Having set myself 8 goals at the start of 2019, here is my review for January.
If you haven’t seen it already, you can check out my post introducing the goals I’d like to accomplish in 2019. Above you can watch my video review of how I got on with the goals in January, or if you’d rather read about it, here’s my update below:
1. Achieve a weight and size that feels healthy for me, ultimately to fit into size 12 clothes
I started off January well, exercising several times a week from home. I use YouTube videos to do pilates and also run on my mini trampoline/rebounder. However the last couple of weeks in January I found I wasn’t exercising as much. I need to find a balance of spending time on exercise versus all the other things I need to do.
In terms of eating habits, I have been trying intermittent fasting, where I eat between 1pm-9pm each day. We already eat a mostly organic diet, which I’m happy with. My main area of focus for improvement needs to be weekends where we tend to have lots of social commitments which involve drinking or sugary/unhealthy foods. I think a little is ok, but I need to maintain balance.
Overall I lost a few excess pounds after the Christmas glut, so I would say my progress toward this goal in January was good.
2. Have my first £7K profit month from my income hustles, by the end of the year
My biggest stretch goal for the year. I will be reporting on income and profit from my side hustles every month in a separate post. This goal requires me to focus on increasing my income streams. This year I’m making audible book publishing my number one priority. I want to publish 10 audible books by the end of the year.
In January I took one of my existing kindle books and prepared a script to get it into audio format. I found a narrator and had it recorded. The next steps are for this book to be approved by Amazon which will take around 2 weeks. Once this book is approved I can actually create 2 audio books, because I can bundle it with the existing audiobook that I already have. All being well with the review process, at least one of these new books should be live by the end of February.
Alongside the production of the audiobook I spent time doing research for future books, and I picked up a small amount of paid work for my blog.
Overall, a strong January for enhancing my income streams. I need to make sure I keep the pressure on throughout the rest of the year if I’m to hit my ambitious goal.
3. Grow my Inspiring Life Design brand
This goal is intentionally a bit ambiguous. My desire is to continue to grow the reach and help I can offer to others through this brand. In truth, it’s also my creative outlet, and I love building my Inspiring Life Design channels because it allows me to meet & socialise with people online.
Even though tracking stats for things like follower/subscriber counts has its flaws, I still find pleasure in making progress on this front. So I’m going to be setting myself some mini stat goals each month to guide myself forward.
| Starting point for Jan | Target for Jan | End point for Jan | Target for Feb | Annual Target | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inspiring Life Design Email Subscribers | 15 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 125 |
| Inspiring Life Domain Authority | 18 | 18 | 18 | 19 | 23 |
| 1,788 | 1,900 | 1,943 | 2,100 | 5,000 | |
| YouTube | 17 | 19 | 22 | 30 | 1,000 |
| 1,157 | 1,275 | 1,279 | 1,500 | 5,000 | |
| 69 | 75 | 74 | 80 | 500 | |
| Facebook Page | 30 | n/a | 30 | n/a | n/a |
| Facebook Group (for email subscribers) | 7 | n/a | 7 | n/a | n/a |
4. Plan and take at least 2 holidays this year
In January, I started talking with my boyfriend about where we might like to go this year. We also booked in some trips to see friends that we wanted to do this year. Still need to actually plan a holiday in though.
5. Learn a new skill
In January I’ve been reading a few books:
- Tools of Titans by Tim Ferris
- Conversations with God book 2 by Neale Donald Walsch
- Money Master The Game by Tony Robbins
- The Life Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo
I haven’t actually finished any of them yet, but I’m enjoying learning lots of new things. I’ve also been listening to a couple of podcasts by Tony Robbins and Russell Brand, and watching various YouTube videos from fellow online entrepreneurs.
As well as learning as much as I can from reading, I want to try to do some sort of course or training to learn new skills. In January I booked up for some of the free drop-in sessions at my nearest Apple Store. I am going in February to learn more about video skills.
In early January I discovered that I’ve been accepted onto the Crew for Tony Robbins’ Unleash The Power Within (affiliate link) event in London this April. Which will be another great opportunity to surround myself with like-minded people and learn new things.
6. Invest £30K into ISA’s toward my longterm Financial Independence goal
This year I want to put £20K into a 2018/2019 ISA and a further £10K into a 2019/2020 ISA. Although I am expecting an amount of money later this year from an inheritance, I don’t actually have a firm idea of where the money for the ISAs is going to come from!
I’m currently going through a transition period between supporting myself by doing freelance IT work, and moving toward supporting myself from my online businesses. What this means in reality is that I don’t have a steady income right now. It’s difficult for me psychologically to lock money away into an ISA when I may need it as a buffer later this year. For this reason I haven’t put any money into an ISA in January. I will look at this before the cut-off point in early April though, and make a decision.
7. Donate £600 to charities
In January I donated £31.84 to my regular charities. I have various direct debits and standing orders set-up (including Myton Hospice, Aquinoe Learning Centre in Africa and the Starlight Children’s Foundation).
That leaves £568.16 still to go!
8. Make a plan for how/when I can attend Tony Robbins’ Mastery University
The Mastery University is a program made of 3 events:
- Date With Destiny (affiliate link)
- Life Mastery
- Wealth Mastery
I haven’t made any progress with plans for how I can afford to go to this yet, so this is one to look into later in the year. I may get more information and motivation for this when I’m at Unleash The Power Within in April.
That’s my January goals update. How was your January? Let me know in the comments below. I hope you got a great start to 2019!
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Previous & Next Posts
My last post offered a gift guide for Valentine’s Day 2019
Find out how much Income & Profit I made from my side hustles in January
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