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At the beginning of 2020, I made a commitment to be more organized and thorough with my website. Since I was not working on any consultant projects, it was time to go all in on this site. I needed structure, ideas, and a clear path to success. So, are your vision board goals on schedule so far through mid-year? In order for me to really grasp this, I had to look back at my original video published January 10th, regarding National Vision Board Day. Take a look (its just north of 4 minutes long)…
I like to be creative, or at least by my definition, when trying to organize my thoughts, goals, aspirations, etc. Without creativity, I get bored! With that being said, I sectioned my thoughts and goals. Here is how I did through 6 months.
Coloring Expressions
Coloring is a form of stress relief for me. My goal was to make sure I publish a meaningful, colorful, art piece every single month on all of my social media accounts. In addition, my site has its own page that has all of my coloring expressions with a brief thought attached! I have various coloring books…one for HR professionals, funny, and sarcastic ones. During this crazy pandemic, I have also dabbled in a digital coloring app that was pre-loaded on my phone. In addition, my nephews have done some coloring pics while staying at home. I am proud to say, I have posted a new picture every month so far in 2020! This part of my vision board is complete! ✅
Tuesday Tells & Tattles – Meaningful Quotes
In 2019, I had a thought to share, via social media, meaningful quotes. My idea was to eventually have a popular hashtag that went viral #tuesdaytellsandtattles. While it hasn’t quite made it anywhere close to viral status, I still make sure I share a quote each and every Tuesday on social media. Some are human resources related, others are sarcastic, witty, funny, and some seriously life-changing! Every several months, I actually recap the quotes in a blog post with additional verbiage. While this is not on my vision board goal list, it does allow an easy article to post when my mind is lacking creativity. I have been able to get these done and scheduled each month in advance! YEAH! ✅
Tuesday Tells & Tattles
Quotes #1-6 Quotes #7-12 Quotes #13-18
Learning & Education
Podcasts
This one, I tell you…is a difficult one. I can learn so much more about so many things specifically when it comes to the monetization of my website. However, towards the end of 2019, I had my mind set on creating a podcast. After several webinars and dabbling in recording content, I still needed to buckle down and get it started. In order to do so, I needed to continue with research and what it takes to create, schedule, maintain, etc. As you will see later in my year-end goals, my thoughts are to create a podcast by that time.
What I Have Done So Far
This is what I have done so far that makes me feel I am slowly on my way, but still need to invest a lot more time, energy and most importantly FOCUS!
- Recorded my introduction and journey to the podcast
- Created a title and tagline that has been recorded several times (me and with my nephews both separate and together) to create a couple of different intros that can be used
- Settled and purchased podcast music to be used as an intro and ending
- To be added to my inaugural podcast episode, an interview with friends that asks “What do you think of human resources?”
- During this pandemic, I started a voicecast with my nephews expressing “Social Distancing From A Kids Perspective” While not officially a podcast, it does have all of the feels of one and has helped me to cut, trim, and piece together content when there is an unexpected issue. It has also helped me maintain a little bit of a schedule as we have done one weekly for the past 15 weeks!
Perhaps I actually have done a lot with the podcast so far. Whenever I think I am lacking here, it is really because I don’t have a plan for recording. I do have a potential list of guests. However, I need to parse together the initial introduction recording so I can learn from it and create a schedule to stick to. Maybe I should outline these items specifically on my vision board in order to get this off the ground by the end of the year. Despite doing everything by myself, I think I have done a decent job here….thoughts? ✅
More YouTube/Soundcloud
At the beginning of 2020, I had done a couple of YouTube videos that were a supplement to blog posts and/or my Tuesday Tells & Tattle quotes. I started publishing the voicecast with my nephews on Soundcloud. I quickly realized that YouTube was a better option. So I transferred everything already on Soundcloud to YouTube and have been adding ‘videos’ of the voicecast ever since. While they are not live video discussions, they still take time to create and publish there. One thing I need to do more of are videos that relate to my social media and blog post content. I have lacked in that respect. However, I have done more YouTube content so that is a vision board win isn’t it? ✅
Scheduling Tools
There are so many options out there. I have learned about productivity tools when it comes to saving time. In addition, I learned how to use the free version of tailwind in order to schedule pins in advance. Tailwind also has an Instagram bio feature that shares direct links to my website. However, there are a couple of free online courses I signed up for and never attended. There are also some free tools that I haven’t researched yet – they are on a list, but creating content has been my primary focus. I realize this is something that is extremely helpful, but I have ignored this goal. Epic vision board fail! 👎
Idea Generation and Blog Posts
There should always be an idea generation area of your vision board especially if you write for a living. I write down every idea in my planner but often times it is not all in one place. When I started this vision board, I went through all of my loose papers as well as my 2019 planner to capture all of the ideas written like everywhere! When I started this board, I put them into the same website categories that are featured on my website so if I needed to review, they were organized. Secondly, I created an idea generation section with mild thoughts, words, etc. to look back on when my mind isn’t working. Sounds like a great plan right?
While I love these idea generation areas, I honestly still add ideas to my planner and not to the vision board. Perhaps I should add them now! While I have added some thoughts to the board and created content from some (those with stars), I haven’t fully utilized the ideas or continued to add to the idea generation section. Work is needed in this regard. 🤷♀️
Overall End of Year Vision Board Goals – On Schedule?
So, the year-end goals are why all other sections need to be consistent. As mentioned earlier, I would like to start a podcast to supplement my website. In addition, I do think my content would be raw and funny and well, its fun to have interviews and talk about lots of things. You can read or listen to my Podcast Vibes – content I created earlier in the year as to why I want to do a podcast and asking for advice and ideas. My soon-to-be ‘copyrighted’ tagline: Putting the human back in human resources: refreshing for some and cringe-worthy for others. I have a lot of work to do, but I cannot say I am super behind in this. I just need to be diligent in creating a schedule and start producing content. Hopefully I will get there! I would say this is on schedule!
Consistent Social Media Sharing & Content Generation
Being consistent with social media is very important for gaining followers and subscribers. Each and every single week, I have been successful in sharing and producing content. As a result, from January through the end of June, I have increased in all areas. For sure I am on schedule with this! While it may not be as much as others, I realize my niche is different and has a smaller audience. Here is how my social media has increased over the past 6 months as referenced by ‘+’:
Facebook: + 203 likes / + 229 followers
Pinterest: + 129.1k monthly views / + 147 follows
Instagram: + 251 followers
Twitter – + 33 followers (I am not a twitter fan. In addition, the time it takes to monitor and keep up on it is difficult for me. So, while I have gained overall, I have actually lost followers recently because I have been virtually inactive.)
Making $$ With Affiliate Marketing
While the first 3 months of the year looked very promising as I was getting paid from new affiliates, it quickly fizzled with the pandemic. That is what I am attributing it to because I felt on a slight roll with a particular company and made some headway with Amazon Affiliates as well. I guess we all hit potholes at some point. This hole is very large and deep. Hopefully it will be patched very soon!
Monthly Newsletter
One of my vision board goals was to remain consistent with a monthly newsletter. I have done this by doing an end-of-month recap newsletter of sorts – what you missed! As I write this post on July 1st, I actually have not done the end-of-June newsletter yet. This is on my agenda today and while it will be a day late since I like to do it literally the last week of the month, it will get done and is only a minor issue! Well, let’s just hope I get it done! Let’s say somewhat on schedule!
There You Have It!
This article was really about re-setting my expectations for the rest of 2020. Selfish, I know, but by really going through my goals, commitments, wins and losses, what is left, and what I’ve learned, it has given me renewed hope, positive reinforcement and created an energy to get everything done! My vision board has been a guiding force in 2020. I hope that you share the same hopes, dreams, and accomplishments with your 2020 aspirations. So, how am I doing six months in? I think things are moving along in the right direction – for sure. How about you? Are your goals on schedule so far?
all the best….judean
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14 Comments
Most interesting post !!
I honestly have been all over the place with lockdown and this blog post is finally getting me inspired. Love seeing everything contextualized eith your own goals too!
Thank you! If I can help one person, it helps me too!
I recently started a blog and it is great to rad about other people’s goals to learn from them, as well as find inspiration. Podcasts are hard, you are brave to tackle them! Good luck achieving all of your goals by the end of the year!
My goals are going according to plan but possibly not as quickly as I’d like! I’m going in the right direction though!
The right direction is still the right direction 🙂
This was very inspirational for me! I’m in the early stages of blogging and sometimes feel like I’m all over the place. I recently started abetting weekly and daily goals and found I’m SO much more productive!
Thanks for sharing. I start each year with a vision board and somehow forget about it, but this is a great reminder to reset.
Your post is interesting. I have used vision boards from time to time (though not since I’ve been traveling). They are a fun way to express yourself. I also love all that colour you’re using. Makes work look fun!
I made a vision board years ago, and I’m happy to say that most of it came true. My planner may look like a disaster, but like you, there’s so much in it. It really seems like you’ve been accomplishing the ideas on your vision board this year, so congratulations!
It looks to me like you have been incredibly productive and that your vision board has been working for you in the way you intended. Mabrouk!
This are great vision boards! I never started one. But it’s only July. There’s no reason for me to start one now!
Resetting at the middle of the year might actually work to your advantage 🙂
Thank you for being so transparent with your goals! I like the concept of idea generation! I will have to try that. Normally, I just wing it, but I really need to come up with a system to brain dump as it pops in my head.