April 2017 Goals
Happy April! Man, did March fly by or what? I feel like I say this every month, but I really felt it this time around. There was a lot going on in the month March, and because of this, I didn’t make as much progress as I would’ve liked to with my monthly goals. Also, due to the leading of the Holy Spirit, I had to cut out some goals for the month, which is perfectly fine with me. I think that a lot of us believe that we have to cross every goal and to-do off our list in order to be productive, but that is simply not true. If you’re following Fearfully Fashioned on Instagram, I shared this quote by Francis Chan, “Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” This right here should be our reminder that we don’t have to do all the things. Instead, we should be focusing on doing purposeful things to the best of our ability. So with that lesson, I learned to hold myself to a standard of grace, not perfection this past month.
March Recap
This was taken on a lunch date with my friend at the SIP Experience.
1) Build and cultivate new friendships. I’m really proud of myself for the intentional progress I’ve made in the area of friendships. Although I wasn’t able to meet with everyone due to the schedule conflicts, I was able to set up a few lunch and church dates with a good friend of mine.
2) Go on an intentional date night. This, unfortunately, didn’t happen this month. (Womp, womp). We both are cutting down on spending, so most of our dates unashamedly involved Netflix. (Any suggestions for free date nights?) We did, however, take a road trip south to visit his family, so maybe I’ll let that count toward the goal.
3) Re-read Lady in Waiting. As I started to re-read this book, the Holy Spirit showed me that I’m in a TOTALLY different season of life than I was when I first got the book. So, I only re-read the chapters that were applicable to my current season of life.
4) Declutter emails, wardrobe, and desk. I haven’t touched my desk, but I have started on the emails and my wardrobe. I went through my email accounts and unsubscribed to newsletters (which half I never subscribed to) as well as started to delete what I could. I also cleared out my closet with a bag of clothes to donate. I need to go through it again and figure out what needs to be thrown away. I’ll be carrying this goal over into April.
5) Tidy up my storage unit. Every time I planned on going to my storage unit this month it rained, so I will also be carrying this one over into April.
6) Organize Fearfully Fashioned’s electronic files. I was able to clear off my desktop, but that’s about it. I have tons of downloaded files that need to be organized into my Google Drive & Dropbox. Another rollover goal.
7) Seed influencers for #IAMFearfullyFashioned feature. Yes! I’m so proud of myself for finally making the time to make sure that this was done. I was able to draft up an email template along with a spreadsheet so I can track my outreach. I also was able to simplify the submission process as well, so I’m grateful for that.
8) Create a new challenge for Fearfully Fashioned. I have realized over the years that God really is the CEO of my business; He just gives me the ideas to execute and steward. With that being said, He told me to table the challenge for now. I have other projects that I’m working on that need my full attention and effort.
9) Vet new offering with the Fearfully Fashioned community. So I’m about ⅓ way through creating a mini project so I can validate my new offering. I’m aiming to have this finished by the end of April.
10) Participate in more networking groups. I’m going to be honest, I could have been way more intentional in participating in the Facebook groups I’m in. (I suck at Facebook). BUT I did attend my first Tuesdays Together with the Rising Tide Society, and connected with a few ladies through email afterwards, so I’m going to count that as a win.
April Goals
Personal
1) Spend intentional time with my family.
I’m so excited because my mom, dad, and grandma from my mom’s side are coming to Georgia this month! I’m originally from Ohio, so the only time I really get to see them is during the holidays. Although, I’ll still be working while they’re here, I want to make sure that I’m spending intentional, quality time with them while they’re in town.
2) Intentional date night with Justin.*
3) Cultivate new friendships by going on coffee and brunch dates.*
4) Register for Forward Weekend.
One of my goals was to get plugged in at church this year. In February, I recently joined my church and I completed one of their foundational classes. Forward Weekend is basically the final hoorah of the course where we cement everything we learned.
5) Declutter social media, email, and electronic files.*
6)Tidy up storage unit.*
7) Have a social media free weekend.
I’ve never taken a whole weekend off social media, so I’m excited to unplug! I’ll probably schedule it for when my family is in town, so I can full enjoy the weekend with them without being prompted to post on Instagram. If you're curious about doing a social media free weekend, you can read all about it on the Cultivate What Matters Blog.
Business
8) Finish content for mini-course.
If you’re interested in launching your God-given vision in the form of a blog, business, ministry, or organization, you’ll definitely want to stay tuned for this! It’s basically the pre-requisite for the Blog the Vision course. It will be free! Join the waitlist and receive your free Vision PinkPrint.
9) Create new offering and consultation.
I’m whipping up some exciting new services for aspiring bloggers, business & ministry owners. Stay tuned! There are a lot of exciting things coming to Fearfully Fashioned.
This month I decided to do something differently and set specific business goals using the PowerSheets method in my project management system, Asana. I attached a screenshot, so you can see my monthly business goals.
Weekly Goals:
1) Call/connect with an old friend.
As I start to build new friendships, I don’t want to neglect the old ones. To make sure I’m intentionally nurturing those relationships, I made it a goal to connect with at least one old friend a week. And because I suck at calling people (definitely a texter here), I’m taking it up a notch by making sure that I call them.
2) Workout 3- 4 times a week for 30 minutes or more.*
3) Post 1 to 2 time a week on the blog.
I’m going through a lot of transition in terms of work, taking on more clients, working on more projects, plus starting my coaching certification training this month. So I’ve decided to give myself grace now to cut back in other areas and the blog will be one of them.
4) Look at numbers and metrics.
Your numbers and metrics basically indicate the health of your business, and that is something I was reminded of during the Tuesdays Together Meetup last month. I need to get in the habit of reviewing these weekly to make sure that I’m hitting my targets and goals.
5) Incorporate rest.
Since I’m getting ready to enter a busy season, this is going to be even more important now more than ever. I hate being idle, but I know God is going to refresh and restore me through intentional periods of rest.
Daily Goals:
1) Close Activity Rings.*
2) Eat intuitively.*
3) Keep food journal.
If you remember in last month’s goals post, I shared that I’ve been having stomach issues for the last few years. Thankfully, one of my close friends is an RD, so she is working with me to help identify the problem. So hopefully this food journal will help the both of us figure out what’s going on.
4) Live within my means.
One of this year's goals is to build a strong financial foundation, and in order to do that I need to do better at staying on top of my finances and making sure that I’m not spending carelessly. Right now, I’m focusing on living within my means by only purchasing the necessities.
5) Journal*
6) Checking in with Facebook Networking Groups.
I did such a horrible job at popping into my Facebook Groups last month. I really want to start networking and collaborating more with industry colleagues, so the goal is to check-in for at least 10 minutes daily.
April Books:
*= Goals from last month or recurring goals.
What are your monthly goals? Share them with me in the comments below!
Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links, meaning that if you purchase the books mentioned in this post, I will make an affiliate commission from Amazon. All products and resources I recommend have been vetted and used by me. If you decide to purchase the books, at no additional cost to you, you help support Fearfully Fashioned.
