2017: The Resolutions

I’m partial to a new start, and of all the new starts, a new year is the biggest. It’s oh so shiny and clean. And full of possibility – which, just saying, is possibly (get it?) my favourite word in life.

It’s why, even though I declare with full knowledge that New Years resolutions are so yesterday, that I set (let’s call them) intentions at the start of every year. My boundaries are non-existent, so in order to achieve anything I need to have something concrete to aim for. And yes, these are huge – audacious even…but I figured when the changes we’re making are as huge as they are this year, there’s no room for moderation in my goal setting.

Health

Ok, it’s time to get real. I’ll be 50 (#FFF) in the middle of March, and that’s a bit of a wake-up call for me. I (mostly) eat good (mostly) whole food with very little in the way of packaged or processed stuff – we cook (mostly) from scratch. It’s why my blood results show that I’m rudely healthy on the inside.

I do, however, eat a lot of it – and drink more alcohol that is recommended. That’s why my scales and the size tags in my clothes show that on the outside I look far from healthy. It’s only a matter of time before my insides catch up with my outsides…so to speak.

Plus, my back is dodgy (partly from scoliosis, but mostly from carrying around a huge tummy), my knees are dodgy, and I look as though a lead weight has been placed on my head and has pushed everything down and out.

Of most concern, though, is my blood pressure. When I’m stressed, it goes crazy – and I have a lot of stress coming up this year with the move.

The fact is: I don’t need a diet (I don’t believe in diets), I need to make changes to my lifestyle. As I said the other day, lots of light bulbs went off for me reading Peter Fitzsimons’ book. I also took huge inspiration from a Richie McCaw doco I saw on the return flight from Queenstown the other month. Who’s Richie McCaw? Are you serious? Not just an All Black captain, but a Great All Black captain…don’t throw anything at me. Anyways, the inspiration was about focus and, rather than aiming for moderation when you’re not wired that way, directing that passion and immoderation into healthy pursuits.

The Goals

It will take me all year to get to where I need to be. However, the idea of a whole year scares me, so I’m dividing my year into more manageable 12 week slots. The first of these coincidentally ends at my birthday. I have numbers attached to each to keep myself accountable, but the overall goal for 2017 is:

• To reduce my waist measurement to 80cm (it’s soooooooo much bigger than that now)
• To hit my goal weight. I’ll be happy with 70kgs, but ecstatic with 65kgs – both of which are apparently still too heavy for my height (5’3” and shrinking).

Writing

I have a big year planned and set myself some goals that are unashamedly stretch targets. You can read all about it here.

Blogging

If all of that writing is going to mean something, I need to increase my audience and my email list.

For the sake of my sanity – and to tie in with the link-ups I like to participate in, my blogging schedule for the personal sites will be:

• Monday: Something about travel, food or rambles
• Wednesday: Something about writing – on the author site
• Thursday: Something about life or health or what I’m loving
• Saturday: The weekly wrap-up

The Goals

Jo Tracey Astrology

Last year I had almost 400,000 views on the astro site. In 2017 I intend to break the 500,000 barrier. I currently have almost 800 people signed up to receive astro newsletters – I intend doubling this.

And Anyways

There was very little increase in traffic to this site on previous years. Views totaled just over 22,000, as opposed to just under 22,000 in 2015. I’m aiming for 30,000 in 2017 and at least 500 subscribers to the email list shared with Joanne Tracey Author. Have you signed up yet? The link is here.

Joanne Tracey- Author

Ok, let’s be frank here. I need to sell more books. There’s little point writing and investing in self-publishing if I can’t sell enough to make back my costs. That’s changing this year.

I started this blog at the end of August to purely and simply focus on my books and to write about writing. It’s been seriously slow to take off with just a handful of views most days. I’m not setting any actual numbers as a goal because, quite simply, any increase will be an improvement.

Travel

Last year was amazing for travel. In 2017 due both to reduced income and a little thing called a house move, there won’t be a huge amount of travel in 2017. There will, though, be plenty of exploration of our new location – wherever that happens to be.

I have, however, pre-booked 2 weeks in Vietnam (including a few days at the end in Bangkok) for hubby and I to celebrate the whole fifty thing (#FFF).

I’m also intending on attending the Romance Writers Conference in Brisbane in August, and will squeeze in a long weekend with Miss T at some point.

Home

Who knows? It’s all up in the air.

What about you? Do you do the resolution thing?

Linking up with Denyse Whelan on Life This Week…