So last week I explained why I’m working on goals rather than resolutions. So now it’s time to do step one – list those goals.  But wait, it’s January 3rd already! Who cares? Goals can start whenever you are ready. To be successful we can’t rush into changes or we will surely fail.  We must plan!  My personal and professional goals are as follows (in no particular order):

Personal Goals

• Lose weight / Be more healthy / Exercise regularly – I have struggled with this off and on my whole life. I’ve been successful at losing weight and healthy eating in the past, I just haven’t been able to stick with a plan for more than a few months.
• Conceive Baby #2 – It took 3 years to conceive our daughter, so if we are able to conceive within the first year of trying for #2, that would be fantastic!
• Be More Active in the Community – It’s been a weird transition to stay at home mom from working full-time. We need to get out of the house more! We need more playdates and mommy dates.
• Cook/Bake more meals – we still dine out too often and hubby does a lot of the cooking since baby came. I need to reclaim my kitchen.
• More Me and We time – I need to do better at having time for myself and time for just Brian & I.
• More Charitable Giving – Whether it’s time, items or money, I want us to do more regular charitable giving.
• Continue to lower out debt & work towards our financial goals – we came a long way while I was pregnant but there’s still work to be done. We started slacking a bit on our budget and it shows.

Professional Goals

• Get LLC and Trademark – I’m serious about developing my blog and my brand!
• Get more organized – From scheduling posts to email contacts to tax information, I need an overhaul on how I keep track of what is going and going!
• Develop more long-term brand partnerships and relationships – I love working with a variety of brands and PR agencies, but I definitely want to develop more meaningful relationships beyond a one time post.  There’s so much more I can offer over a longer period of time!
• Attend at least one blog conference – You might say I’m cheating by listing this one since I already bought my ticket to BlogHer ’12, but it’s still a goal until I get there!
• Continue to grow readership – To be competitive with obtaining brand sponsorship I have to continue to grow.  To continue to helping to pay the bills I must grow the blog!
• Develop and grow ShePromotes – This is an exciting venture with my friend, Mariah of Formula Mom.  We have so many ideas and things we want to do as we help other bloggers network and grow.
• Maintain a balance of content offered – Tales From the Nursery started out as a pregnancy journal written for myself and our family.  I transitioned us into reviews and giveaways and my other content has not been as evenly scheduled throughout.  I want to get back to more posts about life, motherhood, and babies!

Now that we have our list, next time we will break them down into action plans with measurable outcomes.

Do you have your goals written down yet?  Writing them down will hold you more accountable!

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#1 Image: Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

#2

Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About Darcy

Darcy Zalewski is a married, stay-at-home mom who is discovering her greener side, starting with advocating for cloth diapering. When she's not changing diapers or singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider, she can be found at Tales From the Nursery, where she shares tales of motherhood as well as product reviews, or at ShePromotes, a resource for blogger support.

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