Man, November was a whirlwind in the Rice home!! We are in the midst of so much transition, it's hard to keep our heads on straight sometimes. (All good things, just so much happening all at once!) We settled into Daniel's parents' house where we'll be living until our new home is finished being built in a few months. We found out this month that several things are changing at the church, making my full-time job as a youth pastor quite exciting! On top of all of that, Daniel got hired on full-time at the church, something we've been praying about for over 3 years now! God is doing some incredible things in this season, and I can't wait to see it all unfold!

As for the photography side of things, I've been working really hard over the past couple of weeks to make myself a better businesswoman and to take better control of my time. I haven't felt like I've been suffering, but I know I can always improve myself. Time management and effectiveness has been and will be my focus for a while. One of the things I'm working on is being very intentional with my goal-setting. A newfound mentor of mine (that I've never met), Ashlyn Carter of Ashlyn Writes, is basically a productivity genius. She has SO many excellent practices in place, all to help her stay on track spiritually, mentally, and emotionally to be the best version of herself that she can be. I've been working my way through her blog posts and resources, and am ready to start implementing some of her practices!

 

 

One thing that I love that she does every month is she publishes her goals on her blog. This helps her to take the time to reflect on how the previous month went as well as have accountability for the goals that she sets. So here I am, sharing my December goals! It's one thing for me to write them out for me to see, but it adds a whole new layer by publishing them for others to see. Hopefully this helps me stay on track, and maybe inspire some of you to set monthly goals, too!

 

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 Monthly Goals

• Hit our monthly savings goal for the house. Down payments are no joke! Daniel is a spreadsheet genius and has put together a plan for us to hit our down payment and savings goal by the time we close on our house. We track our savings growth through this spreadsheet so we can easily see how we're doing and if we're staying on track. (Seriously, this thing is amazing! Hit him up if you need financial tracking help!)
• Read 2 books. Full disclosure: I've been TERRIBLE at reading lately. I'm a fast reader, and I know that if I read 15 minutes a day I can finish at least 2 books a month. I just haven't been making myself do this. This month that is changing! I'll be reading Off the Clock by Laura Vanderkam and The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss if you want to read along with me!
• Write 4 Blog Posts (outside of sessions). I want to get better at putting out helpful resources and content to my audience, not just blogging my sessions.
• Go on a family adventure. It could be something as small as going out for ice cream and playing at the park, or going to the zoo. Maddie is at the age where we really want to start making memories with her, especially before Carson gets here. Intentionality is the name of the game.
• Go on scheduled date nights. Daniel and I are pretty good about going on dates, but many of them seem last minute. I'd love to go on a couple planned date nights where it isn't something we just decide to do because we have a few moments without Maddie.
• Get the new client workflow going. I've been working on adding some elements to make my client experience better! I want to finish it up and have it ready to launch by January.
• Do an End-of-the-month Review/Prep Day. I want to set some time aside at the end of the month to review the progress I made on my goals and to prep for the next month.
• Set 2019 Goals. I'll be taking some time to sit down and really think through my 2019 goals. I'll share those in my January post!

 

 

Weekly Goals

• Start a Weekly Reset/Planning Day. At the start of each week I'd like to sit down and plan for the upcoming week to make sure I'm not missing anything (because pregnancy brain…) and so that I can have a good grasp on the week before kicking it off.
• Batch work on Marketing Monday's. This is another one of Ashlyn Carter's great ideas! Each Monday I'll be batch working on one thing related to marketing, whether it be my blog, email newsletters, instagram posts, etc.
• Keep up with Financial Friday's. I used to be really good about updating all of my financial reports and spreadsheets weekly, but this past month I got behind and had to spend an entire day catching up. This month I want to keep up with it every week so I only have to spend an hour or so a week on it.

 

Daily Goals

• Morning devotional time. There's no better way to start your day than with Jesus!
• Read 15 minutes. As I said before, I know I can finish books easily if I set aside at least 15 minutes a day to read. I'll be trying to do this in the mornings before Maddie wakes up.
• Work on intentional rest. Slowing down and setting time aside to simply rest is important to me. I'm the type of person that will go, go, go until I crash. Especially since I'm in my third trimester, I need the rest to get the things done that I need to get done.
• Time with Maddie. Moms, let's be honest…some days we only have the energy to tolerate our kids. I want to spend fun time with Maddie every day, not just tolerating her. For us, this looks like me getting down on the ground to play and explore with her. And going out to look at the rocks…her favorite!

 

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If you stuck with me through all of that, you're awesome! Honestly, even if no one reads this it's just as much for me and my growth journey. There's power in writing things down, and I know my month will be fruitful because I've taken the time to share the things I'm working toward this month. I hope this inspires you to write out some goals for the month! No one said goal-setting had to only be done for New Year's! Growth happens year-round, so goals should too!