I’m not fully sure where the month of April went, but Welcome May! We totally appreciate you coming in with all the May Showers to bring the beautiful blooms you have been showing off lately, but now let’s get more of that sunshine, please! Over the rain! In April, I begin this monthly series where I share my business and personal goals with you in hopes I can inspire you to think about your own goals as well as grow myself. I would say with April as the first month I laid my goals out for you all to see, I did pretty with reaching most of them. I’m a work in progress and since most of those goals last month were open-ended there’s plenty of room for improvement! For May, I’m looking to expand on a couple of April’s goals as well as add some new ones to step up my game in my personal life and business world! So here we go! 

May Business Goals

1. Digitize “To Do” List

I have always been a pen to paper kinda girl! I’m not sure that will totally ever go away. Especially with the amount of Post-it notes and index cards I have scattered all over my desk. Yet, I’m starting to learn my life could be so much easier if I take all of those notes I scribble down on paper and put them in one place on my computer. I recently discovered Trello, which is an online task tracker. Think of it like a digital bulletin board where you can have different lists and tasks you can put under those lists. Plus, Trello is totally FREE! I have already begun using it for bigger business tasks. Now I have another weekly board to help me keep track and focused on smaller weekly tasks. 

2. Planning Ahead

If you know me…I’m a planner! I even had my baby on my due date! 😉 Being a planner has served me well in life and business. But, I want to work on thinking ahead of the game when it comes to certain aspects of my business. Adding different events onto my calendar with plenty of time to think them through. Planning and gathering materials for my clients further in advance to avoid running all over town last minute for things to make my beloved clients feel special. 

3. Keeping My Inbox Clutter-Free

The fear of losing an email or important tidbit of info…Is real. Yet, I think emails from 2015 are ok to delete! I hated deleting emails and therefore my inbox was out of control! I have already started deleting and now the next step is creating different folders to keep every important email I need to save…organized! 

May Personal Goals

1. Getting Outside More

Our home is at the end of the town of Loami and we back up to a corn & soybean field. We have the perfect little country paradise and I need to take more advantage of it with my family! I think leading into the summer months it makes it a lot easier. Keeping Harper and our two crazy dogs occupied in the yard can be tough, but that just means I need to get creative! 

2. Clean Car Policy

As shooting season gets underway and more sessions and weddings land on my calendar each week, historically that leads to my car becoming a rolling disaster! Empty water bottles, blankets, snack bags, and hair ties (cause you know it can get hot in IL)! Making sure my car is clean is better for my soul and gives me plenty of room to singing during any road trips!

3. Planning Date Night

Josh and I will be married next month for TEN YEARS! How nuts is that?! Marriage is not butterflies and roses all the time. It takes work for sure! Josh and I said at the beginning of the year we would set up a Date Night with just the two of us to have time to connect as a couple. We have done ok with our plan most months, however we missed it last month, but I want to ensure it happens in May and going forward. I’m secretly hoping while we are in Flordia at the end of the month we can make it work for a little time at the beach together.

What goals are you going to work towards this month? I would love to hear! 

Warm Regards, 
Lauren