As I reflect back on the past year, I found the blog post that I wrote back in January 2018. My hopes and wishes for 2018 included:
- I would like to be able to write at least once a month.
- I will continue to encourage others to try new things and point them to my Shine Brightly project.
- I will continue to put on my learner’s hat at work and not be so hard at myself.
- I will hold classes about health and wellness to grow my business in Doterra. I will continue to share about the great health benefits of essential oils.
- I will continue to encourage others about missions and grow in leadership.
When I see my 2018 hopes and wishes, I wasn’t very successful at accomplishing all of them. The results showed that:
- I didn’t write in this blog at least once a month. I only wrote in January, February, July, August, September, and December for a total of 10 posts. Instead of writing full posts on this blog, I wrote mini posts on my Facebook and Instagram pages.
- I would like to think that I encouraged others to try new things and pointed them to my Shine Brightly Project, but I don’t remember if I did or not. If I did, I don’t think I proactively encouraged others about it. Also, I didn’t write a single post about my Shine Brightly Project. Despite that, one new thing that I tried last year year was Motivational Monday, which I began because I couldn’t keep up writing full blog posts with all the different things going on in my life, so I thought something small and manageable would be a replacement. For Motivational Monday, I created a inspirational photo with a quote or saying with a paragraph explaining it that I posted on Mondays on my Facebook and Instagram pages. With the likes/hearts and comments on my Facebook and Instagram pages, I knew Motivational Monday encouraged others. This lasted a good 2 months or so till I became busy with other things in life. Lack of consistency seems to be a trend here.
- I did continue to put on my learner’s hat at work and tried not to be so hard at myself. Whenever I was assigned a challenging new task or project at work, I had to remind myself to have patience. Work was definitely the area that tested my patience. I constantly reminded myself that I was on the learning curve and patience was my 2018 word, so I wouldn’t beat myself down when I didn’t meet my own high expectations.
- I didn’t hold any classes about health and wellness to grow my business in Doterra, but I did continue to share about the great health benefits of essential oils whenever others would be battling a health problem or when they asked about essential oils. The only thing that I business promotion that I actively sought was participate in an annual craft fair. At the craft fair, I was able to share my passion of natural alternatives and sell homemade spa products with Doterra essential oils. My Doterra business didn’t grow much because I wasn’t persistent approaching my potential clients. Maybe one day, I will devote more time and energy into my business, but for now, I am fine with letting it slide to the way side.
- I did continue to encourage others about missions and grow in leadership. As the missions leader at Pathway Community Church, my team set yearly goals, which we met our goals. One of the goals was to educate the church about missions. We executed many programs and events to reach this goal for others to be excited about missions. As a result, the ministry grew exponentially in 2018. At the same time, I have invited missions minded friends to visit the East Bay World Christian Fellowship monthly prayer group that I lead. In this group, a steady number of 25-30 consistent people came each month. Most of all, people that come feel welcomed and leave encouraged. In July 2018, I became an advocate for a non-profit called Celebrate You Coaching, who’s goal is to equip and empower the unemployed for the disadvantaged and low income population. I believe in the mission of this organization and support it 100%.
When I reflect on my accomplishments and failures last year, I was only 50% successful. Out of the 5 goals that I listed, I only successfully accomplished 2 goals. I would give myself half credit for one other goal.
I could see last year more of a failure since 50% is a failing grade that could cause me never set goals again, but I choose to celebrate the successes and challenges. In the failures and challenges, I am celebrating that I am one step closer to figuring out how to succeed. I may not have moved as far as I’d like to be, but I made a small stride to becoming a better person who’s less fearful of failure. That in itself is a victory! As a result, I have more patience for my shortcomings.
As I reflect, I realized why I wasn’t as successful in completing these goals as I could have been. I believe I need to be more intentional about:
- Developing a plan to meet my goals. Last year, I didn’t exactly have a plan about how I was going to execute those 5 goals. I just knew these were the 5 things I wanted to achieve in 2018.
- Putting my goals in a place where I can see it daily/weekly. I didn’t even remember the goals for the year until I went back to my post and read it. I forgot about my goals a few months later.
Coming into 2019, I have chosen intentional for my word of the year because I want to be intentional about the way I spend my time and energy. I have only one life to live and I better make it worthwhile.
I usually don’t set a new year’s resolution because I know I can’t keep it as I’ve shown in the past, but I thought this year would be different. I desired to be intentional about setting a new year’s resolution for 2019. Knowing that I need to develop a plan and review my goals often, I searched for resources to help me stay on top of my goals.
At the end of 2018, I went to a Confidence to Set Goals workshop at my local library. This workshop helped me to feel motivated to set a new year’s resolution. This workshop was a great start, but I felt overwhelmed by the end of the 4 hour workshop.
After the workshop, I borrowed a book from the library called Cultivate What Matters by Lara Casey. In the book, she mentioned PowerSheets, which is a goal planning workbook. PowerSheets has been the answer to helping me stay on task. I spent a few weeks in January digging through the past year, figuring out how to reach my goals, and making sure I review my goals daily, weekly, and monthly through PowerSheets.
Now that it’s February, I feel more motivated and prepared in tackling my goal list. As Lara Casey says, “There’s nothing magical about January 1,” meaning you don’t have to begin your goals at the beginning of the new year. This lessens the pressure of creating and accomplishing goals. I believe by the end of 2019, I would have successfully accomplished my goals now that I am more intentional about creating an action plan to tackle my goals. The magic is starting now!
To read more about my past yearly reflection, click on the following links.
