Happy New Year everyone! It seems like it was just last month that I wrote this about 2016. Yet here we are in 2018 reminiscing about the past year. Each year seems to pass faster and faster. Last year’s post was the first time I did an introspective/retrospective and I felt better about where life is going. I don’t set a lot of goals in my life, but I’m really glad that I did. While I didn’t meet all of them, having goals sent me in the right direction.
Last year, I set 8 goals for myself, including my travels and this blog. While I didn’t meet all of them, I had some significant professional growth that makes up for what I didn’t achieve… at least in my opinion.
In 2017, I stayed at several super nice hotels, not always using points – such as, my large suite at Aria Las Vegas. I also stayed at the Bellagio for $50 per night, thanks for a Hotwire promotion.
I traveled to three new states, which met one of the goals. Two of them (Alabama and Tennessee) were somewhat unexpected at this time last year, but the people I met there are now some new friends. New Mexico was my third state and wasn’t on my radar until April, when I won World of Hyatt Globalist status (Hyatt’s highest elite status) in a giveaway.
I grew my Twitter followers to 1300, which is remarkable since it was all organic growth without the use of sponsored tweets or ads. That totally smashed my goal of 1,000! The 1,000th follower milestone happened in May and I ran giveaway to celebrate. If you’re not yet one of my followers, give me a follow and let me know you read this. Here’s a link to my Twitter.
Other than those two goals, I can’t honestly say that I met the goals I set for myself. I hate making excuses for myself, but I have some reasons for it. I was reminded in late-2017 that goals should be specific and measurable. Several of my goals were neither of those. I didn’t specify how many or how often I was going to use points to travel, or how often I wanted to publish a blog post. I didn’t travel to two new countries, but my travel patterns were slightly different in 2017. Almost all of my travel was in the Western United States. Because of that, I also didn’t retain MVP status on Alaska Air – but there are more reasons for that which I’ll probably write about in a new post.
What I did and who I met last year make up for the goals that I fell short of. I attended the TBEX (Travel Bloggers Exchange) conference in Huntsville, Alabama. I met a ton of fellow travel bloggers, several of which are mutual followers. It is always nice to put a face with a (user)name and will likely be my friends for life! The people I met and what I learned at the conference were invaluable.
I consider going to TBEX an investment and will likely go again this year. Thus, this year isn’t just about this year, it’s about the years to follow as well! After I got my scratch-off travel tracker map, I realized that there is so much more out there! We definitely take our own backyards for granted. So with that in mind, here are my goals and ambitions…
Unlike last year, I’m not going to make my personal goals public. I don’t need them to be stated publicly for me to be held accountable for them. However, I will admit that I will try to be more aware of my mental health this year.
Having specific and measurable goals is a key to being more successful. Comment below with your goals this year. If there’s a topic you’d like to see covered, feel free to contact me!
It’s not every day that I’m able to fly a new airline, especially domestically. Pronounced…
Have you ever wanted to take a guided tour but wanted to go at your…
Chase offers several business credit cards that aren't co-branded. That is cards that do not…
Waldorf Astoria, Washington DC is a luxury hotel steps away from the National Mall. Room…
Flying from New York or DC to Toronto is oddly expensive. It can be nearly…
The Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun is an all-inclusive resort that is amazing in nearly every…