This year, I wanted to start being more intentional about reflecting on my life and work. How else will I know if I’m making progress on the goals, dreams and opportunities I have for my life?
I loved doing my annual review of 2011 (here are the questions I used for that), so now I’ve committed to doing a review of each month of the year as well. Here, I present a brief review of the first month of 2012, starting with a word that captures the essence how I spent the month of January: CONNECTION.
I was able to meet my needs for social interaction, community and romance in January. I also learned new lessons about my business and was able to commit to taking care of my mind and body in several ways.
Specifically:
- I spent a LOT of time with my family. I stayed at my mom’s house for an entire week visiting with my grandmother, sister, aunt and cousins. Lots of laughter and eating and cooking and loving happened. Also, movies! We watched Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and The Help.
- I began putting more effort into my love life by prioritizing dating. I revised my online dating profile on OK Cupid, “met” several interesting men and went on about six dates (with two different guys).
- I hosted a winter happy hour for HBW readers in the DC area. We had a blast and it was such a privilege to meet so many positive ladies!
- I was also able to commit to a somewhat-regular self-care routine of cooking, meditating and getting enough sleep.
- I conducted an advertising experiment on the HBW blog for the month of January, placing ads on the site and blogging every day. The result? About $100 in strictly advertising revenue. Not big money, for sure! The unexpected result though, was about 85,000 pageviews of the site last month (a new high, way up from the usual 50,000), 29 sales of the 31 Day Reset Workbook as well as four new clients for personal development and business coaching. So, daily blogging on HBW in January definitely had a return on investment for me, business-wise!
- I also met with two different nonprofit organizations to talk with them about future speaking or training opportunities. As a result of being proactive about requesting the meetings, I now have two new potential speaking clients who are interested in how we might be able to work together in 2012.
Your Turn
What ONE word would you use to describe your experience of January 2012? What do you want to experience in February 2012?
If you choose to answer this question as part of a review on your own blog, please go ahead and post the link in the comments so we can read it! I would love to hear how your year is progressing so far.
If you want to join the February 2012 edition of the 31 Days to Reset Your Life Challenge, you may still do so here.
And, in case you missed them, here are all 17 posts I wrote on the blog last month, in addition to the daily 31 Day Reset posts. Yep, that’s 48 blog posts in one month. I was a writing machine! Thank you, as always, for reading and sharing.
- What to Do When You Forget
- Event Recap: Happy Black Woman Winter Happy Hour in DC
- 10 Reminders to Be More Compassionate
- What You Won’t Find on Pinterest
- 5 Ways to Earn More Money in 2012
- Happy Black Woman Cooks: Lemon-Garlic Spinach
- What Do You Look For in Your Relationships?
- How to Say What You Feel and Get What You Want
- What to Get Rid Of
- How Much Do You Really Need?
- Three Ways to Force Yourself to Pursue Your Goals in 2012
- Start Living Now
- Four Reasons Why You Don’t Need a Sponsor
- When I Worry About Going Broke
- Join Me January 23 for a Happy Black Woman Winter Happy Hour in DC!
- There is No Can’t
- Happy Black Woman Cooks: 20-Minute Black Eyed Pea and Kale Soup
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That’s funny. In one word, my January was CONNECTION as well. Except I give each month a theme/phrase. I called it “Let’s Get Together”. I wanted to meet up with my close friends and old friends throughout the month. I saw so many people! It was great.
I love the idea of giving each month a theme! Setting that intention seems to have helped you take action in that area. Cool that we were on the same wavelength last month.
Thanks for the reminder. I started off the year thinking that I would have a theme/main goal for each month, but forgot to do it for Feb. I will have to regroup and think of one for the rest of the month.
Read my latest blog post…Text reminder of sharing the love
January would be best described as Action! I’ve finally got off my behind and started the blog that I have been dying to start. Also, I have taken action in other parts of my life — exercise, relationships, etc. I feel bold and here for a purpose.
For February, I will look to the word Motivation.
Read my latest blog post…Video: You’re Looking at a Brand Spanking New Competent Communicator!
Good thought-provoking post.
1 word to describe my January 2012 – different.
- Challenged myself to go out more this year & beyond (shy/introvert). Joined Meetup.com 3 weeks ago, looking for groups for introverts, and found that plus much more. Already been to 4 Meetups – 3 the weekend before this past one, 1 this past Friday. And most of the next few Fridays until April are booked up. I’m learning that I can NOT do 3 Meetups in 1 weekend (LMAO) because I’m not a social butterfly, and I’m quite fine with that. I’m getting more comfortable with being an introvert & knowing what my limits are (3 Meetups in 1 weekend = No; 1-2 Meetups in 1 weekend = Yes [1] or Maybe [2]). It’s also nice to know that on a social anxiety scale, I don’t have it as severe as I thought I did compared to the people in one of my Meetup groups, which means that not all hope is lost.
- Instead of working just to pay bills, I treated myself to quite a few things, most of which I needed. I’m so used to purposely depriving myself of things that I need & want so that debts can be paid, and that’s not healthy. I’m learning to take better care of my Self.
- Began Krav Maga classes; this ties into my previous point because this was something that I wanted/needed to do but deprived myself of due to just paying bills.
- Just began a class to take up a new language online.
- Time for me to return to blogging once per week.]
BONUS: doing more traveling this year. Already got a trip booked for April.
Read my latest blog post…Customer service.
Personally, it felt like my January came and went, nothing miraculous or interesting happened. Except that I got a job, and after essentially a year of job hunting, THAT was nice. Mostly, all my energy has been poured into trying to create this goal, to manifest it. And it’s been my goal since the Fall actually, and I’m so close and yet not. So really, February is all about Manifesting – specifically money – so that I can accomplish this goal – which really boils down to finances.
I have an internship which it’s just starting to pick up, and I started pouring more energy into my Tarot reading. I, at some point, would love to craft a business around it but it requires a great deal of study and practice. So I’m working on that part. I’ve put my writing on the backburner, which is unfortunate, but have taken up photography.
So I think February will be all about Manifesting. Bringing more of my ideas and desires into reality.
Read my latest blog post…“Think Positive” is Not Good Advice
Manifesting – what a lovely word for February. Congrats on your new job!