Ahhhh, 2019, here we go! Over the last few years I’ve been setting goals in a different way using Cultivate What Matters PowerSheets. I’ve touched on them in recent gift guides and more extensively over the last year on Instastories. Between Christmas and New Year’s I worked through my PowerSheets for 2019, and today I want to share what I’ll be focusing on!
(If you missed yesterday’s blog post recapping 2018, catch it HERE.)
Before we get there, I want to highlight two words I used above: focus and cultivate. Thanks to PowerSheets, I no longer approach goals as long to-do lists that result in guilt for not having accomplished all of them. I instead treat annual goals more as areas to focus on and cultivate for that year. PowerSheets have helped me value progress over perfection, celebrating steps big or small in the direction I want to head rather than being discouraged that I didn’t hit something 100%. They’ve helped me be intentional about areas of my life I want to cultivate and have helped me see how every little step in the right direction adds up! Yes, I’ve got smaller, more concrete goals to help me make progress, but overall I’m looking at the big picture. How I get there with my smaller concrete goals may change, but with the big picture in mind, I keep cultivating important things little by little.
Also, working with focus areas helps relieve some of the guilt I feel for not doing all the things all the time. Some of you have asked how I do everything or how I balance everything. My answer? I don’t. I don’t! At least not all in the same season. I see life in seasons. Some seasons are longer or shorter than others, and in every season of life I focus on different things. In some seasons I’m able to pour into work and family but invest less in things like health or the state of our house. In other seasons I focus on family or health, but maybe say no to a lot more work opportunities. There are always a million things we could be doing, which means there’s always a million opportunities to feel guilty for not doing something. Determining which areas I want to cultivate each season gives me clarity on priorities for that period of time. That helps silence the guilt for all the things I’m not doing and live under grace knowing that every season has an ending, and I can focus on other things in another season. The framework of cultivating what matters helps me think long-term about whatever I do. We cannot do everything all the time. But we CAN invest in different areas of our lives at different times, bit by bit, which over the long haul adds up to lasting impact.
Anyway, bit of a tangent there! But as I share about 2019 I also want to help shape it for you so that you can live free of guilt and instead celebrate progress! Okay, okay–let’s look ahead at 2019!
What I’m Cultivating In 2019
1. Scripture-filled and Spirit-led life. Ever since Ella was born, my rhythm for growing spiritually was thrown off. Now that she’s older and we’ve settled into steady routines with her, I’m ready to cultivate this again. Some of my concrete plans: reorient my weekly schedule to block out spaces to study scripture, pray, and connect with God more deeply.
2. Show up well for my family. In Rachel and Dave Hollis’ podcast, they often talk about “showing up” in life, and I’ve really liked that phrase. There’s an aspect of “showing up” that is simply being present–like physically showing up. But there’s also a qualitative aspect of HOW you are showing up physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Like, am I physically present with my kids yet hammering out work when it’s supposed to be family time? Or am I actually engaged with my kids when I’m with them? Specifically, I want to take on some additional household responsibilities, continue weekly dates with Benson, and laugh with the kids each day. Concretely: I have blocked out times weekly for household/family tasks, lessened how much work I take on to pick my kids up a little earlier from daycare, and have committed to laughing with the kids each day which is a sign that I am being present to them. Benson and I have had standing weekly dates for years and will continue that.
3. Finish our interior and backyard. We made lots of progress last year in both areas but still are not finished. Hoping to complete them this year, at least to a point where they both feel presentable. (Because are houses EVER really “finished”? Always a work in progress in my mind!)
4. Gain muscle and be strong! I’ve shared that I trimmed down a lot thanks to FASTer Way to Fat Loss, but I want to become stronger. For me, health is really about how energized I feel and less about how I look. In my 20s it would have been basically all about how I looked?, but the older I get (will be 36 in a few months!) health has become waaaay less about looks and way, way more about how being healthy affects my quality of life. I envision turning 40, then 50, then 60 years old and wanting to be full of energy and have a strong body that is capable of participating in life well. So concretely for this goal: Workout 3-4x/wk with the FASTer Way exercises and hit my macros the majority of every week. Simple!
These are my major areas of focus for 2019 for my personal life. This doesn’t mean I won’t do other things like hang out with friends, be financially responsible and give generously, or do self-development things like listen to podcasts, etc. These are just the areas I’m prioritizing to develop further this season.
My PMT Focuses for 2019
Here on the blog, there are a lot of different projects I want to do. However, I won’t list them all because I’m positive I won’t even get to 25% of them of them and I don’t want to get your hopes up or set expectations or be too locked into anything. Haha! I can talk big picture focuses though!
1. Cultivate PMT team dynamics. In my 2018 recap I shared about adding a new team member, and with that comes adjusting to a larger team. It calls for increased communication, better structures, and more planning. I anticipate spending a lot of energy in 2019 figuring out how to best lead this new team.
2. Create more Starter Kit Guides and other style guides. No matter what I write on the blog, how many series on building wardrobes I have, no matter how capsule wardrobes I post or outfits I show, these types of guides have been the most helpful in helping you developing a wardrobe and style you love. I get it–they’re the most hands-on! They allow me to consolidate a lot of info into a fully packaged guide and lay things out step-by-step for you instead of you having to sift through 7 years of blog posts to piece together the info you need. The plan for 2019 is to create more of these, like Business Casual versions of Starter Kit Wardrobe Guides in addition to other resources on building a remixable wardrobe.
This doesn’t mean I won’t be blogging–I was both blogging regularly and creating style guides. And now that we have Heather on board, my inbox isn’t taking hours of my time, so the hope is for me to put energy into guides instead of my inbox. I’m excited for this!
3. Focus on longer-term projects. There are so, so, so many things I could spend my time on as it relates to PMT, but some are longer term while others are more in-the-moment. An example of the latter is something like posting about an item that went on sale on social media. An example of the former is creating style guides or writing style how-to posts. Some of those style how-to posts take WAY longer than a remix post, but I know that they are some of the most helpful types of post for you. Doing more of them will require me to say no to things, like not take on an extra sponsored post, not posting about a sale, or not posting as many of my daily outfits on social media.
To be open with you, saying no to things will probably mean a decrease in earning overall which is a little bit scary when I’ve just added another employee! During the holidays last month and already this year I turned down a handful of sponsored posts to make room for planning longer term projects. It’s hard to turn them down, but I really want to make room for things I’ve been itching to write about or resources I’ve wanted to create. I’m planning to say no to some things to say yes to others!
How can PMT help you in 2019?
Those are my major areas of focus this year, both personal and PMT. If you want to help shape which projects I prioritize, drop some feedback in the comments! Specifically, I’d love to know:
- How PMT has helped you thus far? Which posts or style tips, style guides (like Starter Kit Guides or PMT Challenges), topics I’ve written about, or resources I’ve created have been the most helpful for you?
- What are your top 1-2 questions or needs? What question do you really wish I’d write about, or what resource do you super super super wish I’d create (like Business Casual Starter Kits or fuller Business Casual capsules/challenges)?
Looking forward to 2019!
BTW, I’ll be out the next week or two!
On the note of me saying no to some things to plan for long term projects, that is exactly what I’ll be doing the next 1-2 weeks. I’ve gotta finish the Winter Starter Kit Guide and plan the year with my team! I don’t plan to post here on the blog for a bit, but Katie will still post a bit on Facebook and Instagram, so catch us there!
P.S. The Winter 2019 Challenge starts on MONDAY! Register and join us HERE!
