the book linked here. Lots of good stuff in there.

I think this book is why I'm in such a good mood about 2017, and not super mad about 2016.

You can't really dwell on the past because then you're clearly not doing anything to put yourself in a better position right now, ya feel?

It also inspired me to make a vision board, which I did digitally via Pinterest. It's a secret board for now as I continue to build it, but I'm thinking about printing some things out and putting together a real-life board that I can hang in front of me to look at every day! I've always looked at vision boards as just a fun craft, but I'm a highly visual person so I have no idea why I didn't try this out sooner.

Another really inspiring resource about getting stuff DONE: Goal Digger Podcast.

I feel like this goals post was a lot more lighthearted than the two I had written in previous years. I like it better that way. It doesn't mean I have less to work towards, but I'm not going to be such a crazed lunatic about it.

So it's 2017...let's do this!