This is the post that we both love and hate. There’s something so challenging about making yourself accountable to the things you write on a blog and share with your readers. Also, I don’t exactly enjoy making myself feel vulnerable – a normal feeling that I’m sure most would agree with. I’ve been thinking a lot about my resolutions for 2017 even before the New Year hit. As I’m shopping at UVillage, I’m jotting thoughts down in my notes on my phone. When I wake up, I’ll roll over to grab my phone so that I don’t forget about the resolution that maybe resonated from the dream I just had. What a process, man. I liked the format of how I wrote this post last year including the previous year’s resolutions and the ones I have for this year so we’re going to do that again. What I’ve noticed in these last year’s goals, however, is that they aren’t really measurable. And if there’s anything that I learned from my work life this past year is that you need to have measurable goals and tie numbers to things so that you can track your process; otherwise, they’re kind of useless. I’m seeing this in blog posts that other people have written this year advising people on how to make resolutions. We’ll try to strive for that in our 2017 goals.

2016:

• Finish the things we start – What did I even start last year? We’re already off to a bad start. The only thing I can remember finishing is Modern Romance. Hooray! The reason why I remember that is because I was talking about that for this bullet in this same post last year. I also finished Gilmore Girls Revival on Netflix. Television series aren’t easy. On that note, here are two things I started that I didn’t finish – Stranger Things and Westworld.
• Have more of an adult apartment – I didn’t move this year and we’re not mad about it. Don’t get me wrong, I was ready to move the moment I saw options like the Stunning New Homes in the Okanagan and similar locations; but we decided that this is a decision that needs a lot of thought and contemplation, and we should give it time and explore more options as well. Also, I am obsessed with my current home – probably more than the average person. We didn’t make any extra purchases for the place this year, but we did tidy it up more than usual and added candles to our everyday decor. Happy to announce that I now have a candle queue and it never gets down to zero. We haven’t given up on our ideal dream home yet, but we’re not in any rush. When we decide it’s time, we’ll take a look at the Eddie Yan website for inspiration…hopefully we’ll find what we’re looking for!
• Get to 1,000 Instagram followers – Nope.
• Go Abroad – We went to Mexico! While we didn’t take any other international trips in 2016, we did explore a new place every month and that felt good. We’re going to continue that in 2017 too.
• Do all the things you said you were gonna do – We did our hip hop class! We may have put it off for months, but we went and I’m including this in a goal for 2017 too as a stretch goal. Just keep reading!
• Save Save Save – I’ve got some work to do in this area. I don’t know how people do it. It’s not like I think I actually have a spending problem, but what I’ve realized is that in order to save you need to have a detailed outline and that’s something that I don’t have. Also there are times that you need to spend a little to save in the long run. I’m still trying to grasp this. This is returning for our 2017 goals and this time we have more actionable steps that we’ll discuss in a bit.
• Work Smarter – I wouldn’t say that we had better work / Yow Yow! balance in 2016, but I stayed at work later less than I have in previous years. I finally started adopting the things that I was preaching, which is that while it’s important to be urgent, it makes no difference if you respond to an email at 8:30 AM the next morning vs. 11:00 PM the night before. If you remind yourself that enough, you’ll be okay.

2017:

• Get to 1,000 Instagram followers – If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Honestly, considering I didn’t achieve it again this year, I think I’m going to look into marketing agencies or social media growth tools that I can use to try and tip me over the 1000 mark. I’ll probably soon take some time out to look into which services or tools could be the best for my needs and audience size, it should be relatively easy to find the various service options, as Quantum Marketer discusses them here. I’m sure I’ll also be able to find some others on my journey for more followers and education on social media growth.
• Trim the Fat – For as long as I’ve known, I’ve always had that hoarder mentality in the back of my head. Maybe this was passed down to me or maybe I just don’t like change and letting things go, but we need to be able to let things go. In Q1 of 2017, we’re going to finally drop off the clothes that we don’t wear anymore to Goodwill. As much as I sort of like the record player that I got as a gift from an ex years ago, it’s not my dream record player so we should part ways with that too. There might be quite a few things that I’m going to have to throw out along the way, we may have to look at some skip bins sydney companies to help us unload a lot of items that we find in the hoarding cupboards of our house!
• Procrastinate Less – It’s unrealistic to just say “don’t procrastinate” because we could never do that so instead we revised it. I learned a pretty important lesson in 2016 when it came to making adult decisions. The longer I put things off, the worse things were. When I didn’t get my car serviced exactly when I should’ve, it was more expensive than I had anticipated. If I had decided upon something later than I should have, I was often making quick decisions that weren’t researched carefully or well thought out – sometimes out of desperation, which was costly. My hope is that if I am more thoughtful about these types of things in 2017 that it will make life easier for me.
• Back to Dance – We’re rusty; there’s no denying it. Attending Monday Night Workshop this past summer was scary, but it was just the push that we needed. My work life can sometimes be a little chaotic and it doesn’t always allow me to express myself in the outlet that I’m looking for. When I first thought about this goal, I was too ambitious. In 2017, I thought I was determined to choreograph my own piece! We’re now retracting that and I think if we can perform a piece and post it on Instagram, we’d be pretty happy with that. I really hope I don’t end up regretting having this as a resolution.
• Consider Health and Wellness – When it comes to being fit and doing what’s right for my body, I’m not one for consistency. Over the summer, I felt a spurt of energy that I hadn’t seen in myself before and I started waking up earlier and having a routine of basic exercises and stretches that I would do ahead of starting the day. The more I did this, the more normal it felt and soon it was just habit. That was… until we got to the fall and I started traveling. Doing this routine in a hotel room didn’t exactly feel quite the same. I read so many different blogs everyday – all offering advice and instructions on what to do and how you should do them. My goal is that I’ll be able to collect these over time and I’ll start off by having the same routine everyday, but as I start adding more things, I’ll have a set routine for everyday of the week.
• Do Something for Yourself Everyday – This is not an easily measurable resolution, but it’s an important one. Sometimes the days are so busy they just kind of pass me by. When something bad happens to me, I let it destroy my entire day like a hurricane. It can be hard for me to see the little things – the good things! I want to be mindful as we head into 2017 those moments that make my day memorable whether that is a text convo in the morning with one of my best friends back home while I get ready, a treat that I can spoil myself with in the afternoon or ending the work day a little bit earlier than normal or at least having a cider or a glass of wine after work. (Only one and occasionally!)
• Taking Care of Current Relationships – When you’re living in a state different from most of your friends and family, staying in the know can be challenging. What’s even harder is when you make trips back home and you can’t make time for everyone. I’ve had to deal with this for the last 3 years and sometimes I like to think it gets easier, but I could always be doing more. I mentioned this in my last resolution, but one thing that that I try to do is text with different friends in the morning since that’s when I have the most time. I’m also not opposed to a phone call or Facetime sesh either.
• Actually Save – I’m not great with the savings. I have plenty of friends who are, but I also know people that are in the same boat as me. I thought I was doing something right by saving here and there and for the past few years I’ve gotten by simply by keeping track of things in my head. But it’s not really working the same way that we’d like so it’s time to seek help and I’ve considered Mint, but I’m also considering an app called Digit. It’s also super important to keep track of my finances so once a week, I’ll log into all of my accounts that handle my $$$ just to make sure things are in order. Other people have called this taking a “Money Minute.” When you think about it, it’s not too much of an ask and really – you’re only helping yourself by doing this.

There’s a lot of great posts out right now about how to form your own resolutions and how to keep them. Here is one from GOOD that I wanted to share and stood out to me!