The first Monday of each month, The Blended Blog has TBB Asks, but they sometimes have other prompts. The image above shows their January prompts for every Monday. Today, I’m joining in with Fresh Starts: Resolutions and New Beginnings.
Fresh Starts: 2019 Blogging, Reading, & Personal Goals #ontheblog #2019goals Click To TweetI think today is the perfect day to share my 2019 goals – reading, blogging, and personal. It’s never too late to get these down on “paper”!
Reading and Blogging Goals for 2019
- I put my Goodreads reading goal at 50 books. I feel like I’ll read more than this, but I really do the Goodreads challenge to keep track of what I read more than anything.
- I’m signing up for the Book Blog Discussion Challenge, hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts at Midnight. I’m going to aim for Discussion Dabbler which is 1-10 posts. Obviously I’m aiming for at least 10 posts over the course of the year, so we will see! These have to be book focused discussion posts, or getting-to-know you type of posts.
- I’m not choosing a set number for this, but I do want to read more graphic novels this year. I love them and I feel like I didn’t read as many last year.
- More than anything, I want to read a lot more books on my own shelves. I’ll still get some review books, and borrow some books from the library too, but I really want to start diving into the books I own.
Most of those goals are reading related, minus the Discussion Challenge, but I figured I’d start a new list for the more blog-focused goals.
- Reach at least 5k followers on both Instagram and Twitter. Follow me? I’m hoping to do more giveaways on these platforms this year too!
- Do more sponsored posts (both on the blog and social media). I don’t have a set number for this. A lot of sponsored posts do come down to numbers, so if I can grow blog views and social media numbers, then I will hopefully be able to find more opportunities to earn some money here and there. This is just something I want to work at more!
- Blog Ahead: I really need to get better at blogging ahead all the time. This means I have posts written and scheduled and ready to go so I don’t have to worry about doing that last minute all the time. Some posts are made to be more last minute, but for the most part, I want to have posts scheduled ahead.
- Blog Less: This will help with blogging ahead if I’m not posting quite as often. I normally have 4-5 posts a week and sometimes that just happens, but I want to make time for other things in my life so I know I need to aim for less blogging. More on this below!
Okay, now it’s time to talk about personal goals that I want to work on this year!
Personal Goals for 2019
- Eat Better: Yeah, I know, everyone says this, but I’ve been on a weight loss journey for the past couple years and I’m kind of hovering around the same weight, with a little up and down. I want to lose more weight – mostly for health reasons – so I need to get serious about eating well again. I’m thinking of looking into a meal kit; I’ve found some that aren’t too expensive for a few meals a week. ALSO- I’d love to try making smoothies; does anyone have some good protein and veggie rich smoothie recipes?
- Be More Active: Again, everyone says this, but part of this is for my health and part of it is just to feel better and have more energy. (1) I want to continue taking my dance classes. I’m in two right now – tap and cardio hip hop. (2) I want to try going back to the gym. A friend is planning on getting a membership soon so we’re hoping to go together as often as we can, kind of hold each other accountable. (3) I want to do at least one charity walk this year. I’m never going to be a runner, and it would probably be bad for my joints anyway, but I like the idea of those charity runs, so I figured I can try and do at least one where they let you walk.
- Finish My Current WIP: I’ve always wanted to be a published author, and I’ve written a book in the past and queried it and everything. However, I’ve been quite off these past couple years so I want to get back into it. I’m in the very beginning of a YA book called Color-Coded Sickness so I WILL finish that this year. This goes along with blogging less – since I want to focus more on writing my novel, I need to blog a bit less so I have time and don’t get overwhelmed.
Now, I know some of these are “bigger” goals if you will – and pretty typical of New Year’s Resolutions. However, to make things easier for myself, and to feel like I’m making progress throughout the year, I’m going to break certain 2019 goals down into mini ones. I think it’s great to want to eat well or be active, but just saying that doesn’t change anything. I need smaller steps to help me on my way there.
A lot of bloggers do Monthly Goals posts, so my hope is to do that every month. I won’t do one for January since you’re getting this post, but you’ll get one in February. I’ll share what I accomplished the previous month, and then tell you what I hope to accomplish in that current month. Feel free to do this on your own blogs! I love reading people’s goals post! They can be very inspiring.
So tell me: do you have any 2019 goals? How do you feel about Monthly Goals posts?
I really need to bring my traffic numbers up and engagement on my posts. I work hard at that every single day! So much work to do but I really enjoy blogging. Starting my blog is one of the best things I have ever done for myself.
All great goals and I wish you well with all of them!!
One of my goals for 2019 is to increase traffic to my blog. Personally I don’t really like monthly goal posts, I just don’t find them super relatable. However if it helps keep you accountable then I say go for it!
These are great goals many of which I share with you!
I wish I was better at blogging ahead. I would like to make that a goal. I would like to read more books that I already own, as well. Eating better and exercising more is always something I’m working on. I’m running another half-marathon in May so the training will get me moving. It’s been hard to exercises because it’s been dark when I get home and I don’t like running in the dark for safety reasons. I have also been kicking around the meal delivery options. It would make my life easier I think. Great post, Lauren, and good luck with all your goals! 🙂
A goal of mine is to increase Instagram followers too – I took a free webinar yesterday which was pretty helpful!
This month is kicking my butt. I just want to get through it in one piece lol
Karen @ For What It’s Worth
It is always good to write your goals down and put them out there. Great list of goals. My goal is to up my blog viewers and to consistently make income from my blog by June.
Good luck with your goals, especially your writing! I agree that it can be daunting to write AND blog AND read AND have a “regular” life. Sometimes you have to prioritize and decide what works best for you.
Lots of great goals here, Lauren. Good luck achieving them all!
My goal for my blog is to get some followers and learn to start making money blogging. Up until now I haven’t been very serious about blogging or making money but this year I want to change that.
All good goals. I always want to eat better and exercise more. You’re still nice and young, and it can become part of your lifestyle. I have years and years of terrible habits to undo, but you know, couldn’t hurt to try. I am always trying to read my own books too. I am getting better, I think. Good luck! I know you can succeed in all these goals.
Great goals! I’ve got to get more active this year and start cooking instead of eating out all the time. Good luck with everything!
Good luck with your goals. I really need to work on reading books from my own shelf this year and am also very focused on getting my arc pile under control. I am sure you are going to do great with these goals. Good luck!
Good luck with all your goals! I’ve never done a sponsored post, but I’d love to be able to make money with my blog! I hope you finish your WIP this year!
4-5 posts per week is so much! I usually aim for just 1, but I have a goal in February to put out 3 per week. I do want to get ahead of schedule like you, it is such a challenge!
I wish you all the luck with your goals! I always try to blog ahead but always fail. It’s hard to find the time now that real adulthood kicked in uhh.
Great goals! I think you have a good mix of big & small goals.
Have you read The Lunar Chronicles? If so, have you read Marissa Meyer’s two graphic novels that extend beyond the books? If you’ve read the series but not the g.n. then I highly suggest reading those!
Some of your goals are very similar to mine. Now, to actually work on these goals daily so that we can reach them! 🙂
Look at you reaching for 5k goals! I already follow you both places, but I am rooting for you to make that goal 🙂
You got some good goals there, girlie. Best of luck to you with them. I have some of the same goals & really need to start working on them. 🙂
Good luck on all those goals! I relate to blogging ahead – I’ve been trying to schedule ahead lately and it’s been working? Kind of? I’ve gotten better at blogging less, though, but I’m slowly increasing the number as needed and then I’ll decrease as time goes by. It depends on how much I read and what other commitments I have.
I’m right there with you! I want to read more books on my shelfs too! Once I get past some ARCs I really want to focus on catching up on some of my favorite authors backlists that have just sat on my kindle or my bookshelf for too long. Here’s hoping we can both accomplish that this year. 🙂 And here’s wishing you lots of luck on the rest of your goals!
I always love hearing about other people’s goals. You have some good ones! I would also like to be better at blogging ahead, I am terrible with that. It will be fun to hear your monthly updates!
These are all great goals. Good luck!!
Good luck on your WIP!
I need to get some blogging ahead done. I did really good a handful of months ago and then I went into a blogging funk and then sort of used up all those lovely posts I had typed up. :face palm:
I love all of your blogging goals. I really want to blog less, but also hopefully that’ll help me get ahead. I’d love to get one week ahead. I am blogging the night before usually! And, I’m trying to take on a little less sponsored stuff this year. I think I just took on too much last year and I want my evenings and weekends back!
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
I love all of your goals! I think they really do go with your focus word of the year. Also, I’m holding my fingers crossed for your book. That sounds super exciting! x
These are fantastic goals! I’m with you on the goodreads goal, I like to put a number there, but it’s really just to track all of the reading I do. I also want to read more graphic novels, hopefully and try to get back to writing, too 🙂 Best of luck for all of these goals!! <3 <3
I love all your reading goals! I’m with you on needing to eat better and be more active. January hasn’t been the best month for me in that department. I’m going to pretend that February is my second chance at a fresh start. 🙂
Ah, good luck on these!
Re: sponsored posts: If you have high engagement rates, but lack the reach (blog, social media, etc.), you can still get sponsored posts. I intend to blog about it in a series I’m putting together, but it’ll be a while. If you’re interested in how to figure our the numbers for each so that sponsors posts are not as dependent on your follower count, I can get the formulas for you—they’re in my blogging notes, and it’s a bit late currently or else I’d get them for you now. c: Just email me or something 😉
Good luck with all of your goals! It’s nice to have something to check back in during the year and keep on track with 🙂
It’s possible I should make a goal of blogging in advance… I mostly don’t, and it would probably make things more efficient…