Friday, January 13, 2017

2017 Goals

I'm a bit late on this but I'm just really in the mood for goal setting right now. I'm feeling super ambitious and determined today, no doubt it'll fade by tomorrow. So, I'll do it while I'm in the mood because I do love to read other peoples goals yet I haven't even done one myself yet. Here we go!

1. Smash Year 11

This year I begin Year 11 which is big and scary and it feels like yesterday that I was freaking out of year 7. It's always scary starting at a new school and going from 400 students to 1000 is going to be weird. It's not going to be like high school which despite not knowing it when I started, is a safe and happy place. Every time I remember I won't have any of the teachers I know and love teaching me I freak out a little because you really don't appreciate them until they're gone. It's a big step towards becoming an independent person. I've also taken on more than the average year 11 so I'm a big nervous that I won't be able to handle it after all. 

2. Grow My Blog
I'd love to grow my blog, obviously. I started about six months ago now and it's doing better than I thought it would but as humans, we're always going to want to better ourselves so it's natural that I want to do better and see how far I can take this. I don't want to put numbers on it because I don't really know how much to expect. It all depends on how much work I can put in I guess. I'm determined to make this blog work. I'm going to focus on graphics and learning to code and branding this year because I think a lot of it does come down to how easy the blog is on the eyes and I think I've finally worked out what I want for this blog. So, I'm excited.

3. Place In Nationals With My Band 
This is honestly one of the harder things because it's not just on me. It's on 20 or 30 people to work together and work hard. It's the first time my band has gone to a national competition. We do really well at the state competitions but we know those bands and we are probably working in lower grades than we should be at the moment but a couple years ago when we first learnt we were going to compete it was only as an experience thing just to participate and stuff, like our first ever competition but we've done a lot since then and now we're actual competitors, in it to win it because we're getting good. I'm really hoping we can pull it off because this could be the first and last national competition I compete in. The last one the bands competed in was 6 years ago and I don't know if 6 years in the future I'll still be with the band. 

4. Get My First Physical ARC
This almost falls in with growing my blog. I'd love to get a physical ARC this year but I think to do that I'm going to have to work so hard on my blog and really prove myself. I've done two E-ARCs that I learnt about from Goodreads. I did Defensive by B. Austin and Outsiders by Tammy Ferebee, I was only just getting into reviewing and blogging too when I did them so they aren't great reviews and I probably didn't give them a huge amount of cover but still, you've got to start somewhere. It might be a bit of a process but if I'm determined to do it, I think I can.

5. Start A Bookstagram
This one I haven't started because I'm crappy at taking pictures and don't know how to get good lighting. I'll learn though, surely. I think this will be good for the blog too, so I'm pretty excited to branch out. Plus, I love Instagram and I spend a lot of time browsing through all sorts of bookstagrams and I'd love to be apart of that. I'm sure it'll give me flashbacks to when I was 12 and I had a 5 Seconds Of Summer fanpage and I thought I was living some sort of double life. It was epic and the people loved me.

6. Don't Be Bothered By People Who Aren't Bothered By Me
In 2016, I spent way too much time obsessing over people who weren't worth my time. It brought a lot of negativity to my life and just wasn't nice and I wasted a lot of my time over it. I'm still a little bothered by them but I'm determined to get over it because I'm not sure that what they were doing was because they weren't bothered by me or because they were too bothered by me. This year I don't want any of that because I have too many awesome things to accomplish to worry about crappy friends.

7. Read A Lot (At Least Two Books A Week Please)
This year, I want to read 100 books. It's a feat I've never accomplished. I figure two books a week and I've done, right? Even that's more than enough. I've been getting as much in as I can in the holidays because I know I won't have as much time as I might've had last year to read. So, I'll get ahead of the game while I can to minimise the stress during the times I can't stress about my reading goal. I've read ten books already in two weeks of 2017 so I'm beautifully ahead of schedule. The productivity it's bursting from my pores.

8. Write A Lot 
I've only just gotten really into writing. But, I can never stick to one thing. I end up abandoning half of my story ideas in the very early stages of writing. I like to think I'll go back to them but I highly doubt it. I've been working on this one story since November though and that's got to be a record for me. I'm really happy with it and by the end of the year I'm hoping to get to the stage where I'm finished with it and can edit it. Or if not that story than another one. I want to at least finish one story.

9. Convince Parents To Get Dog
We haven't had a dog since our old dog passed away in 2012 which is so weird because we all love dogs.  We were going to get one once my old cat was settled in because he hadn't been great with our dog but then the cat passed away about a year after our dog then we got our new lovely, Louis so we've been waiting for him to settle. In April we'll have had him for three year and he has a different nature to our old cat and I think he would be okay if we got a puppy. It would definitely have to be a puppy though. My parents have been talking about it a lot though, it's a lot of talk of breeds. Our old dogs were Boston Terriers but they're almost $5000 now and even though we'd all love another one we'll have to settle on something a bit more in budget. I'd love a Golden Retriever unfortunately, our house is too small for such a big dog. I got massive dog envy at Christmas when both my aunties brought their dogs along. I'd love to end 2017 with a doggy. Although, it'll be a challenge to divide the attention between a puppy and Louis who is about as demanding as a new born baby.

10. Have A Happy And Productive Year!
This is the biggest one. As long as my year is happy and I've achieved something, I'll be a happy camper. I'm so excited for a fresh new year and I'm thrilled by all the possibilities. It's exciting, it's like having a blank canvas and getting to fill it all up with whatever you like although, I think a blank canvas would stress me out. I haven't got one creative or artistic bone in my body. So, this is much better in my opinion than a blank canvas.

Anyway, I wish you all a happy and productive year! I hope you achieve all the things you want to and I hope everyone treats you the way you deserve. Good luck!

2 comments: