I’ve written posts with yearly goals before, but this year I decided to be even more intentional and write out 21 ambitions that I have for myself and my business as we head into 2021.
This list took me longer than I thought it would, but I’m very happy with how it is now. These are written in the order that I thought of them in, not necessarily from most to least important or vice versa. These are my ambitions for the next year, and I can’t wait to re-visit this list next January to see how I did or how much my priorities may have changed.
Let’s dive in!
1. Make at least $5,000 from my business
This goal might be mighty small or mega huge, but I have no idea so I’m going to at least try to go for it! It’s been hard for me to think of specific ambitions for my business since I’m still so new into everything (it’s only been like a month and a half. Whaaat?!), but this seemed like a nice round number to kick things off. Maybe I’ll make way less or way more, but it’s at least a good starting point!
2. Host an in-person spiritual/witchy event
This is something I’ve wanted to do for a really long time. I don’t know the details of it yet, but this is one of my most ambitious ambitions yet. I want to do some kind of in-person event focused on spirituality, self-love or some kind of combination of all of that and more. I picture it being an intimate event for maybe half a dozen people or so where people are free to be vulnerable, open and honest and hopefully help discover more about themselves and others. That’s all I know about this so far, but I hope to flesh this idea out more and make it a possibility this year.
3. Start my YouTube channel
I’ve technically started my channel since I made an account on YouTube, but I don’t have any content or anything on there yet. I have a ton of ideas, so now I just need to make it happen!
4. Start a podcast
I’m not 100% set on this being one of my ambitions for this year, but I figure I’ll at least give it a try and see if it’s right for me. I was thinking about recording videos for my YouTube channel and then also recording the audio on a microphone at the same time and turning that into a podcast as a start. We’ll see how it goes!
5. Read 75 books
Reading a certain number of books each year has been one of my yearly ambitions for a long time now, but I decided to lower my goal from last year. For 2019, I decided that I wanted to read 100 books, and I ended up reading 140. While I really do love reading that much, I decided to make my word of 2020 be “release” so I’m releasing the expectation that I’ll read even more books this year. Reading more doesn’t mean that you actually absorb and remember everything, so I’m trying to be more intentional with my time and ambitions this year. So for 2020, I decided to try to read 75 books. I’ve read six so far, and I’ve started a bunch of others, so we’ll see if I continue to go overboard on my goal or start to take it easy a bit.
6. Grow, curate and focus on my Spotify playlists
This is something I’ve wanted to do for a really long time. Music has always been hugely important to me and my life, so it’s just a natural extension for me to make and share my own playlists more. This is slightly scary, as there’s always the fear that other people will think my taste in music sucks or whatever, but whatevs, man. I’m really going to focus on music this year and see what comes of it. Check out my Spotify profile if you want to keep up with me!
7. Make a resources page for this blog with my favorite people, services and products
I think this has been one of my ambitions over the past few years but I keep thinking of reasons not to do it yet or something. I keep wanting to do this, but then I keep holding myself back for some reason. I’m not sure why, so I’m going to dive more into that this year! I love resource pages on other people’s blogs and websites, and I want to compile a list of my favorite resources, products, people, businesses, podcasts, whatever so other people can maybe find something or someone new to love on the internet.
8. Go live on Instagram and/or Facebook at least once a week
I’ve gone live on both Instagram and Facebook a few times, but I really want to make this one of my consistent ambitions for 2020 because I know there’s a lot of value in it. Seeing myself in video form can be nerve-wracking because my ego wants to step in and try to protect me from putting myself out there, but I always end up having fun when I do live videos, whether it’s a makeup tutorial or free card readings or anything in between. I want to be more visible this year, so I’m committing to this!
9. Start writing my book/memoir
Ah yes, the eternal struggle of wanting to write a book. I used to think I wasn’t worthy of having a book or memoir written about my life, but fuck that. This blog has basically turned into a memoir about my life, and I know I have so many stories left in me so I’m not giving up yet. I’m not exactly sure what the book will look like, but I keep feeling the pull to write it so it’s one of my ambitions for 2020. Let’s do this!
10. Throw an epic 30th birthday party
That’s right, bitches! I’m turning 30 this summer. Time really does fly, eh? I had the idea to do a joint birthday party with my husband since both of our birthdays are in June, and I want it to be a 90s/2000s theme (which surprises probably absolutely no one who knows me). I don’t know the details yet besides that, but I’m super pumped about it so we’ll see what ends up happening!
11. Be a speaker at at least one event
This is one of my most surprising ambitions for 2020 because I used to shy away from any type of speaking in public, even if it was at a meeting at work. But I feel like I’ve worked really hard on finding my voice and nurturing it, and I want to really make that a priority for me this year. I don’t know where I want to speak or when or any of the details, but I want to speak at at least once event in 2020. Boom!
12. Dye my hair a fun, bright color
I used to have pink streaks in my hair back in high school and college, and I still miss it so much. I’ve wanted to have fun, bright colored hair (specifically pink, shocking I know) for years now, but it never felt right for the different places I was working at. Now I’m diving more into entrepreneurship, so there are fewer rules around hair color since I’m making the rules now haha. I’m a brunette now, so it may be more challenging to do this than when I had blonde hair, but I know it’ll all work out somehow.
13. Find/make a dedicated office space for my business
Right now I’m mainly working out of my husband’s and my shared office at home, which is totally fine, but I see myself wanting more dedicated space in the future for in-person readings and other work in general. Working from home has been really interesting and different than I thought it would be, and that’s not bad, it’s just an observation. I don’t necessarily see myself working out of a different building all of the time, but it’d be nice a few days a week or something. We’ll see!
14. Start a new business venture and/or expand my services
I always want to be learning and growing and changing and challenging myself, so that’s how this goal popped into my head. I don’t know if I want to start a new business or add something else to my current offerings, but I see something changing in this realm in 2020. I’m going to leave it open and see what happens!
15. Be part of the United Way’s 35 Under 35 or other leadership program
I almost applied for that program in 2019, but my life was in too much upheaval at the time to make it worth it. I’m definitely going to apply for that and/or a different leadership program in 2020. Growing my leadership skills has been one of my unofficial ambitions over the last few years, but I feel like I’m finally ready to make it a bigger priority this year.
16. Own more than 1,000 books
I know this seems excessive, but frankly I don’t care lol. Most of the books I’ve been buying recently are from thrift stores so they range from 50 cents to maybe $3, if that. I currently have 692 books, so I feel like this is definitely a reasonable goal for this year.
17. Start a Facebook group or a different digital community
I started a Facebook group a year or two ago, but I didn’t have a clear vision for it so it kind of crumbled and fell apart and I didn’t end up posting in it for months, and then I archived it. At first I viewed that as a failure, but now I know I just wasn’t really ready for that type of space. Now I am, and I’m not sure if I’ll make another Facebook group or cultivate a digital community in a different way, but I feel like I want to meet and connect with more people online in my own way so we’ll see what happens with this!
18. Completely revamp my business website
I know this is one of my more bold ambitions, but that’s exactly why I love it. I’ve been making some tweaks here and there to my site, and I’m sure that’ll continue in the future, but I also see myself doing a full re-haul and starting from scratch and making something so different and bold and great. I don’t have any specific ideas, but I wanted to put this out there!
19. Hire someone to work with me, most likely an accountant or bookkeeper
I’ve worked with some friends and they’ve shared what they’re doing for their businesses and what has worked for them, and I’ve been super grateful for their help and assistance! But I think I’m getting to the point where I need to find an accountant or bookkeeper to work with me and help make sure I’m preparing for taxes and other financial things correctly. If you have a recommendation for someone in Fargo-Moorhead who you think is great, I’m all ears!
20. Continue to share my personal and professional highs and lows on social media and this blog
I hope this will be one of my ambitions from now until the end of time, basically. There’s so much power in showing our own honesty and vulnerability, even though (and especially because) it can be so scary. But it can also be really freeing, and that’s exactly why I keep doing it. Some days are super freaking awesome, and other days can be really depressing, and I want to share all of it because that’s my real life. I don’t want to paint a strictly rosy picture, and I don’t want to say life is only full of struggles. It’s full of both, and hopefully my content now already shows that, but I want to make sure to keep prioritizing this in the future as well.
21. Buy an espresso machine
This is one of my more fun ambitions, but it’s still valid! I want to get a little one-cup Keurig (Target has an exclusive color called Oasis and I LOVE it)
