Habits I'd Like to Break, and 2018 Blog Goals
Leggings Spanx / Sweater Red Dress Boutique (c/o) / Jacket Target (similar) / Shoes Nike (similar, mine are sold out!) / Necklace Kendra Scott (c/o) / Earrings Francesca's
Hey guys! I can't believe that it's 2018 already, can you? Since this is my first post of the new year, I figured I'd talk about the habits that I would love to leave in 2017, and some of my goals both personal and blog related for 2018!
First off, here are all of the bad habits that I'd really love to break in 2018:
1. Trying to justify the success of others. I've realized lately that a lot of the time, in the blogging world, or in real life, whenever I see someone who is killing it, whether they're growing faster on social media, getting more likes than I am, just got that perfect new job, etc. I try to justify it to myself. I find myself thinking things like "Oh, well it's probably just easier for them to grow because of this." or "they probably got that job because of this". Basically in my head I try to find ways to justify their success in order to make myself feel better about where I'm at. Instead of chalking the success of others up to their own hard work, I try to find external reasons for their success. I realize this isn't healthy or fair, and it's something I really want to work on in 2018. Instead of mentally belittling other peoples success, I need to use it as motivation to work harder and succeed on my own.
2. Hiding/Running away from anything that stresses me out. I've always had an extreme fear of confrontation, whether it be confronting people, or confronting problems. I've done jobs for much less pay than I deserve out of fear of saying anything, and I have let people walk on me because I've been afraid to stand up for myself. This fear of confrontation has also transitioned into a fear of confronting problems in order to solve them. I tend to try to just ignore things in hopes that they'll go away, which let's be real, always makes everything 10x worse! So one of my big goals this year is to face people and problems head on.
3. Saying yes to things I don't want to do. This goes hand in hand with number 2. I am always scared to upset people, so I say yes to things that I really don't want to do ALL. THE. TIME. and then when the time comes to actually do these things, I hate myself for saying yes. I need to start accepting that it's okay to say no when you really don't want to do something.
4. Not following through. I always have such great intentions, whether it's to clean my apartment, get a new blog post up, shoot a bunch of outfits, cooking instead of eating out, etc. And then when it comes down to it, I start off strong but quickly nosedive and it doesn't end up getting done. One of my goals this year is to really be careful to see things through to the end, and not to give up on something until it's done.
5. Letting likes/followers dictate my mood/self worth. Sometimes, I'll be so excited to post a picture, thinking its one of the best pictures I've posted and that it's going to get a ton of likes, and then it will completely flop. Whenever a picture doesn't do well, I tend to take it way more personally than I should. Same with followers. It has been really bothering me lately that I haven't been able to grow as quickly as I'd like to, and I need to just accept that sometimes I'm doing everything I can, but when it comes down to it, likes and followers are something that is completely out of my hands. I need to leave what happens on social media ON social media, and not let it affect my mood or my day. Life's too short to worry about that kind of stuff!
6. Not being present. As a blogger (although let's be real, this isn't just a blogger problem) it's so hard to disconnect from my phone and social media and focus on what's actually going on around me. This year, one of my goals is to focus on being more present. Putting down my phone and giving the people I'm with my complete, undivided attention. Instagram will still be there in an hour.
Now that I've talked about the habits I want to break, here are some of my blogging goals for 2018:
1. Consistent blog posts, at least twice a week. You would think this wouldn't be that hard. And it's not. I just have to make it more of a priority. This goes hand in hand with my need to learn to say no. I need to be able to say no to distractions and reserve an hour or so a night to just sit down and focus on editing pictures and writing a post. I also want to try to write more substantial posts like this one, so if you have any post requests or suggestions, let me know!
2. Being more deliberate with blog photos. This is something I really did start to work on towards the end of 2017, and something I definitely think I've been improving at. I used to just walk outside, snap a couple of pictures, and call it good. This year, I'm focusing hard on trying to make all of my pictures more cohesive. Finding backgrounds that fit the outfit, season, etc. I personally love seeing photos where everything goes together, so I'm trying to work on that for myself. This isn't to say that every photo will be completely set up and fake. I'll still make it a point to post a few in-the-moment iPhone shots a week, but I want to really work on showcasing the outfits I post in the best way possible.
3. Start a youtube channel. This has been a goal of mine for a while now, and while I've posted a couple of videos, I don't post regularly. The main things holding me back are not having the right equipment, and not knowing well enough how to edit videos. My goal this year is to figure out how to edit better, and to start posting videos regularly. There are just some things that are way easier to watch then read!
What are your 2018 goals?
XOXO,
Olivia