Every New Year’s Eve, Dylan and I go out for drinks (early) and write out what goals we have for the upcoming new year.  This New Year’s Eve, however, we were photographing a wedding (that you can check out here) and, instead, waited for New Year’s Day to review our goals from 2013 and re-evaluate where we want to head for 2014.

Some of our 2013 goals were met and some we never thought of again until we looked at the list.  This reminded me that you have to LOOK at something to be reminded of it constantly and set steps in motion to actually achieve that goal.  In my office, I have listed how many weddings I want to shoot for the year, what classes/seminars I want to go to, and what gear I want the business to be equipped with.  I have it written down – in a location that I see EVERY TIME I walk into my office, so it boggles my mind that I didn’t do that with my other goals.  The goals that I had written down in the office were reached in the time limits I set on them (others have dates that have not yet come to pass, so those are staying put).

Last year, I didn’t share the goals I set for 2013 and simply wrote about what I learned from 2012.  This year, however, I want to share some of my goals with you, both personally and professionally.  I want them written down and I want to make myself accountable for these goals.

1) Set a schedule.

I own my own business.  I can set whatever schedule I want.  However, I can also spend every waking moment in my office and forget that I’m the boss and can take off whenever I want.  I realize that I need to be available to vendors and clients (and have had a goal of replying to everyone within 24 hours TOPS and think I’m doing pretty good with that), but every business has this thing called “business hours.”  The hours that I’m running right now are NOT ideal for me.  I don’t start my day with coffee, dog walks, and reading my bible (although, I would really like to).  One of my goals for 2014 is to set “business hours” and STICK TO THEM!  It will also (hopefully) help me to be more productive, if I know that the computer shuts off at a certain time.  (I know I’ll have other goals – like photo turn around time – that may cause business hours to be flexible, but I’m also hoping that having business hours will influence my productivity more than my to-do list will influence my business hours.)

2) Spend more time with family.

Part of this second goal goes hand in hand with Goal #1. Most people, after business hours, go home to eat dinner with their family.  Right now, I’m in my office until I cannot keep my eyes open any longer doing the business stuff, not just editing photos and answering emails, but accounting, updating the website, and blogging.  If I set business hours (which includes going INTO the office at a set time, otherwise I could get fired for being late everyday), I’m more likely to call it a day when a day has been had.  At the end of the day, make dinner for Dylan and go on a family dog walk.

More than that, I’d like to spend some more time with my niece and nephews.  I used to babysit two of them twice a week.  Since I no longer do that, I’m no longer getting my snuggles in and I miss that!  Also, as the Christmas present to my niece and nephews this past Christmas, I gave them “experiences” instead of gifts.  They already have all the toys they could ever want and way more than they need, so I wanted to give them something special.  Since my love language is Quality Time, Dylan and I are going to take them to the Zoo – by ourselves – when the weather gets nice again.  Which will also give their parents a day to themselves to relax or take a trip or just get caught up with “life.”

One of the perks of living so close to my sisters, is that we can EASILY spend time together if we make a point to do so.  We’re more spontaneous with “Sister Date Nights” than planning, but I want to make it a goal to spend more time with them, too.  Maybe a monthly sister date night?  Planning to set aside that time just for them.

Because no blog post is complete without photos….

(After an engagement session one night, I needed to get something from my parents and found this cutie-patootie in the bath!!  If I had planned a bath photo session for him, it would not have worked AT ALL.  Since he was already having fun, he TOTALLY WORKED IT for the camera – really, I would love to share the rest of his bath session.)

(Before my family Christmas dinner – which we had the week before Christmas – I had a new camera and lens come in that I wanted to test out BEFORE the wedding the followng day, so I took it to family Christmas and got this ADORABLE shot of my oldest sister reading to her baby.)

(At that very same Christmas dinner, I caught my niece stealing Christmas presents and she was too cute to stop her.)

(This is sister #2 reading to her oldest baby, Nolan.  His favorite Christmas gift was, obviously, the nerf gun – which made Dylan jealous.  He said, “If he had known there would be a nerf gun war, he would have brought his.”  And, for all the parents who may be reading this, Nolan was required to go to “G-Bo’s School of Nerf” to learn gun safety.  Rule #1 was “Don’t point guns at people.”)

3) Take more vacations.

For the first year or so Dylan and I were dating, we were long distance.  We met at a study abroad program in Greece and came back to the states and attended different schools in different states.  To see each other, we had to plan to take trips.  Usually, the trips were just to his parents’ home, but it was still a vacation in the sense that we left where we lived and PLANNED to go somewhere new and PLANNED various activities (like attending the Red Dirt Round-Up at the Fort Worth Stockyards).  After I graduated (yes, I’m older by six months and for half the year Dylan insists on calling me a cougar) and we were finally living in the same city, we still planned day trips.  We’d go to Gruene for the day: float the river, eat at the Gristmill, and dance at Gruene Hall.  Now that “we’re old and married” – we LOVE our nights in, but have unintentionally let our vacation-planning/adventure-seeking brains go mush.  For 2014, we WILL take more vacations.  It will be good for our creative juices, too, to go see different things and experience the world.  We met in Greece, after all – we WANT to see the world.

Also, I want to take more day-trip vacations: still going to Gruene, actually floating the river this year (which didn’t happen in 2013 – which is quite sad, really); maybe we should buy the book “Day Trips From Austin” and go on some of those.  I want to go out beyond our normal “date night” options and get out of our comfort zone to experience new places.

4) Give more.

There have been SO MANY wonderful peers and mentors that have spoken into various aspects of my life, both personally and professionally.  I want to do that for others.  People have given me their time, their talents, and even their life lessons SO FREELY – how could I not want to help others out in the exact same way?!?  I want to give of my time, talents, and things learned to benefit others.

5) Let Go and Let GOD.

So many things in life are out of my control.  Usually, I let them eat at me.  I worry about them until my mind is raw and bloody from the berating I’ve given it.  The thing is: these events are usually ok.  Nothing major comes from them.  I’ve spent days, weeks, or (sometimes) months worrying about something and thinking about every possible outcome, when, in reality, it was never mine to worry about.  GOD is with me and my life events and will take care of the rest.  Sometimes, I just need to walk away and know that HE is in control.

More than that, I need to be content with HIS outcome.  I think it’s human nature to want more.  I don’t think it’s a bad thing to dream big and want more from life and to be ambitious (it’s TOTALLY a good thing to be ambitious), but sometimes – sometimes, it’s ok to be content with where you are and what you have.  Not to be confused with settling, being content is a “peaceful happiness.”

6) Drink more water.

This isn’t earth-shaking, just a habit that I need to get back into.  When I worked as an office manager at an IT office, I would take a Nalgene bottle of water with me to work.  I drank a liter of water before lunch and another liter before I went home at the end of the day.  Now that my office is inside my home, I get up to get coffee instead of water.  SO BAD!!!  I need to bring the Nalgene back into my life…

There are other goals, of course, but these are the ones I have written down so I see them everyday.  I want them to be at the front of my mind, to think about them, and to put them into action.  Some even have steps to get to the goal – because you CAN eat the elephant if you take it one bite at a time.  (Apparently, it’s time for lunch…)

Thank you for reading my ramblings – maybe one of my goals should also be “to get better at writing so my readers don’t think I’m crazy.”  :D

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

– Mylah Renae

Austin Wedding Photographer

www.Eureka-Photography.com