It’s that time of year, the week between Christmas and New Year’s where I reflect on the past year, celebrate goals achieved and re-assess where I let some goals fall off my radar.
Since I organized my goals by grouping life categories together here is my commentary on achievement or where I let goals go. Here is my original 2018 goals blog post if you’d like to read it but I’ll recap below as well.
Career, Finances, and Business Travel
I wanted to feel aligned, lit up and abundant in my career (including side hustles), finances and as I traveled over the year for business.
Career, really threw me for a loop this year. I gambled in my full-time job by taking a contract covering a mat leave at Corel. I learned all about the world of eCommerce from one of the original eCommerce companies. While I learned a ton, I wasn’t very challenged in my role. I loved the work / life harmony of the office and working with our team but near the end of the contract I was offered a potential role (that wasn’t confirmed) that would’ve pigeon holed me solely into pay-per-click media management. One of the main reason I left advertising in Toronto to go into Marketing in 2013 was so that I didn’t specialize too much in only one thing. I don’t want to work with only one piece of the puzzle. I want to be able to solve problems with all the marketing tools possible.
After getting back from our honeymoon in September and finding out there wasn’t going to be a role for me at Corel at the end of my contract which was supposed to end in November, I had to decide what I was going to do full-time career wise. I was lucky to find a marketing agency role at TRUEdotDESIGN and started at the beginning of October. And while it’s different than my original Toronto advertising agency days, I’m used to the flow of agency life and have excelled at the client projects I’ve been given in the first few short months I’ve been there. I look forward to seeing where 2019 will take the role.
From a side hustle perspective, I had originally set a goal to hit the rank of Diamond in my dōTERRA business in 2018. However, I have consistently remained a Silver. There was a part of me that was embarrassed to talk about still being at Silver as there is such a heavy emphasis on rank growth in the corporate culture. One of the many things that so many people won’t tell you about the business is that it can ebb and flow and that is completely normal. In 2018, I had leaders on my team decide the business wasn’t for them, I had leaders stop talking to me, I had leader go through personal struggle and then come back with renewed vigour. I had leaders emerge out of the woodwork to get started and all the while I continued to share my love of essential oils and proactive health with as many people as I could. I let go of hitting a certain rank and went back to basics that we call PIPES or Preparing, Inviting, Presenting, Enrolling and Supporting. I rebuilt aspects of my organization. I definitely could’ve thrown in the towel, except I continued to show up the way I know best. I continued to serve my customers and those who have entrusted their essential oil journey with me. I’ve been blessed to introduce so many new customers to dōTERRA this year. I’m in it for the long run, this is a beautiful side hustle that I love and while I am continuing in aligned action towards my goals I will never give up. I want to ensure I am attracting the right customers and right leaders to my team. I also want to ensure I am personally ready to be the type of leader that the next rank asks of me. That is my number one priority vs. just hitting a new rank.
Business travel wise, I did travel to Orlando for Leadership in March but decided to forgo the trip to Salt Lake City and prioritized our honeymoon instead. I also let a relationship I had teaching at Camp Yoga go so I ended up not traveling to the 2 locations I had originally planned on.
Last but not least, I got a spurt of motivation during the honeymoon and came up with a new side hustle business idea. I built out the website and launched an online course in a month and a half called Organized Brides. I’m super proud of how it came together and how aligned it felt to create this for other brides to be.
Physical & Mental Health
I wanted to feel radiant, vital and ease when it comes to my health.
I really wanted to get back to racing this year. I had a goal of 2 obstacle course races and 1 trail half marathon. These goals just didn’t click with me this year as I focused on my health.
I wanted to be consistent with my supplement intake, water consumption and self-care rituals and have been able to regain the vitality I craved. I had also mentioned wanting to reduce my caffeine consumption at the beginning of the year. While that took a while, I’m really proud in the back half of the year to be down to 1 cup of coffee a day. I’ve been able to achieve this by having an
Hobbies, Home Environment, Spirituality, Personal Development & Female Friendships
I wanted to feel playful, nurtured and bliss when it comes to my leisure time, our home, my spirituality practice, personal development and friendships.
From a home perspective, I talked about wanting to decorate the guest bedroom this year. This plan was definitely put on hold as we prioritized creating a beautiful backyard patio for our rehearsal dinner instead. It turned out so amazing and we got to enjoy it a few times before the weather turned cooler.
I was able to read or listen to 8 complete books and started way more. I’ve definitely gotten into the habit of not finishing a book or putting it to the side if it no longer speaks to me or if I want to read something else. So I definitely have a bunch of books on the go I need to complete in the new year.
Leisure wise, I had so much fun completing seasonal bucket lists this year. From tackling 2 canoe trips one in the summer and one in the fall, to winter camping in our backyard, to ice climbing in Tremblant, to van camping, to apple picking, to an outdoor movie with new friends this summer we had a lot of fun with our adventures.
Female friendship wise, I’m really happy with the relationships I’ve built this year. I’ve grown super close to a bunch of women and I’m blessed to have them in my life. One of my best friends, Aubrie, has made the trip from Toronto to Ottawa many times this year to keep our friendship going. I got to see Katie & Kyla during the wedding weekend but I’m really blessed that my friendships with Erin, Jenna, Karen, Shannon and Jenny (who all came last minute to my Bachelorette) have grown in different but amazing ways. I truly value each and every one of them in my life.
Spiritually, I’m really excited about where my morning meditation practice has taken me. I’ve established a beautiful habit of sitting in meditation for 5 mins every morning. In between making lemon water and coffee and side hustle work, I sit on my meditation cushion in silence using the Insight Timer. From an evening devotional practice it yet again didn’t stick. I fully know why and it’s because I don’t have a visual cue on my side table to remind me to pick up my devotional before bed. I know what I need to do to make this happen and will just move it to next year’s goal list.
Romantic Relationship, Wedding, and Personal Travel
I wanted to feel delight, joy and love when it came to my romantic relationship with Mike, planning our wedding and our personal travel this year.
One of my goals was to have weekly date nights and continue to build our relationship. My favourite date nights this year have been our love affair with escape rooms. We genuinely love being locked in a room together. And we had a ton of fun taking dance lessons, getting ready for our first dance! We didn’t accomplish doing any of these dates without our phones as I had hoped but we’re getting much better at keeping our phones down on the table if we’re out to eat.
The Wedding was obviously a highlight of the year! We held the most amazing party and love celebration. I was able to maintain stress-free planning and have a blast in the process.
We planned the most epic Honeymoon to Europe right after the Wedding and country hopped from Krakow Poland to Berlin Germany, then to Prague Czech Republic, back to Munich Germany, over to Zurich Switzerland and wrapped things up in and around Paris France. While we didn’t plan a Christmas Holiday getaway due to family requests our trip this year was definitely epic.