18 before 2018: A goal-setting challenge

It’s that time again! Today I’m listing 18 goals I want to complete before 2018, and I’m challenging YOU to play along. You have until the end of 2017 to complete all 18 goals on your list.

This year, I created my 18 before 2018 by first doing a rapid log, which is a bullet journal-inspired list of goals to be completed, aka a brain dump. I listed everything I’d like to accomplish with the last half of the year, and then I organized those into eighteen major goals to accomplish. You can see both pages in my journal spread above.

Here are a few more prompts to get you started:

• Consider what you need to clear out of the way before you can really get to work on next year’s big goals.
• What unfinished business needs attended to so you can end this year with a clean slate?
• Which projects need more research, or simply let go of, so you can make room for more of what you want to enter your life?
• What or whom do you need to say “no” to right now?
• Which people, activities and events do you want to be present for with the rest of 2017?
• What would have to happen in this last half to make 2017 feel like an absolute success?

Here are my 18 Before 2018

#1 Work ahead. I regularly find myself juggling several balls at once and feeling incredibly overwhelmed. Some parts of the job can’t be scheduled ahead (like social media live or an important discussion about new trends in the industry), but others can be. I’m just barely keeping up with the day-to-day demands of my job right now. Once I clear my plate, rather than bask in the emptiness of it for a few weeks (like I usually do), I’m going to look ahead on my annual strategy to see what I can schedule and automate for the future. I want more balanced portions on my plate, versus always full or all too empty.

#2 Do more live video. Earlier this year, I amped up my output (5X my normal rate for one week) as a marketing experiment (click here to see the results). It made me realize that I’m not used to sharing much of myself at all. I feel as though I “put myself out there” because I have more of an online presence than all of the people I know in real life, but always coming up with more ways to share showed me how reserved I actually am. It pushed me out of a comfort zone I didn’t know existed.

This month, I’m called to do more recordings and live video on camera. It took four weeks of my putting it off before I realized I was in complete and utter avoidance! The recordings are to be shown to a massive, new audience, the live videos are for anyone to see, and I made up every excuse in the book as to why each day wasn’t a good day to get on camera. Truly!

Even though I “put myself out there” via email, my blog, and social media, I know who I’m talking to—readers, dream clients, and colleagues that have read me for years. That’s called a comfort zone, my friends, and it’s time I break out of it. I vow to do 18 live calls before 2018 on Facebook (Marketing Creativity) and Instagram (@iamlisajacobs).

#3 Monthly dates with my husband. These have been sporadic lately, so I’m scheduling them into my calendar.

#4 Decorate for the holidays. I have been such a ridiculous slacker/forgetter on this for a couple years now. Frankly, I don’t know what’s come over me! I’ll suddenly realize, “Next week is Halloween!” Some holidays, I’m so late to the party I just skip the decorating altogether.

If it were anyone else, I’d say: “If you struggle this much, maybe it’s not as important as you think. Surrender the battle.” But, it’s me—and I know I love a home decked out for the holidays. I just haven’t been good at planning it, and so I’m going to carve time to create seasonal atmosphere and ambience.

#5 Have a 6-figure month. It’s my time, and I’m ready for the next step.

#6 Schedule a monthly family trip. We don’t need to go far, but we do need to get out and explore every month. It’s in our blood!

#7 Host a grand re-opening for The Luminaries Club. I’m swinging the doors wide open and welcoming new members to the club this month. We’re all very excited to meet more like-minded entrepreneurs. Click here to learn more!

#8 Triple my website traffic. Do you know where I love to hang out most online? Instagram—oh my goodness, the conversation, connection, and visual aesthetic are unmatched. Do you know what my top 3 sources of traffic are? Google, Pinterest, and Facebook. Instagram doesn’t even make the top 5 list which reinforces my earlier beliefs: Instagram is not work for me. I just love it so much, I sometimes delude myself into thinking it is part of the job.

I need to refocus my end-year efforts on website traffic and opt-in conversion.

#9 Hire more help. For my home, I’ll hire painters to finish some still undecorated spaces and a lawn care service to take care of seasonal trimming and clean-up. For my business, I need a graphic designer and a local photographer. <—If you’re interested, be on my email list to be first to know. (Please don’t cold contact me with your resume, stay tuned for the process.)

#10 Host a launch party! This is a career favorite. I’m so excited to host friends, colleagues, and clients at my Your Best Year 2018 workshop and launch party! It takes place in my hometown of Ashburn, VA. Click here for details (there are only a handful of tickets left)!

#11 Buy a dining room table. My dining room table is beyond embarrassing. It is ugly, discolored, covered in paint and other project remnants, and uncomfortable! I look at it every day and wonder why it’s still in my home.

The truth of the matter is, I don’t like dining room furniture. I think most of it’s ugly. There’s a table I would really love to own, but it’s an expensive marble top and I’ve heard marble stains easily. (I have four kids, and I myself am a sloppy eater!) I’ve seen others that I like, but nothing I love. I need to make the decision (talk about buyer’s inertia) and get the old table out of my life already!

#12 Teach my daughter how to drive. This won’t take long, she’s a good and eager learner.

#13 Release Your Best Year 2018. Official launch date is October 17, 2017!

#14 Finish my final Luminaries program and book, Shop 2.o. This course will have a storefront focus, similar to my CreativeLive workshop: Turn Your Etsy Shop into a Sales Machine.

#15 De-clutter my home and have a yard sale. I’m going to Kon Mari the crap out of this place.

#16 Do a 3-day fast. Once or twice a year, I do the master cleanse based on a lemon drink. Believe it or not, fasting fuels my mind, body, and soul. I love it, but I only like to do 3 days (some people can go 21 days on the program).

#17 Meet my mentors. There are two women I look forward to meeting in-person this fall: Melyssa Griffin and Denise Duffield-Thomas. When I was working through Denise’s Money Bootcamp, I realized that I didn’t have mentors or a mastermind in place for my business. I’m hoping to remedy that, and I’d love to receive advice and mentorship from both of these powerful women.

#18 Do more of what scares you. I put off shooting a new video for my business for months. Not because I’m shy on camera, not because I don’t have high-quality content spilling out of me, and not because I don’t have the equipment to make it all look and sound beautiful. I put it off because I know that when it’s done, I’ll need to show it to tens of thousands of strangers. I’ll have to put myself out there again, and in all new company.

It took me just as long to realize how badly I was avoiding the project, and even more important, why I was avoiding the project. I’ve gotten into a comfort zone. I broadcast only to the people who already know me. I stay where I feel safe.

If I’m going to take up every square inch of commercial space available to me, I have to go boldly. There’s no time to worry about where I’ll start, how I’ll look, what I’ll say. I’ve been preparing my whole life for this. No more preparations necessary! Instead of catch you later, I’ll catch you live.

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