Wow! Year three of my five-year plan is finished! This year did not go anywhere near as planned because I could not have forecasted a pandemic if my life depended on it.
My overall goal for these five years is to build my personal empire which includes solidifying my personal power, financial stability, and career.
Although some of my plans for 2020 were derailed, I would say that for the most part, I was able to stay the course.
How It Started
My hopes for the year were to:
- build my personal brand and online community
- build a solid wellness routine
- build new relationships in ATL
- build the financial stability needed to comfortably move into my own place
Maybe you already guessed it, but my word for 2020 is: build. In year one of this plan, I spent time evaluating my life and making decisions about how I want to live. By year two, I made moves and executed the necessary changes in my life to find joy and create the future I see for myself.
In 2020, I hoped to build on that solid foundation and set myself up for a future I am happy to live. Since this is a 5-year plan, I saw year three as pivotal to achieving my end goals.
How It’s Going – Year Three
As we know, the best-laid plans… Meaning though I lay out these plans, the outcome is uncertain, and I push forward knowing that I cannot control the outcome. With that mindset, I was able to pivot during this Pandemic and still meet my goals.
This year I:
- Built my online presence beyond expectation and am on the road to ending the year with a significant presence and brand identity. I’ve spent quite a bit of time learning algorithms, taking courses, and charting other’s success to grow my brand. I realized early on that I needed to decide my brand identity, and expand my knowledge to really build a solid brand. As a result, I have focused on engaging my online community and using known tactics to gain traffic without changing my voice. This means that my online growth is slow and steady, more organic if you will, and I am happy with that outcome.
- Being stuck in the house day in and day out has driven home the importance of personal wellness. This year, I have wholeheartedly focused on my well being. I have developed routines to decompress, check-in with myself, and live my life in such a way that couples intention with action. More importantly, I began attending therapy (virtually). I have really learned a lot about myself and my behaviors through therapy and I feel better equipped to take care of my emotional well-being surrounding my relationship with myself and others.
- One goal that was completely forestalled, was building a tribe in Atlanta. The inability to gather coupled with me not having a place of my own has put a hold on relationship building. Instead, I focused my energy on maintaining those relationships I hold dear. I think a good sister, friend, and daughter is a person who supports those she cares most about, so I have been maintaining relationships I hold close this year.
- Boy oh boy do I want my own place, but at the same time, I am glad I have a place to live with people I love. I originally planned to move in April, but everything shut down for a while and I could not move. Then, in June I made the decision to hold off until the end of the Pandemic to pay down debt and save money. I thought pushing my move back meant October, but here we are. It’s the end of 2020, and now it’s looking like we may not be able to gather again until summer 2021. Nonetheless, I have saved money and paid off debt to position myself in a good place to move when I do see fit (which will happen in 2021).
Where Do We Go From Here?
Career & Business
I recently finished working through Your Best Year Yet, and I am clear that in 2021 the major focus will be my career. Since I spent quite a bit of time figuring out how to grow my online platform, I am able to back away from that a bit.
Instead, I have created checklists and metrics to help me level-up my online content without as much daily effort. In 2021, I will spend six months consistently executing strategies I know work, paying attention to detail, regrouping mid-year.
My hope is that my online presence will continue to grow, and with attention to detail and consistent branding, I will see the fruits of my labor in six months’ time.
Professionally, I just want to say that I am happy to have a job.
Not just a job, but a career that I want to participate in every day. Thanks to the Pandemic, I found myself working innovatively with my colleagues and the arts community as a whole to ensure that our work isn’t buried amongst staggering social upheaval.
The work I did this year will shape my career, and the opportunities afforded to me in 2021 will definitely take my career to a new level. I am ending the year by planning some key professional development opportunities, travel, and mentorship needed to propel my career forward.
The end goal for these five years is large, and using year four of this plan to focus on career growth is a strategic direction that will pay off by the end of this plan.
Finance
The best thing about moving in with my sister is the financial flexibility it has afforded me. Originally, my goal for 2020 was to pay down debt, but once the Pandemic hit, I switched gears to saving three months of expenses.
So in 2021, I will again focus on paying off my debt within the first 6 months, then its time to move.
With the growth of my online presence has come more income. I am moving into 2021 making at least $1000/month online (see my income reports here). This means that I can pay significant amounts toward debt, but that also means that in six months’ time, my online income will more than likely increase.
I have not decided what housing direction I will take, and though some of the market projections are favorable for purchasing a home next year, I plan to weigh all of my options before moving. Financially, I do not want to stretch myself, instead I want to live comfortably with my mortgage remaining less than 25% of my gross overall monthly income.
Nonetheless, 2021 will be the year I move into a place of my own and regain some independence.
Personal Development
My gosh, 2020 was full of personal growth and I coupled that with a focus on my overall well being. I know that I did a lot of mental health work in 2020 that I will take with me into 2021.
I am proud of myself for finally prioritizing therapy within my budget, which means that I am investing in my mental health as a means of self-care. Over these last couple of years, I have tried various types of wellness practices, and in 2020 I was able to use the routines and techniques I have learned to ensure that staying inside so much did not break me.
Now, I want to focus on one area of my personal appearance that I have struggled with for three years: my weight. In year one I worked hard to change my body image, and in year two I worked hard to give up the scale and calorie tracking. This led to me recently returning to the scale with a much better body image and mental toughness around my weight.
In November I began to focus on weight loss, and am still going strong. If all remains consistent, I will lose 10 lbs by year end, so my first quarter goal will be to lose 15 pounds more. Then, my focus will be maintenance.
Overall, my wellness in 2021 will re-focus on investing in my whole self. This will consist of re-initiating my beauty maintenance routine, cultivating a daily meditation practice, and focusing on play as a major investment in my well-being.
Relationships
In the year of COVID-19, I find any goals around personal relationship building to be the toughest to plan. Professionally, I do have plans to grow my network and to build a routine around maintaining professional relationships.
However, personally, I am only sure that I will maintain my circle of friends and family. I hope to begin dating again, volunteer every month, and to make friends. Unfortunately, I cannot plan for much of that until we get the all-clear to gather again.
I have volunteered whenever possible, and in 2021 I can commit to working harder to find monthly opportunities to volunteer within the Atlanta community.
My 2021 Mindset
One of the best aspects of working through Your Best Year Yet is the attention to mindset and guidelines for the year. I use the process to help me decide on a major focus for the year and possible goals. This work is more focused on my larger five-year plan.
Once those are decided, then I use Powersheets to set goals and intentions for the year ahead. The mantra that I will tell myself every day to check my mindset is:
I Can Have What I Want From Life
The purpose is to not give in to my limiting beliefs, but instead to push beyond what I know to be possible. I know that the wrong mindset can lead to self-sabotage, so by reminding myself that what I want from life is possible and even probable, I will push myself toward my dreams.
I have spent three years building a solid foundation to reach for what I want from all aspects of my life, so year four of this plan will be about making the necessary moves to make what I dream about happen.
2021 One-Year PowerSheets® Goal PlannerNext week I will crack open my Powersheets to set my goals for 2021 and create an action plan for the year ahead. I am very excited for what is to come and at the same time intimidated by how much effort I will need to make the most of the year ahead.
How was your 2020? and what is your vibe moving into 2021?
