My Personal Goals Progress Update for August 2017

 

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Here’s my personal goals progress update for August 2017! You can check out my detailed list of 2017 Goals here. Writing publicly about my progress is one of the most effective methods of accountability I’ve found. Consequently, I’m aiming to produce a monthly update right through 2017.

Writing up my personal goals progress report is an important part of keeping me on track and accountable. It’s also a really useful method to review what is and isn’t working. Sometimes that will mean that some goals will change or be removed altogether. But the great thing is that these are my goals, so I can change them as often as I like! If you choose to write up or already have some personal goals then doing a regular review and write up is a great way to stay on track!

So here’s my August update… 🙂

Goals In Progress

Fun and Travel

We didn’t take any trips in August and after spending half of the previous month decorating, I must admit that I’ve missed my annual getaway!  Note…we’ve kind of make up for it in September.  More next month 😉 !

We have already enjoyed trips to Lyme Park & Lincoln, Bristol, The Eden Project and most recently, Snowdonia.

We’re still planning short breaks to London and Chartwell House & Tunbridge Wells later this year.

Health

Weight Loss and Fitness

Weight loss has continued to move in the right direction during August, although things have slowed up somewhat.  August was the last month that I was subscribed to my formal eating plan, so I’m beginning to incorporate ‘normal’ food back into my meals.

However, as I said, the direction has continued to be positive and I’ve lost a total of 2 1/4 pounds in August.  That brings my cumulative weight loss since starting to 13 pounds…just a shade under 1 stone!  I’m really pleased with this and can feel the difference in my clothes and just how I feel in general.

September will be more of a challenge as I still want to lose more weight but need to do this ‘on my own’, whilst putting the principles of the formal diet plan into action.  This will include smaller portions and far less carbs than I was previously eating.

Fingers crossed!

Achieve Your Best Life

Increase # of blogs published to six/month

August wasn’t quite so prolific as July with (just) four blogs posted.  Here are the posts:

1 – My Personal Goals Progress Update for July 2017
2 – How To Start A Bullet Journal <——Most popular post of the month!
3 – How To Build Self Discipline
4 – Inspirational Quotes to Ponder
5 – 🙁
6 – 🙁

You can also access the 2017 Archive by month here for posts on motivation, success, wellbeing, finance, progress updates and more:
1 – January 2017 Archive
2 – February 2017 Archive
3 – March 2017 Archive
4 – April 2017 Archive
5 – May 2017 Archive
6 – June 2017 Archive
7 – July 2017 Archive
8 – August 2017

Publish at least 1 vlog/month

No further update on the vlog posts, other than to say that I’ve been surprised by the number of people who have commented on my July Facebook Live post!  It’s a good feeling when people take the time to compliment you on your work, particularly when it was so scary to do!  Thank you 🙂 !

Here’s the Facebook link to the Live broadcast from July.

Increase numbers of subscribers to the AYBL

August has been quiet in lots of ways on the blog, and this is also true for subscriber numbers.  I’ve seen a few fellow bloggers comment on their own posts that August is traditionally a slow month, and I guess that’s a reflection of it being the holiday season.  Hopefully things will pick up in September when life gets back to its usual routine.

If you have not yet signed up to my list you can do it here 🙂 :

Free Downloadable Checklist

I’m excited to share my personal happy list with you today! Just pick 1 – 3 things from the list everyday to feel happier. Don’t forget to vary the activities to suit your personal preferences, or, if you’re feeling daring, step outside your comfort zone and just do everything on the list!

<<<click the image<<< So to make yourself happy everyday, download my free “25 Things To Do That Will Make You Happy Everyday!” checklist. There’s sure to be something here that you can put into action today. It’s an easy A4 pdf that you can print off and pin to your wall or fridge.

Use it as a quick boost when you need to turn the tide on a bad mood! And don’t forget to come back and let us know how you’re doing!

which will also give you free access to all my subscriber-only content!

Increase Social Media Presence

I’m continuing to work hard on my social media presence, although I’ve probably done more work on Pinterest this month than the other platforms, which shows in the results below. I’m still finding Facebook a difficult nut to crack unfortunately.  However, I’ve finally broken through the four-figures on Pinterest!  Woo hoo 🙂 !!

Here are my summary results for the last quarter and my January starting point for comparison:

 

Pinterest continues to grow at an amazing rate, and I also get a good number of visitors from Pinterest on my website.  Facebook remains fairly static and Twitter followers are increasing slowly.

You can catch up with me on Like me on Facebook and/or Follow me on Twitter. If you’re a Pinterest-er, you can follow me on Pinterest. I’d be very happy to see you there!

Overhaul My Website

I’m continuing to work in the background of my website to create new images, update some of the older content and re-categorising the content.  This is painstaking work but I believe it will improve the look and feel of my website for my users, making it more ‘user-friendly’.  This is an ongoing task right now.

Personal Growth

Reading

My goal here is to read for about 3 ½ hours per week and I use this as a loose guide to make sure I am at least getting some reading done each week.

I’m currently reading (listening actually, via Audible) to Money: Know More, Make More, Give More. by Rob Moore.  It’s a long book at nearly 16 1/2 hours reading time, but is full of useful information.  Rob Moore challenges your thinking about money in an honest and transparent way.

Commit to Weekly and Monthly Personal Goals Progress Reviews

As reported last month, I’ve now moved into my new office space, although there’s still quite a bit of work to do to have the room exactly how I’d like it, which includes getting my new whiteboard put up on the wall.  But, having this new and bigger space feels much more conducive to working on the website and goals in general.  It’s also meant that I’ve been able to lay things out based on ‘project’ so that I can work more fluidly without having to put everything away in order to work on something else.

As far as planning ahead goes, it’s given me space to dedicate full days to certain projects with a list of tasks written up and pinned to the wall.  I like these visual cues as it helps to keep me focused and plots progress as each task is ticked as complete.

This monthly update is the ‘formal’ review of all my goals for the month.

Must Haves for a Home Office!

Contribution

To Participate in a Fitness-Related Charity Event

This goal is seriously looking like it’s going to be moved to 2018.  I’ve identified a charity walk that I’m interested in doing, but it won’t be until next year.  It looks like details may be released around October, so I’ll post more once I have information to share.

Relationships

Maintain and Improve Contact with Family and Friends

• Family visits have gone to plan.
• Catch-ups in August… Evenings out (1); Lunchtime treats (1); Coffee catch-ups (2). It’s been a good month for catching up with friends 🙂 .

Remember and Celebrate Birthdays and Anniversaries

Remembering birthdays and anniversaries is my Achilles heel, hence the reason I’ve included it in my list of goals as an area where I need to dedicate some focus.

Just one birthday for August, remembered 🙂 .

Finances

Re-instate our net worth position (update the spreadsheet) and work to increase our net worth by at least 10%

Nothing new to report this month. I may remove this goal from my list, but I’m not quite ready to let it go yet!

Completed/Automated Goals

Contribution

To Continue to Support the Two Charities I Currently Contribute To

Complete (Automated). I have a regular monthly payment set up to each Charity, so this will be a straight forward goal for 2017!

Personal Growth

Re-Introduce Meditation as part of my Daily Routine

Complete.  Thanks to The Miracle Morning, I’ve finally re-introduced a regular meditation practice into my daily routine. I’m already feeling the benefits of this practice and am able to stay focused for longer periods of time!

Attend (virtually or in person) at least 1 course in support of my goals

Complete.  I’m continuing to follow an online course to learn and better understand SEO (search engine optimisation) and am slowly revisiting and updating some of my older posts.

I am also working to up my knowledge of Pinterest, using an eBook I’ve purchased, Pinteresting Strategies.

So there you have my personal goals progress update for July. It’s been a busy month where I’ve been mostly focused on progress on AYBL. I’m also happy that my weight loss is continuing to moving in the right direction!

So over to you. How has your month been? Have you been busy working on your personal goals? Are you making progress on your goals? Do you need to make a few tweaks? Share your thoughts in the comments!