I love the end of December because I sit down for the final year in review of my goals. I celebrate my accomplishments, reflect on all the amazing things I was able to accomplish this year. Then I sit and ponder those goals that fell by the wayside. I ask myself “Do I still want to accomplish them?” Since I subscribe to the Danielle Laporte Desire Map way of planning goals with soul I then ask myself “Do I still think checking them off a list will help me feel the way I want to feel?” Then they either make it onto next year’s list or go into the goal abyss. So without further ado here is my 2016 Goals Review.
Below I’ll post the goal I shared in my 2016 Goals post way back when on January 1st of this year with the accompanying core desired feeling I wanted to have as I went after these goals, followed by an update of how it went.
Career / Money – Core Desired Feeling: Lit Up
Goals: I want to create income as a side hustler. In addition, I want to help 100 women live like an Alpha Female, reduce their stress & attack a goal they never thought possible. I also want to help 100 people develop resiliency through mindset before they attack a fitness goal so they will be successful in sticking with it.
Update: I’m so thankful I put pen to paper and executed some financially beneficial side hustles. I’ve been blogging for many years now but haven’t monetized it further than brand ambassador partnerships. I monetized my writing this year by ghost writing for a CEO of a nutrition company (for their blog) and by writing online articles for iRun.ca. I launched a podcast, wrote & published a book and started a network marketing company this year. Phew! Even writing it out feels overwhelming. I really doubled down on this as it was my key priority for the year and I’m proud of how I kept it a key focus in my monthly & weekly goal setting & task list making.
What really lights me up is that since launching my doTERRA business this year I’ve not only been able to create financial abundance in my life but I’ve also been able to authentically say that my why for starting the business also aligns with my statement of wanting to help women live like Alpha Females and help people develop resiliency. I re-wrote my why earlier in 2016 with one simple statement which is that I want to help 10,000 people be proactive with their health so that they never have to live with an auto-immune disease. I graduated from 100 to 10,000 because I need to push myself and dream bigger. I can’t wait to continue teaching others about essential oils and how they are an amazing toolkit for consciously taking better care for ourselves while also providing us a way to create more financial abundance in our lives.
The goal of helping people develop mindset resiliency I think was covered by the topics we talk about on the Alpha Female Podcast. Mike and I had talked about starting our own podcast together but that fell by the wayside as we prioritized other things in our life. I’ve been thinking about how to incorporate males into the Alpha Female Podcast, so maybe he’ll become my first guest! An episode on how to live with and support an Alpha Female 🙂
Travel – Core Desired Feeling: Wanderlust
Goal: Take 3 Trips (Florida, Vancouver/Tofino & Patagonia)
Update: I ended up traveling 4 times this year! I traveled to Florida in January for the Disney Half Marathon, then Vancouver/Tofino/Victoria for the SeaWheeze Half Marathon followed by a 3 day trip to Tofino with my girlfriends Kyla, Holly & Heidi and then Kyla and I headed back to Victoria. Mike and I went off to Banff to explore Alberta after adventuring to Camp Yoga Alberta. Finally I ended the year in November at the end of the world in Patagonia. It was a perfect year of Wanderlusting & Adventures. My last three trips taught me wonder for this amazing world that God created. Mountains, lakes and oceans filled my eyesight with just a gratitude for an ability to explore this world with amazing people who make me a better person every day.
Financial Goals – Core Desired Feeling: Gratitude
Goal: Stay credit card debt free and invest in a consistent retirement plan all year. Although I contribute to an RRSP & TFSA this falls by the way side when I need to stay credit card debt free so the goal for this year is to ensure I’m not spending outside my means and consistently contributing every month. Spreadsheet planning time!
Update: Accomplished! My father even taught me how to invest money this year into stocks, etfs and bonds so I feel like I even went a step further than planned. Here’s to continued learning on how to invest money so that my income is diverse.
Leisure – Bucket Lists – Core Desired Feeling – Delight
Goal: Complete Winter & Summer Bucket Lists.
Update: I managed to thoroughly enjoy Winter through my 2015/2016 Winter Bucket List. I tackled a snowshoe race, I wrote a hand written letter to Mike for Valentine’s Day, I baked a healthy pie with my friends, made mulled wine over Christmas, completed a puzzle, made snow angels and managed some ice skating at Evergreen Brickworks. Thankfully the lack of completion just means I’ve got a great list ready for 2017!
I didn’t manage to accomplish nearly enough things off the 2016 Summer Bucket List. I only managed to start a veggie garden ( I grew Kale!), went SUPing (twice!), stargazing, ran the Spartan Beast, golfing, ran SeaWheeze and participated in the MS Bike. While it wasn’t an epic summer of crossing a ton of things off this list, Mike and I jam packed our days off with quality time well spent that just wasn’t on a list that I created at the beginning of the summer. Here’s to new adventures next summer!
Home – Core Desired Feeling – Comfort
Goal: Redecorate den for writing & yoga space. This was on my 2015 goal’s list and I took my sweet time getting it done so I’m reinvigorated to get this done in the first 60 days of the year. By the end of January 2016 I will have reduced all the clutter that has accumulated there and I will have bought a new desk for writing and by the end of February I will have everything all set up so I can schedule consistent writing appointments and yoga time with myself in the space.
Update: So this didn’t happen… but for good reason. I managed to reduce a lot of the clutter from the den early in the year. I even sold my desk on Kijiji and then I met Mike and moved to Ottawa in April and everything changed. I’ve been setting up my home office space in one of our bedrooms and it’s slowly feeling like home. I saved my paint from my condo so next step is to get the room painted, shelves up and Mike is building me a desk! I can’t wait to set up this space in our home in 2017.
Health – Core Desired Feeling – Vital
Goal: Live my best life with MS. If you’re new to my blog I was diagnosed in December 2014 and have led an amazing year in 2015 taking utmost holistic care for myself so that my body doesn’t get confused and attack itself 🙂 I have a 90 day goal to truly fix my digestion problems. After fixing my digestion issues I will stay consistent on the auto-immune paleo meal planning system and my goal mid year is to have no new lesions on my MRIs.
Update: While I managed to fix many digestion problems (solid poo again – yay!) I am still in the process of cleaning out some bad gut bacteria. While new lesions did appear during my March MRI the lesion on my spine which is usually symptomatic has appeared to disappear. This means I’m truly getting a handle on the inflammation in my body and for that I’m truly grateful. I have been dealing with new health issues and announced that I’ve been diagnosed with PCOS. It’s just another sidekick to live with. I live well with MS & PCOS and I feel Vital.
Fitness – Core Desired Feeling – Vital
Goal: Be consistent in my workouts on a weekly basis.
Update: I just didn’t have the right fitness mojo this year. After dealing with adrenal fatigue at the beginning of the year, followed by getting a puppy (which included lack of sleep), getting into a new routine in Ottawa and dealing with hip & back problems post SeaWheeze & Spartan Beast Montreal, I did the best I could. I’m not looking to make excuses but simply to understand that I can’t always push epic fitness limits. I’m thankful that I wasn’t too hard on myself and allowed this year to teach me to go with the flow more often. I definitely miss consistent workouts and will work towards a better plan that doesn’t feel forced and is easier to incorporate into my new life in Ottawa in 2017.
Race Goals – Core Desired Feeling – Brave
Goal: Complete 12 races and qualify for the OCR World Championships again this year.
Update: I completed the following races this year.
- Disney Half Marathon – PB: 2:21
- Dion Ganaraska Forest Snowshoe Race
- XMan Toronto
- XMan Montreal
- Montreal Spartan Beast
- SeaWheeze
- Chronie’s Dash
- Zombie Race for Humanity – I can’t believe I didn’t do a race recap for the last 2 races of the year!
Of the 8 planned races I thought I’d tackle this year, I chose not to do Shale Hill Polar Bear 8 Hour Challenge. I was going to go down to do this race with the guy I was dating last year. After meeting Mike and starting to see him in January I didn’t feel like it was appropriate for me to travel with my ex to the race. Then in April I wasn’t able to take part in 5 Peaks Terra Cotta trail race as I moved to Ottawa at the beginning of April and last but not least I let OCRWC out of my race list as I didn’t manage to qualify this year and knew it was not the year I was meant to compete in it. I have considerable training to do as I re-build a lot of what was lost this year in terms of strength and endurance.
Blog Goals – Core Desired Feeling – Inspired
Goal: Write consistent (3x a week) blog posts that bring value to my readers and not just me. Write consistent, valuable weekly eNewsletter content. I’d like to grow my email list and have 3,000 qualified people on my list by the end of the year. Growing an email list is hard so I need to push myself to do consistent daily actions to grow mine and that will pull me out of my current comfort zone.
Update: Blogging isn’t really a goal anymore for me as it’s become a habit. I have really enjoyed planning and publishing content and have stuck to posting 2 or 3 times a week. I finally figured out my email newsletter content as well. While I didn’t grow my list I’ve been sharing the latest podcast episodes as well as blog highlights from the week and that has seemed to work fairly well as I have great above average open rates with those who want me to take up space in their inbox.
Writing Goals – Core Desired Feeling – Inspired
Goal: I will publish my self-development book Love Lost, Life Found on August 25, 2016 and I want to continue as a freelance writer for iRun.ca.
Update: Check & Check. I’m proud to say I published Love Lost, Life Found: 8 Practical Steps To Heal A Broken Heart on August 25th. I cried happy tears the first time I held the paper copy in my hands and am so blessed by every message readers have sent me so far this year.
While I’m currently not writing for iRun.ca they published 8 articles of mine earlier this year!
- Podcasts To Get You Through A Long Run
- 16 Reasons You Should Run A Tough Mudder in 2016
- Should You Run It Out Or Just Sleep On It
- Getting Obstacle Race Ready
- Three Ways To Build Joint Strength
- How To Find A Running Coach
- What If I Can’t Run
- Five Moves You Can Do Anywhere
Reading & Education Goals – Core Desired Feeling – Inspired
Goal: I love reading. When people ask me what I do in my spare time I always answer read. Reading is how I educate myself as an adult. In the past 6 months I’ve also added podcasts to my repertoire of information products I consume as I’m driving more to and from work. So my goal for 2016 is to read 2 books a month on my Kobo, listen to 1 audio book a month during my drive home from work and listen to podcasts on my drive to work.
Update: Reading was definitely less of a priority for me this year. I had to choose how to spend my free time wisely and it was usually spent working on my podcast, writing my book or building my doTERRA business. Here are highlights of the books I’ve read so far and what they’ve taught me.
- Daring Greatly – I have to be careful with who I choose to be vulnerable with.
- How To Heal Your Heart – This book taught me I need to always work on forgiveness.
- When The Body Says No – It is scary to think that through my overachieving ways, how I handle stress and process emotions as well as the toxic relationship I was in could have contributed to my MS. But now that I know I can do better by my body.
- Rising Strong – This book taught me why I hate when people say I’m sorry when they find out I have MS and also helped me understand a bit more how to ask for help.
- Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook – Marketing is about give, give, give and then ask. This has influenced my personal and business marketing strategies immensely this year.
- The Big Leap – I have an upper limit problem. When I’m happy and things are going well I always find a way to sabotage them. This has happened to me countless times this year and is still a learning process for me. I will definitely be re-reading this book again.
- The Universe Has Your Back – This book taught me I really need to watch my thoughts and the inner stories I tell myself.
I also read The Happiness Equation which I still need to write a review for. I have School of Greatness, Tapping Solution, Full Catastrophe Living and The Surrender Experiment all on the go so I’ll have to decide which one to double down on first in 2017.
Spiritual Goals – Core Desired Feeling – Divine
Goal: Continue to read a daily devotional every night before I go to bed. My mom bought me The Confident Woman last year and in the fall I started reading it right before bed. For Christmas this year I got another devotional so now I have 2 to choose from and can do one or both but keeping it as a nightly habit suited me well in 2015. This allows me time to read, sit with the scripture and also pray before turning on my meditation app and going to sleep.
Update: Since moving to Ottawa in April I let my ritual of reading a daily devotional a day slide completely. One thing I’d like to implement next year is doing a daily prayer or devotional practice with my boyfriend, Mike, on nights we go to bed at the same time and a devotional on my own on nights where I head to bed before him. I am so glad that we share the same faith and lean on God in our relationship and lives.
Relationship Goals – Core Desired Feeling – Unconditional Love
Goal: I would like to be in a loving relationship that believes in unconditional love with a shared goal of marriage and family planning. Boom I said it. The difficult balance in setting this kind of goal is nurturing relationships without expectations but still having hope. With expectation we can feel entitled to have something happen and with hope it is a gift and a bonus if and when it manifests in my life.
Update: I manifested Mike. I could blab on about how I am truly blessed to have this man in my life but I’m going to go close the laptop and cuddle up with him and our dogs. Happy New Year!
