Creating a Wealthy Life: 2019 Goals

They’re exactly what I’ve called them: goals I desire to achieve in the year 2019, with a deadline of December 31st or before. I split my goals into different areas of my life, and I’m sharing them on the internet because nothing drives progress faster than accountability. I’ve already shared the top four with my friends and family on Facebook, with encouraging results. 

Some of my goals might be similar or exactly what you want to do this coming year.

If that’s true, how would you feel about becoming accountability buddies? Email me at colleen@inspiredforward.com if that’s something you want to do.

Above all else, my top-level goal is to review all these goals daily, to keep them fresh in my mind and focused on what I want to achieve.

Health and Fitness

My primary goal is to either lose 30 to 35 pounds OR whatever amount it takes to reach the ideal weight for my frame. I’ve never been at a healthy weight as an adult, so I honestly don’t know what this will look like. 

Related to this, I’m intending to build a more active lifestyle. I will start indoor rock climbing again, try out a jujitsu class, complete a C25K program in April and May (and then run a race with my father-in-law), and alternate hiking and biking on the weekends in summer.

I hope that when I combine my low-carb diet, intermittent fasting, and the activity and exercise, the last stubborn pounds will melt away.

Career and Business

This site is now also home to my side business. My goal for 2019 is to earn at least $12,000 from a combination of VA work (as of 2020 I no longer offer virtual assistant work), writing, and affiliate income. If it doesn’t come from my corporate employer or a cash-back app, it counts.

Attached to that goal is the desire to grow my blogging audience. My goals here are to submit guest posts at least once a month to other bloggers in my niche and submit to Medium publications 3-4 times a week. Doing so will get my work and name in front of a larger audience.

This year at my full-time job I managed our summer intern and subsequently discovered that I do not want to be a manager. Thus, one of my goals for 2019 at my workplace is to establish what would be a “Subject Matter Expert” career path that will keep me relevant and useful but away from the responsibility of managing others.

Finances

I use YNAB (You Need a Budget) to track our family finances. I like the idea of doing what they call a “Fresh Start” which is exactly what it sounds like: a clean slate, with all your accounts zeroed out (allowing you to bring each starting balance over fresh) and all the budget categories empty. It leaves scheduled transactions intact but erases any existing credit card balances, so be careful to do this only when all your credit cards are paid off—or just make a note of the transactions that you still need to address.

When done together it can shine a lot of light and clarity on our financial priorities.

My biggest goal for 2019 is to finish fully funding our emergency fund. Right now it can cover three months, but ideally, it will cover six months of expenses.

Personal Growth & Development

My 2018 book total reached 53 books, but I read 12 of those during September’s 30-day challenge to read 10 or more in 30 days. In 2019 I want to read a book a week for a total of 52 books. At least one-quarter of them I want to be novels. Most of the books I read in 2018 were nonfiction, self-help, personal growth and development, or business books.

And there’s nothing wrong with that!

But I noticed during September that I really enjoyed reading the novel on the list (Do You Realize, by Kevin Kuhn), and there are a few authors whose series I’m following and the next books are coming out in 2019.

I also want to start and finish at least four online courses. I have a plethora from which to choose, thanks to the Work-at-Home School (access the free Work Your Way Summit here!), and I want to give myself enough time with each course to absorb all it offers and then implement what I’ve learned into my daily life, my business, or my day job. 

Creativity

I wrote 52,000 words during NaNoWriMo 2018 and then upped my word-count goal to 75,000 before I will consider my book beefy enough to begin self-editing. 

My goal for 2019 is to get that book cleaned up, professionally edited and proofread, a cover designed, and then launched on Amazon all before NaNoWriMo 2019 begins on November 1st which is when I’ll start writing book two.

I’m also working on a project with my grandmother, who will be 93 in February. I don’t think it will be quite podcast-level quality or structure, but I will be interviewing her about her life and want to piece all the bits together into either an interview-style biography/memoir or break it up into podcast episodes. 

Relationships and Community

Despite living relatively close to where I grew up, and where many of my friends either live or used to live, I don’t see my friends as much as I’d like to. 

Of course, I see my favorite cousin every month for a dinner out, and that has become a highlight of my month every month. 

But in 2019, I want to be more proactive and intentional about spending time with my friends and family. For example, after every doctor appointment I have in Tacoma, I’d meet my mom afterward for coffee and chitchat. 

It’s also been—well, 2019 will be ten years—since I’ve visited my godparents in Wyoming, so that’s a trip we’re planning!

As always, I’ll be volunteering at my diabetes day camp in the summer, but, on top of that, I want to support one of their fundraisers that I usually don’t attend.

Spirituality

I want to spend 2019 going through the Bible with a new study Bible and a study plan. When I can, I also want to attend the post-church service Bible study sessions.

I’ll also continue hand-copying Scripture in 5-verse increments. I copied a chapter a day during October (the Book of Acts) and then moved on to Romans.

Fun and Recreation

With a low-carb diet, variety is key to stay interested. There have been multiple times when I have the same thing for a few months and then BAM! I can’t stand another bite. For the last year, I’ve tried to introduce some variety if only just by alternating staple recipes every other week.

In 2019, I want to try 12 new low-carb recipes that I can add to my list of staples. I can thank my father-in-law for the last new one I added—loaded cauliflower mash! 

I’d also like to get more involved in my company’s Halloween party and costume contest, so while this one is not as important as the rest of my goals, I still think it’d be pretty cool to develop a Femme Loki costume that can also be repurposed for comic con cosplay.

The basic idea here is to build self-care and restoration into my daily life so I don’t get burned out.

Well, This Seems Like a Lot of 2019 Goals

Yeah, it does.

It seems like a big pile of things to say and never follow through with. 

But the key is scheduling, discipline, commitment, and focus. 

Willpower and motivation have no place here because they are depletable and fleeting. I have a self-admitted problem with phone distractions and have noticed that I always do well when I have someone checking in on my progress.

This post is a form of accountability. 

Telling my friends and family is a form of accountability.

If you want to be my buddy for some of these, that’s also a form of accountability! 

I truly believe I can achieve all these things, if not more, by the end of 2019. 

I’m in for a helluva year.

Are you with me?