My Personal Goals for 2019
Y’all, I have been waiting for today for the past two weeks!
Today my kids went back to school. haha!
Okay, just kidding….
I’ve been waiting one week. {wink}
I have LOVED spending time with my kiddos over the two week Christmas break, but I have not gotten a lot of work done lately. My house is a wreck, and I’m behind on my blogging tasks. But that’s okay. Just gonna take it one day at a time.
On Friday, I drove down to Morristown, TN with my friend, Lori for a Goal Setting Workshop on Saturday. It was hosted by my dear friend, Edie from Life in Grace. I’ve know Edie for about 9 years now. We were roomies in Nicaragua several years ago for a trip with Compassion International. I adore her. We both agree that we are literally the same person in different bodies. She and I have extremely similar personalities and see the world, and the people in it, the same way. I adore her!
Edie wrote an incredible book a few years back, and I actually had the privilege of writing one of the reviews found inside her book. It’s called All the Pretty Things, and it is a great read!
Another speaker there is one of my favorite people to follow on Instagram, Jami Nato. I LOVE her humor, and she inspires me in my essential oil business.
I actually thought the goal setting workshop would be focused more on setting goals for my Young Living business, but it was really about setting goals in ALL areas of my life, which is really what I needed!
Most people think I am an organized person and have my stuff together in life. But y’all, I am a hot mess most every day of my life. I just hide it really well. haha!
One thing about being an online entrepreneur is that there are a million different directions my business can go.
As a home blogger, my “to do” list consists of:
- Brainstorming/Creating/Writing content each week
- Doing DIY projects around the home
- Photographing projects
- Editing Photos
- Creating video content
- Publishing content on all social media channels DAILY: Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc.
- Establishing and nurturing brand relationships
- Answering emails
- Responding to messages on all social media channels (daily)
- Upholding brand contracts
- Record keeping for taxes
- the list goes on and on….
For my Young Living business I need to:
- Brainstorm and Create content for social media
- Email new members
- Teach educational classes
- Send signup gifts
- Place new members in my downline
- Train new business builders
- Create graphics
Life in general includes:
- Mom to my kiddos
- Wife to my best friend
- Cooking meals
- Groceries
- House cleaning
- Ballgames
- Church
- Quiet time/bible study
- Exercise
- Traveling to Nashville 2 to 3 times a month
- Planning and helping manage Jonathan’s music career
- and more!
Many of you are just as busy as I am, so you understand what I am talking about. My problem is that my mind jumps all over the place and I have no rhyme or reason in the way I do things. I have trouble on setting a clear plan and staying focused. I get burned out because I try to do too much.
At the goal setting workshop, we talked about what our God-given “gifts” are and how to work in our “giftedness.”
Usually, our giftedness has to do with what we enjoy doing the most. For me, I love doing anything that has to do with video. I love creating youtube videos, doing live videos on fb, and I love doing my Instagram story videos. It comes naturally to me, and I love connecting with people through video.
What doesn’t bring me joy is taking photos for my blog and editing them. I also don’t like to do the “numbers” that come with my job. They make my brain hurt. haha! This year, I need to find others to help me do the things that I don’t enjoy (what I’m not gifted at,) in my businesses, and so I have more time to focus on what I enjoy doing the most.
I hope to share more of me, my family, and my businesses through video. I don’t know exactly what that looks like, but that is one of my main goals.
Another goal I have is my HEALTH.
I don’t talk about it much here on the blog, but I suffer from chronic back pain. I have scoliosis in my neck and lower back, and my back hurts every. single. day.
My back pain affects every area of my life, especially my business. I cannot sit for more than 10-15 minutes on my computer without my lower back going numb and my back cramping in pain. I got to the chiropractor almost every single week, and this month, I am starting physical therapy on my back.
I am going to do whatever it takes to help my back feel better, which includes losing a few more pounds and strengthening my core. I am committed to eating healthier and exercising more this year. I have learned from experience, that if I do not feel well, it affects me, my family, and my business.
Lastly, but most importantly, my main goal for 2019 is to be more consistent in prayer and bible study. My time with the Lord is soooooo important, and I want to be more faithful.
Today, I read from Psalms 139, and God spoke so clearly to me that He KNOWS me best, and knows my future, and He is trustworthy. It was the perfect scripture to read after attending a Goal Setting workshop. It doesn’t matter how much I plan and “think” I know what is best for me and my family this coming year…the LORD knows better!
Psalm 139
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
I love how His word brings so much peace to me and settles my anxious heart. His loves gives me rest.
So I kind of rambled today, friends. haha! Sorry about that. Just sharing what is on my heart.
I’m excited about this coming year, because I know the Lord goes before me.
If you are still with me, {teehee} , what are some of your goals for this coming year?
xoxo
Traci
Loved this post and knowing you better……just like a good friend. Just knowing you deal with some of the same things we all deal with is encouraging. Don’t know how you accomplish all that you do! My goals for the coming year are eating healthier, resuming exercising (walking 2 miles a day at least 3-4 times per week) and the most important….finding “joy in the journey “. Psalm 139 is one of my favorite Bible passages…… thanks for reminding me to read and appreciate it again.
My husband left the Pastoral Ministry 2.5 years ago, and is in a different position in Ministry, Director of Church Planting for our denomination in our state, Indiana. We were/are not allowed to attend our home church of 26 years and so we have been church-homeless since that time. We have settled on a church near our home for this 2nd semester and I have registered for a Women’s Bible Study. I have missed this so much. I work with special needs students during the day, so an evening study was my only option. It has been hard to find a study and it is difficult to get out in the evening after a long day, but I am determined to be disciplined. Praying for you too and this new year!
Do you have a good acupuncturist close to you?? I too had debilitating back pain that caused me to give up my church ministry. A new friend told me about her acupuncturist. It took quite awhile and I was very consistent with my treatment but I am pretty much pain free now. I still go if I feel something starting to bother me…but I KNOW for a fact that God healed me through this tiny Chinese woman. I had tried everything Western medicine had to offer and was looking at surgery. Slept in a recliner for 2 years…foot and toes numb… shooting pain in back and legs. I would lie on the table in peace during treatment and pray for his miracle. Don’t know if it will work for you…but it is a thought. Unfortunately most insurance companies won’t pay. Good luck!
I loved this post. I love it that you just laid it out there to share with us. I’m so sorry for your back pain. I have a friend that had severe back issues. She had operations, physical therapy, etc. Then finally she found out it was her hips! She is so much better now. I do hope you find relief from your pain. Have a wonderful 2019!
I too, have set a goal of growing my faith in 2019. I’ve always been a spiritual person, but my restless heart and brain are hungry for more.
I think I can relate with your chronic pain issues. I’ve also dealt with this on a daily basis for the last 30 years, and it’s tiresome. After failed back surgery 2 years ago ( and coming THIS CLOSE to becoming a paraplegic), I decided that I would treat my problems as holistically as possible. Core strengthening, weight loss, meditation & massage are givens now. Sending positive energy your way. I wish you nothing but the best in your ongoing journey.
Thank you for being so real with us. I know after I see your talents I get all down in myself that I can’t decorate etc etc but we all struggle with something. So sorry for your back pain. I have sister in laws with chronic back pain so know what they go through. I myself have chronic migraines that no one can fugure out how to help me. I’m so discouraged and depressed from years and years of it controlling my life. I wouldn’t make it without the Lord and His new mercies every morning. I’m in new medication now they are trying and praying God will heal me. I will pray for your pain. I can’t do a lot but I can pray for others in pain. Bless you and your beautiful family. You are beautiful inside and out. I don’t know how you do all you do. Anyone would have scheduling problems. I pray you get peace in it all in 2019.
Traci, I have followed Dr. Edie for several years. Love her!!! You do remind me of her and you sound so much like her on your videos. Y’all might be kin! I enjoyed your post. I feel your pain. I have degenerative disc of the cervical spine (almost bone on bone) and lumbar spine (scoliosis) with fibromyalgia and RSD. So I know what that daily pain is like. But, you know, when we are weak we are strong through the power of the Holy Spirit! Amen?! Praying for you as you continue to serve Him through your helpful and encouraging posts. Lots of love to you, sweet, beautiful lady