New Year is a time for many things: fresh starts, new beginnings and, the sometimes dreaded, New Year’s resolutions. Unlike many others, I am renowned for keeping mine. Instead of making difficult life changes, I make simple, easy to keep, somewhat ambiguous, life enriching resolutions: take more photos; be braver; travel more. But this year, instead of being ambiguous, I have created 5 New Year’s resolutions that reflect my life as an entrepreneur that I know will challenge me, but will hopefully improve my life for the better.
1 – Back to basics
I started Oh So Social as a freelancer; my ambition was to work 20 hours a week and ride my horse every day. I wanted to travel, explore, write social media content, master the social networks I love and have the flexibility of being my own boss.
Four, nearly five years later, I have the most amazing team of people and am truly blessed to have a marketing agency, with a second launching soon; however I can’t tell you the last time I rode my horse every day. Sometimes I can’t tell you the last time I wrote content. I spend my time in the office dealing with the day to day, instead of doing what I love, social media management.
This year I am changing that and am going back to basics. I am going to focus on the reason I started. I am going back to content writing and prioritising the important things in my life, the things that set my soul on fire.
2 – 40 hours a week
This leads to resolution number two – 40 hours is enough.
This year I am only going to work 40 hours a week, to include networking and events. Last year I attended the amazing Like Minds conference in Exeter and Bruce Daisley gave a powerful talk about how 40 hours a week is enough, which led me to thinking, when was the last time I only worked a 40 hour week? I couldn’t remember.
So, this year, I’m stopping at 40.
3 – Self-care
As you may have guessed from the above, I am a workaholic and I am terrible at self-care; something that will change in 2019.
I am the first person to send a member of my team home if they are poorly or have personal issues, however I will still go to work regardless. I even continued to work when I had pneumonia.
This year that is stopping. When I need to, I’m going to take the day off.
No one tells you when you become an entrepreneur that life keeps happening and yes, taking time off can affect your business, but this year I am going to put my life, physical and mental health first.
4 – Have lunch
Taking a lunch break may sound simple, but I promise it will not be. I always eat lunch at my desk, or even worse, skip lunch altogether.
This year I am going to grant myself the simple pleasure of a lunch break every day, even if it’s just 15 minutes away from my screen to eat proper food. There are countless studies that prove the benefits of simply taking a break; improved memory, concentration and creativity to name but a few. So, without fail, every day I am going to take a break.
5 – Learn more
I love to learn and in 2019 I want to learn as much as possible.
I’m pledging to read more books by a wider range of authors, watch more Ted talks, attend training courses, write more and visit more conferences.
I am going to spend time with those I admire and learn from them.
I am going to broaden my understanding of the world around me, in a range of areas, not just business.
But importantly, I am going to spend time with myself, and learn more about me. My skills, my strengths and who I really am as an entrepreneur.
And last but not least, I am going to let one of my resolutions from my personal life in: I’m to be brave, take risks and listen to my gut.
Hopefully, thanks to the above, 2019 is going to be another amazing year, but this time I should be a little better balanced.