March Goals
In February I talked a bit about my goals for 2015. Ready for some honest self-assessment?
#1 Put God First - Read Scripture Daily. I am SO glad that this is one goal I have really made a priority. My self-constructed "Consume God's word before social media" rule has really helped. God is also really answering my prayer of igniting in me a hunger for his word. I can feel his words wash over me each day and transform my typical morning grumpiness into a calm awareness of his presence. Of course I could use additional reminders throughout the day, ha!
#2 Connect With My Family Everyday. Overall, I think I would give myself a 7 out of 10 score on this goal. Much improved but still room for improvement.
#3 Greatly Reduce My Use of Social Media. I have been successfully fasting from social media on Sundays. It has served as such a great reset button each week. Now I think it is time to step up my game and avoid social media after 7pm during the week. Jon, hold me to this?
#4 Launch the Lauren Ann Photography Website. Although I launched the site in January, I never want to consider my website "done". I was listening to a great podcast last week about how truly successful websites are never complete. Instead, they continually grow and evolve with the business. I don't want my site to be static - instead I want it to be a living, breathing extension of my photography business.
#5 Grow As A Photographer. Part of this goal was to shoot with my good camera every day. I did a great job in January. And then February hit. Womp. Womp. Have any of you completed a 365 Project? How have you stayed motivated? I'm back on track (at least for the last three days). I did complete an incredible webinar in February on "10 Tips to Grow Your Photography Business in the Off-Season" with my talented friend Cheyenne Schultz. If you are looking to take your photography business to the next level I highly recommend Cheyenne's mentoring sessions.
#6 Run a Half-Marathon with My Best Friend. Race training earns another womp womp. Did you go outside in February? It seemed like it was either raining, sleeting, icing or snowing for the whole month. Ick. My race is in 39 days - that is scary! I did manage to knock out 8 miles in the cold on Saturday. This was quite the accomplishment considering a) the last time I ran 8 miles was 5 years ago b) I only slept 4 hours the night before and c) I may have had 3 cups of coffee and 0 cups of water. Oops.
Now it's time to set some more specific goals for the month of March:
#1 Honor the Season of Lent by Preparing My Heart For Easter. I'm currently starting my day with two devotionals written specifically for Lent. And they are both free! If you haven't already, check out the She Reads Truth Lent plan. Love this quote from Amanda Bible Williams: "We come to Christ with empty buckets — whether we admit it or not. So let’s not bring our self improvements and call them sacrifices. Let’s don’t use our efforts as currency to buy the free grace we’ve been given." I'm also really enjoying the CCCA's Lent Project which combines a daily scripture reading with art and music. Feeds my dorky love for art history!
#2 Go on a date with my man. Yes please.
#3 Celebrate and document David's 2nd birthday with photographs. Will be hard to top Anna's recent photos : )
#4 Finish planning and start promoting Spring Mini Sessions. Email subscribers will be the first to be notified of dates and details. You can join my list here.
#5 Design and order new business cards. Why is this so tough?
#6 Gage interest for a "Ditch Auto: Embrace Manual" beginners photography class. I'm thinking of hosting a course in my home on a Saturday in June. Anybody interested?
What about you? What are your goals for March?