Hello!

June always feels like a really significant month for me – I will forever think of it as my nanny’s birthday month, but in June 2019 I shaved my head for charity and bought my car which were really important moments in my life.

But it’s also the end of the month also marks the half way point of the year, which always feels like the perfect time to review my yearly goals, evaluate my progress and adapt the ones that don’t feel relevant to me anymore.

To read my 2022 Goals in full click here!

To briefly summarise, I plan my goals in two different ways – the first way is in three categories, each with three goals and the second is a more ‘bucket list’ style where they don’t necessarily fit in a category but still 10 things I’d like to accomplish in the year.

First the categories…

Professional: Goals

– Stay in the same job (if that’s what’s right for me)

It feels somewhat baffling that I’ve already been in what feels like my ‘new’ job for coming up to 9 months now, but so far I’ve kept my job and I don’t really have any plans to look for anything new anytime soon, unless something comes up which feels right in which case I won’t ignore that for the sake of a goal.

– Learn how to use AfterEffects

I scrapped this goal as my role in my company has moved away from editing and more into writing and admin and learning this software (which, frankly, is very overwhelming to me) won’t serve my current role or my long term career if I continue in this sort of role.

So I picked a new professional goal which is to research media production related careers and figure out what kind of path I’d like to follow and set out some long term career goals. In reading job descriptions at other companies as part of my role, I’ve realised that I don’t suit marketing – I’m not up to date on the ‘hottest trends’ and realistically I have no interest in it; I’m not a Love Island, celebrity gossip, viral tiktok dance sort of girl – I’m a need-to-know-the-latest-about-Marvel, 2000s music listening, booktok girl and that’s a-okay.

– Update my portfolio instagram account once a week

This one has been going really well! I’ve only missed a couple and that’s only because I’ve not done anything worth sharing that week – some week’s we’re trying new things with green screens, I’m writing scripts and maybe even presenting, some week’s it’s more of the same and that’s totally normal. I’m really pleased with my consistency on this one.

Personal Goals:

– Duolingo

I started the French course on Duolingo in January and I think in total I’ve only missed four or five days! Now that I’m nearly six months in, I’m really starting to see my progress – especially when my fiancé went to work in France for a few days and I surprised myself with how much of the language I could communicate when I was taking the mick out of him for not speaking French.

– Cosplay

This is another goal that I have scrapped as I just don’t have the time to dedicate to learning how to make my own cosplays at the moment and the time I do have I have other projects that are more pressing (i.e. planning my wedding).

Initially I adapted this goal into exploring making content on tiktok, whether it’s in the cosplay/fandom sphere or just silly dances and sounds, but honestly turning that into a goal has made it way less fun and I don’t want it to feel like a chore. I’ll figure out something along these lines that I want to work on, but at the moment it’s on hiatus.

– Blog once a week

This is another one that I think I’ve only missed a few and then it’s been because I don’t have an idea and I don’t have the time or energy to force myself into writing something I don’t think is any good and saving myself the stress of making something happen for the sake of being able to tick it in my bullet journal is so freeing. I’m constantly learning how to be more flexible with myself and not deeming myself a failure if I miss one tiny thing, but it’s a work in progress and I honestly feel like there is progress!

I need to figure out what kind of content I want to write, because at the moment it’s just monthly goals and monthly reading wrap ups but I’m sure inspiration will come – it always does in the end!

Home Goals:

– The Wedding!

Planning everything into monthly goals last year has been an absolutely life saver honestly, though I always feel like I’m behind or forgetting something! It’s going well though – my fiancé has his suit, my dress has been ordered, we’re in the process of sorting my bridesmaids dresses and the groomsmen’s suits. I have a hair consultation, silk flowers on order, still need to find a make-up artist etc and the saving is intense but it’s all coming together and feeling much more real now!

– Weekly saving challenge

Now this one I definitely haven’t missed a week! The principle of this challenge is putting money into savings every week going up by £1 – as I’m writing this I’m at the end of week 24 and so far, I’ve been on top of my budgeting to make sure I have enough money (bar some tax stuff with my income tax code at work, but that’s another issue).

Don’t get me wrong, I’m nervous for getting to the end of the year when it gets to £40-£50 a week, but the whole point of the challenge is to learn as you go and by the end of the year you’re prepared for the bigger numbers.

– A summer holiday in the sun to read

So, we can’t afford to go abroad, absolutely no way with the wedding. But my fiancé and I have booked the last week of June off work and we’re going to go see some local places, hopefully the weather will hold and I’m sure I can bring my book!

We have booked our mini-moon which I’m really excited about – a cottage in Dorset by the sea – and next year we’re planning to go to MCM Comic Con in London and maybe we can think about a week in the Mediterranean but we’ll play it by ear.

And last but not least: 10 Bucket List Goals:

• Read 36 books – 19 and counting babyyyyy
• Year long book buying ban – my partner has bought two books that we will both read and I bought one as a fathers day gift for my dad, but nothing for myself!
• Go to a museum – planned for our summer week off!
• Go to a concert – keeping my eyes peeled
• Go to a new place – our mini-moon is somewhere neither of us have been before!
• Seasonal wardrobe updates – Spring and Summer have been a success so far and this is such an easy way to feel excited about clothes you already own four times a year. It’s made me so much more mindful when I’m shopping as well to consider what will go with what I already have and what I will actually wear.
• Writing challenges – January and April were a total flop, but I’ve rejigged my plan for the latter half of the year so rather than July and September, I’m going to try August (no dance, more time in evenings) and October (September I have plans every weekend, it’ll be too much) going into NaNoWriMo in November and I’m feeling pretty positive that this will go well! I’ve been feeling the urge to write recently so I’m going to try and map out some plot points and characters that I can really get to know when the writing challenges come round.
• Monthly date nights – so far only missed one! I’m honestly so happy in my relationship it’s actually disgusting.
• Monthly craft projects – haven’t even finished one, but I think this is similar to the tiktoks in that it’s not fun when it feels like a chore, so working on thinking of a new approach for crafts!
• 1 Second Everyday video 2022 – filmed one second every day of the year so far!

And that’s it!

I feel so much more confident about goal setting and making sure I’m working towards things that actually serve me and not things I think I should be doing.

Things feel really good at the moment. It might be because it’s currently 29 degrees on a Friday which I now don’t work (4 day week club!), I stayed in bed till half 11 because I could, I’ve done some house chores at my own pace and I’m sat writing this in the garden shade with lofi hip hop radio on, but even if tomorrow is different, today is nice and I’m really working on focusing on the present, rather than worrying about the future.

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx