( updated March 14, 2022 ) It's natural to want to see results for one's efforts. That's why many of us set goals with the start of each new year.   But, setting goals isn't the only way to have a meaningful or impactful year.     How do you start a new year?   To keep things simple, I choose one word or phrase that I apply to family, personal growth, and business growth for a year. Today, I'm sharing how I find my word and how I keep it top of mind.  

A new year. An opportunity to start fresh once again.     I don't know about you, but my dreams don't fit tidily into 365 days. That's why I gave up the yearly practice of goal setting last year. And why you should consider doing the same.   Do you set goals for yourself? Are they constrained to twelve months?  

Is there ever a time you should stop focusing on growing your social media platforms? If you're not regularly monitoring how your social media efforts are mapping to your business goals, you'll never know. For me, December is that time and here's how I know.     How are you measuring the success of your blogging efforts?  

It's that time again. Time to sit down and see whether or not social media efforts are increasing awareness of this site. The raw data compiled in this traffic report comes from Google Analytics, the various social media channels themselves.     What would you like to see covered in a blogger's traffic report?   I'd like these reports to be informative to other lifestyle writers. What are you curious about? What would you like to see me track or discuss?  

Social media influencers use the number of followers to show that their work has impact--value. Bloggers bandy around their pageviews as a yardstick . But what all these numbers lack is context. Without context a number is meaningless. You can't tell whether it's helping you accomplish your goals or not.     In July, I decided to see if I could add context to my social media numbers. I now record the size of each of my social media networks, my pageviews here, the number of sessions generated here by each social media network, and the number of new users to The Road To The Good Life. The context is not perfect, but it's a start. Here's how I did on my brand awareness goal of driving new users.   How are you evaluating you're working on the right things?  

I hate doing things that waste my time. I also get annoyed when Pageviews are bandied about. A 2013 study by Incapsula revealed that 61% of web traffic is from bots. Is your target reader a bot? Mine's certainly not!     Don't get me wrong. I too obsessed over my site's Pageviews. When I reached 500 posts on this site, I shared my growth in terms of visitors and pageviews, knowing full well that I'd gamed the numbers, especially for 2012. Sure I posted consistently. I posted a lot. But was it quality--making a difference to anyone? Did it allow you to get to know me? No and no.   A quick pause. When I'm talking about "gaming the numbers" I'm not talking about buying clicks or traffic. I'm talking about writing and posting content that attracted traffic, for example Tuesday Shoesday, Thursday Purseday (once a meme, but no longer), Font Friday, and so on. These were strong hashtags and many women were searching for them. My target reader then l...

Creatives and solo entrepreneurs are incredibly privileged.   We're able to define our work days, set meaningful goals, and do work that matters.   We've left rigid schedules where we were required to be at a desk during specific hours. We've eliminated the bureaucracy of performance reviews and TPS reports (anyone else an Office Space fan?).     But if we're not careful, we can go to far. We can fail to see our progress. We can miss milestones and think we're failing.   Without SMART goals and regular reflection on those goals, we can run the risk of being busy for the sake of being busy. Remember that cliche, work smarter not harder? If we're not looking at what's on our plates and asking ourselves if it's taking us towards what we want out of life, we run the risk of waking up one day with regrets.   What aspects of corporate life have you incorporated in your business?  

The more I talk to successful entrepreneurs the more I realize they have one thing in common: extreme focus. They don't just work hard, they work smart. (They actually work hard AND smart, but that's another post.)     As I talked with them, extreme focus seemed obvious. One of those insights where you go D'ouh why didn't I think of that sooner? Of course! Focused, concentrated efforts push entrepreneurs towards realizing their goals faster than diverse, broad efforts.   But how does one achieve this focus?  

New years often mean restarts, new goals, and new directions. 2015 for me, while a new year, will be a continuation of a 2014. Rather than restart, like I do most years, this year I choose to continue to build.     How did you do with your 2014 goals?  

The start of Spring is as good as any time to pull out and dust off the goals or resolutions set when 2014 dawned brightly. For me, 2014 is the year I WILL. And to achieve my goals, I need ...   My Goals for 2014 For 2014, I set three goals . Sure, in 2013, I declared my goals here publicly . But my goals for 2014 are different.   My goals for 2014 differed from those I set in 2013, in that there's one big goal and two that actually support that goal. Besides sharing my 2014 goals here, I also put them to paper, something I didn't do with my 2013 goals. And, I went further. I spoke them out loud and recorded them with the intention of sharing them.   I was going to share the video of my goals ( watch now on YouTube ) when I talked about joining the Bold, Brilliant, Beautiful project . But, I chickened out. I shared just a snippet of my goals, the portion where I say I AM ENOUGH. I AM BOLD, BEAUTIFUL, BRILLIANT. (I mixed up the order. In my snippet, I'd even accident...

No one attends the same conference as another and walks away with the same key insights or takeaways. What we glean from a conference is what we bring to it. If we're seeking guidance for the direction of our path or our purpose, we're more likely to "hear" or interpret what we hear with that filter. Here is my takeaway from Women 2.0 Conference 2014.     When I heard about the Women 2.0 Conference 2014 I wasn't sure what to expect. I hadn't read anything about it, so I didn't much beyond the Pitch Competition and whether sessions would be inspirational or informational in nature.   What conferences have you attended recently?  

When done right, employee evaluations can be a positive experience. They're an opportunity to review your skills and set objectives and goals based on your strengths. They're a chance to craft a roadmap that leverages your strengths to do something that interests you and benefits others as well as you. That's why I don't make resolutions, I set objectives and goals.     How do you make resolutions?  

This time last week I was nervously getting ready for Alt SF. I'd been to Alt SLC and I'd been to Alt for Everyone, but I still had butterflies in my stomach. Every event is unique. The sponsors vary. The bloggers attending change. Current events, in the world and in our lives, are different. Distractions may or may not be present. But, that's not what you care about. You want to know: are the butterflies worth it? Absolutely.     I'm not going round up the top ten most inspirational quotes from Alt SF ; Mere of Not Merely Living, did a fantastic job with that. And I talked about what I saw as the main theme that tied all of the sessions together, Embracing Your Fears , on Monday. (I've collected these recaps plus others on an Alt SF 2013 Recaps board on Pinterest.)   I am going to talk about expectations, setting goals, choosing an Alt experience to meet those goals, and finally what you can do to maximize your experience.   Managing Expectations I'll adm...

There are lots of conferences; not all of them will help you closer to your goals. Earlier this month, I attended Alt for Everyone, a three-day virtual conference. As with any conference I consider, before I registered, I identified which of my goals I am currently working towards and how that particular conference advances them. My recap, which I'm breaking into a three-part series which will appear here over the next three Fridays, touches on what I learned at Alt for Everyone and whether my goals for attending were met.     My goals for Alt for Everyone were the same as those I had for Alt Summit SLC : learning ways to more efficiently deliver quality content and connect with other bloggers for future collaborations.   For me, Joy Cho's keynote, "The Art of Being a Goal Getter," and two sessions led by Sara Urquhart, "How to Get Paid What You're Worth" and "Working with Brands," addressed my goal of delivering quality content and reiterat...

I admit it. Lately, I've been a one subject girl. Alt-this. Alt-that. I get that you're sick of it. But, it's a big deal. A really big deal for me.     What's the big deal about Alt? Not counting life events, such as getting married or having Gates, attending Alt Summit SLC this week ranks in my top three. The other two events? Yearbook camp in high school and my first Burning Man. Both of those events changed my life. I landed my first job in tech because someone saw the print out of my neatly laid out and illustrated notes from my Geology class -- skills I learned at Yearbook camp. I got engaged at Burning Man, but also learned that no matter how well prepared you are for something you've never done, to survive takes a community. Will Alt have a similar impact? Who knows.   Never heard of Alt? Having never been and based solely on accounts I've read or heard, Alt is an indoor, micro-sized version of Burning Man with branded sponsors (the sponsors are ther...

One goal I made for 2013 was to be less focused on the next and more focused on the now. So, for all of 2013, I decided to capture at least one person or thing I'm thankful for.     Here's how I'm doing so far. While I've gotten into the grove of recording what I'm thankful for, I haven't gotten into the habit of getting the photographs into the 2013 365 Days of Thanksgiving Flickr gallery (3 out of 14). Day 1: A Clean Kitchen Day 2: The Sounds of a Happy Baby Day 3: The First Cup of Coffee in the Morning Day 4: A Quiet, Sunny Corner in the City Day 5: Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice at the Corner Market Day 6: Pizza Delivery Day 7: Car Brakes that Work Day 8: My MacBook Retina Display Laptop Day 9: The Pleasure of Firsts Day 10: Guests from a Party Going Out of Their Way to Walk Me Safely to BART Day 11: Workday Lunch with My Husband Day 12: A Toaster Oven with a Timer Day 13: A Coffee Carafe Day 14: Experts Freely or Inexpensively Sharing Their Expertise Som...

Noise makers are squeaking. Horns blaring. Glasses chinking. 2013 is here.     For me, rainbows have always signified a turning point. When I've seen them light up the sky, it's typically been at a break in the weather, which reminds me that stormy times won't last forever.   Time's LightBox closed the year with Rainbows in the Frame: Emblems of Hope in a Dark Year , pairing their hopes for 2013 with rainbows from 2012. I too closed out my year -- as well as my tenure at the technology company where I'd worked for over four years -- with a series of rainbows.   Now don't get me wrong. For me, 2012 wasn't a bad year. In 2012, cubes and I welcomed our daughter Gates into the world. The new design for the blog went live . I left my 9to5 job of four plus years to do my own thing .   What are your goals for the new year?   My goals for 2013 are: Take time to be thankful for what I have. Continue to publish a blog that you enjoy reading. Prioritize more ...