Reflections and a New Year
Happy New Year to all my WA friends! I hope 2020 brings you all many blessings and a healthy and prosperous year.
I just wanted to document my progress for 2019 and share with you all too.
At the beginning of 2019 I was feeling really disappointed with myself. A lot of good things happened in 2018 but with myself personally I was just not happy. In March 2018 I had my annual physical and was told after testing that my cholesterol and my sugar were both dangerously high. I decided that I was going to lose weight and get healthier. My husband and I both started trying to eat healthier. I lost 12 pounds but my heart was just not in it. By the end of the year I had gained that 12 pounds back and in December I was at my heaviest weight ever. By the time the New Year rolled around I was very disappointed and unhappy. We had just had our second grandson in December 2018 and I made up my mind that when I got home in January after our visit to Atlanta that I was going to go back on my weight loss plan. So I did -
In 2019 my goal was to lose 60 pounds. By March, I had already lost 29 pounds and when I went for my annual physical in April I was told that my cholesterol had come down and my sugar too. My doctor told me to keep doing what I was doing. By September I had lost only 45 pounds but was pretty happy about making some progress. I've had a three week vacation and the holidays since then and have gained a few pounds back but I'm not giving up. My 2020 weight loss goal is again set at 60 pounds to get to my goal weight. I know I can do it!
Toward the end of 2018 my husband and I started discussing what we'd like to do for retirement, when it comes around. We decided to start planning a side business that we could do from home and earn some extra income. I had been interested in affiliate marketing for several years. I started researching businesses online and reading alot about different home based businesses. In November 2018 I stumbled upon WA. I was pretty excited about the training and learning to build my own website. I have to say that I got carried away and over the past year I purchased two ready-made websites and kept them going. I also built four websites from scratch but quickly dropped one of them. I have worked to maintain the five blogs and post some on social media. That has been my weakest point because it is so time-consuming.
I sat today while cooking New Year's Day dinner and reviewed my calendar and journal for the past year. I have to say that I am not disappointed with myself like I was last year. Although I didn't accomplish everything that I set out to do, I did accomplish alot.
While working a full-time job - I published 100 articles across five websites. I finished the Online Entreprenuer Certificate training and started the Affiliate Bootcamp training. I posted many of my articles on social media and built some traffic on my websites. I read 21 books of variety - historical fiction, self-improvement, motivational/inspirational and educational books. I also signed up for a Blinkist account and read 78 books on that app. From that app I discovered 2-3 books that I wanted to read, ordered them and read them (included in the 21 books above).
I have to admit that just focusing on one website would be a lot easier like Kyle suggests, but my brain doesn't work that way. My husband is very focused and goal-driven. He can write down his goals and work to attain them. I am just the opposite. I have what I refer to as "shiny red ball syndrome" (in fact I wrote a post about it on one of my websites). When I started the WA training, I had the hardest time trying to narrow down the niche that I wanted to focus on. I would start a website and write several posts and then it was like I would dry up and couldn't think of anything else to write about. Then I would start thinking about a different niche and started working on that one. I have been very busy but I have had fun. I have had the most fun acutally building the websites. My websites are all on different topics so whenever I think of something to write about, it fits within one of those niches. My goal this next year is to try and narrow down to one or two niches if I can. It is very hard for me because I have so many interests. But if I need to I will sale my other websites or let them go dormant.
While on vacation in October I wrote several articles for my Disney website and took lots of pictures. I wrote 2-3 posts for one of my other websites and developed approximately 30 pins for pinterest. I have yet to type up those articles so that is one of my goals this next week. I have started other articles in my notebook I carry around with me and need to finish them also
I have identified many keywords and have them set aside for future articles to which I need to plan. And have the social media posts to plan.
My plan for today was to spend the day planning and writing down my goals for this new year. I have done most of it. I hope to be able to focus more on what I really want to do and the niche I really want to focus on. I have set my Bible reading and devotion goals, my new health and weight loss goals, my exercise goals, my reading and training goals, my writing goals and social media goals. I just need to fine-tune my goals into action steps now and I'm ready to go!
As stated above, I hope you all have a healthy and prosperous new year. May we all see success in the new year and grow more than ever before.
Sorry for such a long post (probably my longest ever on WA) but I had a lot I wanted to get out.
Many Blessings,
Pamela
Recent Comments
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You got this put your head down and grind. Just remember if you need some positive vibes to look right here. There are so many on a daily basis that will help pick you up and put a smile on your face. It does for me every day ready posts and commenting on them. Wishing you to hit all your goals in the new year. Great job on getting healthy also.
Douglas
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Best wishes!