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As part of blogtember, today Hannah, Katie and I are all doing our September goals post. In the future, I hope that my monthly post will also be a recap of how I’ve gone on with the month before, but I’ve promised that sort of thing in the past and failed dismally, so no promises. If I do, they’ll be modelled after this on BetterNotStop, not least as that’s where I got the idea of doing a monthly goals post. I’ve also downloaded the free planning spreadsheet but haven’t got it filled in yet.
First thing I tried to think about was how to break down my goals. The fun part of a large family is that there’s a lot of added complication to day to day life, and that’s one of the main things I need to get on top of. So I thought for this month I’d focus on three areas – blog/business, family/house, me.
(I probably ought to be prioritising myself a bit higher. We’ll get to that.)
As well as BetterNotStop, I’ve been looking at various things from Ruth Soukup at the Elite Blog Academy – there are a number of useful free resources available on the site. Well worth investigating. I’m plodding through a goal setting workbook I found there.
So area one: Blog/business.
1) Blog overhaul – actually make https work properly, do an autumn clean, plan a retheme.
2) apply various strategies to improve monetisation, while still remaining authentic and transparent. (Spreadsheets may be called for here.)
3) build and start to apply a business plan that heads towards an actual income from the blog/ associated sites.
4) finish working through the EBA goal setting workbook.
5) blog every day in September 🙂
Area two: family/home
1) Set up the Dodo Household stuff book I was sent for review (see above) and a spreadsheet to manage income and expenditure. (Yes, actually try adulting for a change, instead of winging it a la blog title above.)
2) Design a household chore rota and start delegating, instead of doing everything in a half hearted way and resenting the fact no one helps. Why would anyone do anything? When it comes down to it, that hasn’t been a part of what I’ve taught the kids, and that’s my fault, not theirs. Which is something to move past/deal with, instead of continuing to martyr myself over.
3) Find a decluttering strategy I can stick to. Maybe one room a week, look to take out a carrier bag of stuff a day? I’ve been getting shot of books via a couple of online buy it back sites, but the number of books they refuse is really quite depressing.
4) Sit down with the little ones and design a project for each of them individually. Most of the stuff we’ve been doing has been very joint, and I need to give them both a bit of space for themselves. Now that term has started back, time to get a grip on that. (No, home educators don’t have to observe term times, and mostly we don’t, except many of the groups that we can access don’t run in holidays, so our routine as it is drifts somewhat. Everything is starting up again, time to use that productively.)
5) Look into a new mattress.
Area three: me.
1) Develop a new morning routine – water, exercise, creativity before internet.
2) Keep up the level of physical activity I have at Kentwell – it keeps my body from stiffening up. Also look into pilates/ yoga/ osteopathy and follow up on why my shoulder is packing up again.
3) Have a long chat with myself over where I want to go with my art – am I looking to be recognised as an artist (what does that actually mean) or do I want to work towards saleable items? Or is it a bit of both?
4) Carve out an hour a day for writing the book rather than blog/ business stuff. This means developing some self control where social media and gurushots are concerned, and staying off them!
5) Start up a savings account towards a camera/ writing retreat that is purely for me and my enjoyment. I’ve been in danger of just fading away underneath everything else and I deserve a little more.
Hopefully I’ve got a set of goals there that move me towards my overall aims, which are an income that improves our standard of living and overall life enjoyment, a business that I can feel proud of, and improved personal levels of health and happiness all round. I’ve been really bad at putting this sort of thing together in the past, and I recognise that there’s going to be a certain level of tweaking to come in the next few weeks, but I hope to be able to address that in October.
Dont’ forget to pop over to check out Hannah and Katie posts, will you?
(Amazon link), full of imagination and adventure, with three little boys in Helen Oxenbury’s wonderful illustrations. The youngest is a toddler, with a dummy in his mouth, and I looked at Tigerboy and realised he isn’t even that toddler. He’s a little boy, full of energy and daring, pushing every boundary he can as he climbs furniture, hurls toys and balls with gay abandon. He is stubborn, loving, demanding and independent in his own individual bundle, and I’m loving getting to know him better every day.
since you ask) and his sister’s new dolls.
for her Leappad 3.
which he devoured in one sitting, reading while the rest of us were chatting round the dinner table. I guess it’s a good book 😉
