Sunday 10 January 2016

My Books, Blogging and Life Goals for 2016


Boom, and we're back on board the blogging train! How were your Christmas and Holiday celebrations? Did you bring the New Year in with a bang? The last few weeks of December were pretty awesome and stressful and lovely all at once, especially when you consider I worked both Boxing Day, the following Sunday and New Years, and the joy of retail means that Christmas and New Year have been, well, let's just say no blogging occurs at the end of those work days, which pretty much explains why I took my break for as long as I did, but I'm back, and that's what matters.

Christmas this year was a smaller, low key affair than it was last year. Last year involved three families around one table and me in the kitchen all evening, but 2015's Christmas was much calmer. We had one dinner at the Grandmother-In-Law's Christmas Day, and another on the 28th with my Nanna due to work commitments - much less stressful. Also, it was our first Christmas with Simba, and sure, watching him play with and try to eat the wrapping paper was a lot more fun than picking it up, but he was happy.

So far, my 2016 has been rather chill, but I want to know how your 2016 is so far. Is the diet still on, or did you work your way through some Christmas sweeties and vow to start again next month? Dear friend, you've got to stop setting goals you just aren't going to follow through with, it's not only pointless, but it's counter-productive too, and the only person you're disappointing is yourself.

Me, I'm all for making goals this year. Last year, I didn't make any goals, and I really regret it. I know I learnt a lot, and achieved a lot, but I'm just not as proud of those achievements as I should be, or want to be, and that sucks. This year, I want to reach the end and think 'damn right, look at everything you achieved, and hey, this year wasn't the year for this or that, but maybe next year!' I talked about everything I achieved and some of last year's favourite things a few weeks ago, but let's check out this years goals instead.

Book Related Goals

  • Read 30 books. I used to be a rabid reader and would read a vast amount of books, but last year saw my numbers fall, hugely, and I confess, I really didn't mind all that much. This year however, I do want to spend some q-u-a-l-i-tea time with my books and a brew and swap blogging in the evening some nights for reading in bed, and at an average of just over 2 books a month, I'm confident I can smash this goal. Currently Read: All In, See How They Run, Leap of Faith.
  • No ARC's. Unless I know I'll read them. 2014 was a year full of ARC's and reading books I didn't really love, but because I read less last year, I enjoyed them more. Go figure. I was requesting books based on other people's excitement, not my own, so this year, I'll only be requesting the books I really want to read, that are fueled by my own excitement and nobody elses. There's more to life than free books, and I have plenty already. Lesson learnt.
  • No buying books unless they're on the list. This really shouldn't be too difficult in the grand scheme of things, as I didn't buy a book between April and December last year, and along with the books I've already said I'd love to read this year, there's only a few that I have noted that I want. If it's not on the list, it's not happening.

  


Blogging Related Goals

  • Start and complete projects #1 and #2. I'm being purposely secretive on what these projects actually are, a) because if they don't become actual things, the only person I'm disappointing is myself, b) because I want to finalise a few details before I go head first into them, and c) because damn, announcing projects is scary and your expectations are being kept firmly inactive for the moment. What I can say about these projects is that I'm super excited about them, I'm actually going to have to spend money on them (shock horror!) and they'll actually require you to spend money too, if I can pull it off. More on those in the future!
  • Post higher quality posts, 2-3 times a week. When I started Nellie and Co. I had a plan to post 3 days a week, 4 if I had something I really wanted to share, but I admit, my content wasn't as good then, and neither was my social media sharing habits. Oh, and I didn't have a job too. I want to continue posting the same quality posts I've been posting since Sept/Oct and improve upon them, but this means lower post frequency expectations. To keep things more realistic, it's better to expect two posts a week and be pleasantly surprised by a third than to expect more and find less. Speaking of social media..
  • Increase Nellie's Subscribers. Just saying 'I want more people to interact with my blog' isn't a good enough goal in my opinion, so for the sake of getting down to the details, I'm aiming for 100 Newsletter Subscribers, 500 Twitter Followers and 100 Pinterest followers. They're pretty high goals in terms of numbers, but with some hard work, great content and the help of one of those mentioned projects, I'd say it's possible.
  • Reach 5,000 pageviews a month by the end of 2016. Now, this is what I'd call a hefty goal. I'm currently getting just over half that, but I definitely want to see Nellie's reach going further, so in my eyes, it's go big or go home my friend.
  • Participate regularly a Twitter Chat. My current bedtime means my daylight hours don't coincide much with the Twitter Chats I'm tempted to get involved in, but I'll be making special exceptions for some chats this year in order to get involved more. I want to meet and greet other bloggers and expand my circles, and Twitter Chats seem like the perfect place to do it.
  • Create more pages for the 2016 Blog Planner. Silly ol' me decided to create the Blog Planner in November, which didn't give me a whole load of time to actually create as many pages as I would have liked to, so throughout 2016, I'll be creating additional pages to compliment the planner, with the help of recommendations and requests from followers and users.



Life Related Goals

  • Put aside at least £30 a month savings. Every year I tell myself I will make a start on lots of exciting projects, or that I'll reach Christmas and not be counting pennies, and every year, that doesn't happen, but 2016 is going to be different. I have a trip to Blackpool planned again in May, and I want to nail Christmas savings this year, and with my job still on tow, I can actually put money aside and still have money left over for a random treat every now and again.
  • Create another cash avenue. I definitely don't want to just stick with being part-time employed, at least, not financially, so I'm definitely making plans to either find another part-time, switch to full-time, or create another income source, whether that be through creating a job, or through Nellie and Co. - I'm not 100% sure yet, but I definitely want more dosh coming my way.

What are your 2016 goals and resolutions?

22 comments:

  1. Good luck! I love all your goals, they sound super achievable! I also love your goal planner, it seems as though it will be super helpful for me, I'll definitely have to check it out! Anyways, go you! I hope you achieve all of your goals, and have an amazing 2016!

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    1. Thanks Maya! This year I really wanted to achieve things, rather than try and fail. Wishing you the best of luck for you and your goals and challenges this year too!

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  2. You're amazing and so well organized, Amanda, so I really believe you'll smash all these goals easily! I'm really looking forward to these secret projects you've got planned!

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    1. Aw, thank you Ella! I'm super excited to see how these goals go, and I can't wait to create these secret projects, best of luck in your goals and challenges too hunny!

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  3. Those are all great goals! I hope you enjoy all the books you've chosen to read this year. :)

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    1. Thank you Stephanie, I'm focusing on enjoying them rather than needing to read them :)

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  4. Good luck with these epic goals! And they sound quite achievable too, so woot woot for you. ;D I always make a few unachievable ones even though I REALLY SHOULD JUST LEARN AND NOT DO IT. XD I do like making lists of goals though. And now I'm super curious about your secret projects. ;D

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    1. I think it's exciting to set unachievable ones because then you'll be proud of those you've achieved even more, so there's that, but thank you Cait, and I'll be sharing some news on one of the projects in an email to subscribers rather soon! :)

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  5. These are some really awesome goals, Amanda! Some of them are actually kind of similar to my own. I'm hoping to double my site's pageviews this month and want to double my twitter following my the end of this year. I should probably post more often on the blog but right now I'm just working on getting things scheduled so I have something going up on a consistent basis. I love TWitter chats. They are awesome and I've been participating in them more myself. I've been trying to just be more active in the blogging community and with interacting with others on Twitter and I've really seen an increase in engagement so that's encouraging! Will we get updates on your goals throughout the year? That would be so cool.

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    1. Thanks Stephanie! I think as long as you're happy with your posting frequency, and your followers are too, then it's good for you. I'm hoping to continue my Tea and Cakes posts quarterly with updates on my goals to, it'll encourage me to work harder on them if I can see my progress, so there should be updates :)

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  6. I think I'll be aiming for somewhere around 30 books as well! Although I'd like to try MORE ARCs this year, since I never used to request any. These secret projects sound great and I'm excited to find out what they are. I'd like to participate in more Twitter chats too, although EXACT SAME PROBLEM with wrong timezones! I'm keeping a list for my timezone specifically because all the conversions always make me miss the chats :S All the best with these fantastic goals!

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    1. I find it super interesting that you're getting into book blogging more now that I'm moving away, it'll be fun to see your growth and development in it. Thank you Alyssa, and best of luck in your goals too! :)

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  7. Good luck with your goals :) I'm hoping to read about 60 books this year because I want to spend some time writing my story. I agree with you on the quality content, it's better to have less posts that are really good. I have my blog for five years and post two times a week and it proved to by useful. This year I started my english blog, so I'm excited for that.
    And by the way your blog seems amazing so you gain a new reader :)

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    1. 60 sounds achievable, that's just over a book a week, so best of luck Simona! Also, thank you for the follow, hopefully you enjoy my upcoming content! :)

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  8. Good luck with your goals! I am sure you will achieve them all :) I struggle so much with trying to save to. I have to get serious about it now as I am saving for a house. That will probably take till I'm 50!!!! >.< I'm excited to find out what your super secret projects are.

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    1. Thanks hunny! Saving has always been a BIG problem, but I'm getting set for the big C early this year, so hopefully I'll be more prepared when it comes around! :)

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  9. Girl, you hit it right on the money with all these goals. I just recently found your blog and I am obsessed. I am your newest follower. Can't wait to follow you along in 2016 <3

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    1. Aw, thank you so much Yesi! Hope you enjoy my upcoming content :)

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  10. These are some great goals! Good luck with them - I love the fact that you're only planning to read 30 books! I'd love to spend more time over my books... but somehow I just end up finishing them in a couple of days max. I'm sure I must be missing some pages somewhere! XD

    Also, I love #ukyachat if you're looking for some UK friendly Twitter chats! :)

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    1. It's less about taking more time to read them, and more taking the time to actually read the books I want to, and enjoy them because I'm reading less of them, if that makes sense? I'll definitely have to look out for #ukyachat in the future, I mean, I see it, but I just need to be aware of it more, so thanks Harvey :)

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  11. Best of luck on your goals! (Especially all the ones with books because I know I myself can get carried away when looking at those shiny covers ; u ;) Hoping that 2016 brings great books and great blogging around you!

    - Aila @ Happy Indulgence

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    1. Thanks Aila! I definitely love me some covers, but I'm trying really hard to buy the book, not the cover. It's working at the moment, so fingers crossed. Best of luck with your goals too! :)

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