2020 Goals | Life, Career, & More
And just like that, it’s another year, another decade, and another opportunity to chase after my goals and dreams.
2019 was a rollercoaster… honestly, maybe ‘rollercoaster’ should’ve been my word for 2019. It definitely would’ve been a much more accurate depiction of what 2019 had in store for me. Anywho, I’ll spare you all the 2019 details (but really I won’t because I wrote an entire post about what went down in 2019).
My mantra of 2020 is accountability and consistency. Accountability is something I struggle with a lot because once I fall out of the routine of doing something (i.e. blogging, Instagram, the gym, healthy eating, staying in my pajamas all day), I find it extremely challenging to get back into the swing of things. “Oh it’s okay I’ll do it tomorrow” has been my excuse for the last year, but today I’m saying NO MORE!
It’s easy to not hold myself as accountable as I should when I work from home and it’s just me, my cats, and my plants. No one will know if I eat half a loaf of pumpkin bread for breakfast. No one will know if I go to Sonic for the second day in a row to get a half-price slush. No one will see me if I don’t wash my hair for 6 days and never change out of my pajamas.
2020 is going to be an interesting year. It’s the first year where my life is in my hands. I don’t have school to tell me what to do. I don’t have assignments taking up my thoughts 24/7. I don’t have my life planned out for me… #scary.
I’m not going to lie, setting goals for 2020 scares me just a little bit. I can no longer have the ‘don’t fail a class’, ‘graduate on time’, blah blah blah because school controls my life. I’m 100% in control. The issue with that is that I highly undervalue myself and think that I am capable of absolutely nothing… Goals scare me because now the path to get there is completely foreign to me. How do I run a successful business?? How do I determine the worth of my skills? What if no one wants to hire me? What if my blog flops and no one shares any interests with this plant-loving grandma of a cat lady…
Life
What a broad topic 😂 way to go Abigail…
Eat a healthy, balanced breakfast at least five days a week
Eat a healthy, balanced breakfast at least five days a week. I’ve become the absolute worst at eating breakfast, and if I do eat breakfast, chances are its junk food… junk food was how I got through 2019, okay… no judgment plz. In 2020, I will eat some form of a balanced breakfast.
Prep lunch ingredients on a weekly basis to allow for less junk food and more healthy food during the day. When I was in college, I was SO good about eating lunches that were healthy. I’d chop up a bunch of veggies to make my tofu & veggie scramble or I’d cook a bunch of healthy-ish alfredo with chickpea pasta and broccoli. Now it’s pretty much leftovers or whatever junk food is in the pantry…
Plan a vacation for Brad and I’s 3rd anniversary. We went to Folly Beach last year, and I totally want to do it again! We had an absolute blast. Plus, our anniversary is September 15th which is the off-season at the beach… and that means discounted hotels/houses.
Fill out and utilize my PowerSheets each and every week. I used PowerSheets in 2019 at the beginning of the year. It worked well for me, but then the rollercoaster took off and I never knew what I was doing next. Now that my life has settled, I feel that I’m a bit more able to accurately plan and set goals on a weekly and monthly basis.
Career
Double my income generated from Abigail Thomas Digital. Boom. There I said it. My skills have worth, and I am 100% deserving of monetary compensation. Just because I check the ‘recent college grad’ box does not mean that I am deserving of the typical lower rates for people straight out of college. I’ve been doing this web development and social media stuff for a little over four years… and that’s worth more.
Get ready for work 3x per week. I am oh-so-guilty of wearing my pajamas all day with my hair in a bun with no makeup on every single day of the week. While that may sound like the dream, it’s actually quite unmotivating. I could easily get back into bed and no one would ever know… I will get dressed, do my hair, and put on makeup 3x per week in 2020.
Hobbies
Create a social media schedule and stick to it. That’s kind of ironic, right? Social media is part of what pays my bills, but it still stresses me out when I have to post on my own accounts. In 2020, I will find a balance between posting on @livingthegraylife and @livingtheplantylife. I would love to grow both accounts to over 1,000 followers each! My approach is to post 3x a week on each account meaning I could alternate days between which account I’m posting on and then I’d get a day off each week as well. Hopefully, this is something I can try my best to stick to!
Integrate a ‘Shop’ page on the blog. I would love to create an online store on the blog where I could sell blog stickers, podcast stickers, and succulents! This could be a way for me to integrate my love for succulents into the blog and be able to spread the joy of plants with more people!
Post on the blog at 2x per month. I felt like 2019 just wasn’t my year for blogging, and I think a lot of people fell into that same rut. 2020 will be different because I have my spark back for my biggest passion, and I’m ready to get to typing away and sharing more of my life with you! I put a lot of pressure on myself to have posts that are meaningful, provide value to the reader, and are new and innovative. In the wise words of Gabby Whiten, even if you think there’s no one listening, there is always someone who is. I don’t care if the post is just an update on my plants or my cats, I will post something each month and be proud of it!
I’m genuinely excited about my goals for 2020 because this year is 100% me. I am the only one dictating what happens, where I go, and whether or not I put in the work to be successful. This year is a blank slate for my creative passions and I’m looking forward to all that is to come!
Happy New Year!
~abigail gray
