It’s that time of year, folks! In keeping with last year’s tradition, I’m setting several goals (rather than making resolutions) for this next year. I personally find broad goals a lot easier to work towards in contrast to strict resolutions – that’s always been a big struggle for me –  so without further ado, here are my personal goals for 2016!

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1. Be a better blogger
This sounds a bit lofty, but I’d really like to work more on this little piece of internet real estate in the coming year. When I started this blog, I was in grad school, and while that made for some interesting content, school was definitely a higher priority than blog growth. Since I’ve settled more into my current job, I’d like to dedicate more time to expanding my online presence so I’ve made a list of mini-goals I’d like to achieve (increase followers, post more frequently, create blogging strategy, etc.). Here’s hoping I can stick to it!

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2. Enjoy the moment
I’ve been trying to work on being more mindful in my daily life. This includes putting my phone away (I’m so bad at that) and truly experiencing what I’m doing, be it mundane or exciting. I’m guilty of multi-tasking to the extreme – for example, I currently have 40 tabs open on my desktop – so it’s a good idea to make a point of putting away all other distractions and just focusing on one thing. Included in this goal is to spend more time on my hobbies, which I define as things I do for no other reason than they make me happy. For me, that’s things like water coloring, writing, blogging, photography, knitting, walking, listening to pod casts, reading, etc.

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3. Get smart about money
Now that I’m married, I’m even more motivated to get my sh*t together, money-wise.  I’m not doing too badly, but it’s time to grow up and start saving for real as opposed to that wad of cash strapped to the back of my toilet tank (forget you read that). I have a meeting with financial adviser this month, so I’m getting a list of questions ready and trying to put together some specific financial goals for the next five to ten years. Look at me planning ahead…I must be growing up!

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4. Foster my relationship(s)