When I sat down and set my goals for 2021, I also booked slot’s in my diary to ensure I reviewed each goal quarterly.

Whilst I’m pretty good at setting goals, I’m not very good at reviewing them. I have a habit of rocking up at the end of December and writing a year-end review of my goals, but with no review points in between. I wasn’t giving myself enough accountability. I was setting goals but not showing them or myself enough commitment.

So, to hold myself more accountable, I’ve spent some time reviewing where I am with each of my goals so far, and I’ve written a short update on where I am with each of them:

To Breakeven

At the end of 2020, I found myself without a job. For the first time in my adult life, I found myself jobless. I decided it was time to take a leap of faith and jump into the world of self-employment. 

I had no savings. All I had behind me financially was the redundancy money I received when I left my last company. I had only been there for five years, so I didn’t come away with a great financial package, but it was enough to help me get my business up and running. 

As I’m fast approaching the end of my third month of being self-employed, although I’m yet to breakeven, the income I am making is increasing month on month as I take on more and more clients. Financially I still have to be careful. I’m still having to dip into my redundancy fund every month, and that is something I can’t afford to keep doing.

Although I’m not panicking too much yet, I am working on ways to close the gap.

I’m now officially a sole trader after having registered as a self-employed Content & Copywriter this month. I’ll also be relaunching TheMindfulGingernut.com over the next few weeks which I’m excited about.

Every day I learn something new, and I have absolutely no regrets so far in leaping from Sports Governance to becoming a self-employed freelancer. 

To Buy Fresh Flowers Once A Month

I love my boyfriend to the moon and back, but he’s not very spontaneous when it comes to buying flowers. Having moved from a flat with outdoor space to a flat with no balcony or terrace, I felt it was more important than ever to bring the outside in. Instead of cursing my boyfriend, I decided to treat myself to a bunch every month.

So far so good with this one! Although I have to confess that my boyfriend pulled it out the bag in February and brought me a gorgeous bunch of flowers for Valentines Day. 

Whilst I’m being tight financially whilst my business is being set up, I’m loving the feeling I get from buying flowers for myself, taking the time to arrange them nicely in my new vase, and placing them somewhere eye-catching in my flat.

To Continue to Improve My Engagement on WordPress and Instagram

Whilst both my Instagram page and my blog on WordPress continue to grow organically, I have to admit, I’ve failed miserably on improving my engagement across both channels since the turn of the year. Unfortunately, this is the downside to a) running your own business and b) spending more time improving clients engagement than my own. 

I desperately miss catching up on fellow writers blog posts and engaging with people across this fantastic platform. I need to look hard at where I can create more time in my day, or even my week, so that I can put more time and energy into catching up with all things WordPress.

For now, I’m happy for my Instagram account to be growing organically. I will need to make a decision shortly as to whether I should create a separate account for my business, but for now, I’m happy to park this one, whilst I continue to mull it over.

To Travel Outside The UK

Whilst here in England we now have a clear road map out of lockdown as long as infection rates continue to decrease and vaccination rates continue to increase, the chances of being able to travel outside of the UK are looking quite slim right now.

Parts of Europe are seeing another rise in cases, and many areas are starting to go into a third lockdown. Therefore, it looks unlikely that Brits will be able to travel to Europe this summer. However, if we manage to get ourselves out of lockdown, hopefully, we will still be able to travel within the UK and who knows, maybe we’ll just need to look a bit further afield than Europe.

Watch this space!

To Improve My Spiritual Growth

This is a huge one for me. For those of you who have followed me for a while, you will know that over the last few years I’ve been on a spiritual journey. I’ve been improving and connecting more with my health and wellbeing, as well as understanding the spiritual growth I have undertaken.

Although I have plenty more work to do in this area, one of the things which has helped me to re-connect to my spiritual growth this year, is yoga.

I used to go to yoga classes a long time ago but had to stop going due to a muscle injury. However, as we moved into 2021, my body was crying out for something different. I constantly felt like I needed to stretch.

I wouldn’t say it was an epiphany, but I felt as though it was something greater than my body guiding me towards yoga. So in order to invest in my spiritual growth, I purchased a yoga mat, and found some YouTube video’s online (I swear by Yoga with Adrienne) and started practicing yoga.

I began by practising 3 times per week, but I now practice at least 5 times, giving myself Friday and Saturday off. I alternate between longer more intense sessions, with a more relaxing bedtime yoga. I have found that bedtime yoga has helped to improve the quality of sleep I now get.

By falling in love with yoga, and maintaining a regular practice, I feel as though I’m giving my body what it needs. I love that meditation and breathing exercises are built into my daily practice too.

Although I’ve found the last month tough thanks to lockdown, yoga has given me that time out I so badly needed, carving out time for me and my mind on a regular basis.

The fact it has also helped to improve my sleep pattern too is nothing short of a miracle. I went 6 months with troubled sleep, but after a bedtime yoga session, I’m out like a light and sleep much better throughout the night.

In terms of the next steps for me and my spiritual journey, I would like to take the time to read some more around spirituality and to continue to connect with people who are on a similar path. I’m excited to see where this journey takes me to next.

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It’s been incredibly helpful creating time to review my goals this week. I can now head into the next quarter of the year with a clear sense of what I need to improve in order to get closer to achieving my 2021 goals.

How are you getting on with your goals for the year?

I’ll be back next week with a review on the month just gone, which will hopefully include exciting news about my website!

But for now, stay safe and have a great week, 

Becky | The Mindful Gingernut