What are your goals for 2022?

These are my goals — and my process.

New year’s resolutions get a bad rap as an obligatory annual rite that ultimately results in failure — rinse, repeat. But I don’t see them that way at all.

I cherish the start of the new year as a chance to pause (it’s famously a “dead week” after all), reflect, and set intentions. You don’t have to succeed at everything you set out to do — far from it.

But who are we if we determine it’s all futile and never even try to push past stasis or discomfort to live incrementally closer each year to our best lives? (Not a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model’s best life, or some chick on Instagram’s fake best life — but your very own, very authentic best life.)

To that end, I made my first-ever vision board last year. (When you write inspiring crafty pieces for Good Housekeeping long enough…) It was a joyful creative exercise, conducted on Zoom with friends as a New Year’s Eve day activity (coupled with a Dolly Parton Peloton ride —*chef’s kiss* as pandemic holiday activities go.)

It’s not some woo-woo, new-agey thing. It’s really quite straightforward, a fun exercise that challenges you to get out of the minutiae of each day to imagine a big-picture that appeals to you. Then, you put that vision on paper and hang it somewhere you can look at it daily — like over your desk — as a reminder to steer yourself in desirable directions.

I selected a word of the year for 2021: “vibrant.” (That’s an ambitious goal for a working mom of young kids in a pandemic.) Did I succeed? Well, 2021 was more vibrant than 2020 (which was universally 💩), so I’ll take it.

Importantly, I also took the time to think clearly about and then write down my specific, measurable goals for the year: four personal and five professional. I’m happy to say I succeeded in achieving most of these… but not all of them. And I consider this a great success. Why? Because if I had nailed all nine of them easily, then maybe I didn’t aim high enough.

Now is the time when I am setting my goals for 2022. I’m looking at five professional goals this year:

• Take new headshots (finally)

• Raise rates

• Pitch more widely/frequently and aim high

• Pursue new (and ideally passive!) revenue streams

• And hit an ambitious new revenue goal.

My professional goals seem much more clearly defined than my personal goals. Perhaps that’s because work is my pandemic hobby, as I wrote about for Glamour earlier this year.

But at any rate, I enjoy the exercise so much. Whatever you call it — a vision board, new years resolutions, goal setting — are you doing it for 2022? I’d love to hear about your goals and also your process.

I’m wishing you — and all of us — the absolute best for the new year. May 2022 be joyful, peaceful, exciting, and abundant… or hey, may it at least be kind.

Editor’s Notes

• If we all test negative for COVID as a pre-flight requirement (🤞), I’m headed with my family on vacation next week. Yes, we’ll be wearing our trusty 3M N95 masks. And yes, I’ll be the one with the personal HEPA filter on my tray table. If all goes according to plan (and when does that happen these days?) I’ll be OOO next week and then ready to hit the ground running on January 10!

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Open Press Opportunities

• The new year will bring tons of new press opportunities: Watch this space!

• I’m always open to hearing about home cooks to profile as subjects for my bi-monthly budget grocery column (Allrecipes).

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