2018: A New Resolution {Personal & Professional}

I’m all about a new years resolution.  I write a blog post about it every year.  I believe that New Years’ Resolutions should be done a certain way, though.  While I’m a fan of setting concrete goals for yourself for business and life – what I like about a resolution is I make mine habit forming.  I like my resolution to be something that I can quickly remind myself of.  For example, last year, my resolution was to simplify.  The year before, it was to be more organized.  Looking back, it’s a little funny, because I feel like I did a little bit of the opposite.

Last year, I implemented 17Hats for my business to keep me organized and simplify, with the fantastic help of Crystal Salazar from Cherry Blossom Planning Factory.  It quite literally changed how I do work.  I was able to create workflows for all the styled shoots that I do, follow-up procedures for clients, automated invoicing – things that I didn’t know were taking a ton of my time, that ultimately afforded me more time.  Whether that meant taking on more clients, time with friends and family – I had time!

This year, my resolution is simple:

Be present.

I need to learn to be more present.  Whether that means putting my phone down when I’m with family and friends, making sure that when we’re home to eat dinner together, we’re eating together as a family, or just recognizing that whoever I’m spending time with is the most important person in that moment, I need to be more present.  I need to put my phone down.  Being a social media manager, that’s HARD.  I get all the notifications all day.  I have friends who are always so surprised at how often my phone buzzes.  That’s the beauty of doing what I do: I get to save other people from that burden.

Here’s what I’m going to do this year: I’m going to allocate time during the day to checking those messages.  I’m going to make sure that when I’m with friends or when I’m eating dinner with my family, that work doesn’t take precedent.  I’m going to start putting my kids to bed again at night instead of finishing up the last bit of emails.  My workflow was created and put into place so that I could do these things – now I need to actually do them.

We’ve started to simplify our lives – started to get rid of things, be less of a pack-rat.  Now we’re working on making the most of the things we have, the time we have, and making sure our kids feel that awesomeness too.

Do you want to be more present?  Do you feel like you don’t have time to be?  That’s what Misty Saves the Day is all about.  Check us out, and use that handy dandy contact form for more info.