My year in view! Well 2016 is well and truly over and we are two days into the new year of 2017. Over the last few weeks I have been reflecting on 2016. Did I achieve anything? Since having my children my life has been a bit of a jumble. I have been trying to find a balance working with my husband, spending quality time with the girls and enjoying my horses. Last year was a year of planned and focused changes, not a fly by the seat of my pants kind of changes.
Time To Think
The first third of 2016 was much the same as the past 5 (ish) years. My husband’s business is quiet at this time of the year so that can be a bit stressful. I had a terrible flu that took me out of action for 2-3 weeks, I felt very down during this time but the time off work did provide time to think about where I was going with my life.
For the past two years I had been working in the Pathology department of a hospital as well as doing the books for my husbands business. I had taken the job to try find myself again and relieve some of the financial pressures at home. I had gone from part time to full time is less than a year and whilst I was enjoying the extra money I was spending less and less time with my girls and horses and I was exhausted all the time.
Making Progess
The middle third of 2016 was full of emotion with some lows but ultimately some progress. I had to learn about depression and how to live with someone who is suffering from depression. This was tough and I found it particularly stressful, it can impact on all family members so I had a bit of a reality check as to who and what was a priority in my life. My Life At A Gallop blog was created. We had a lovely family holiday in Corfu and some focused decisions for the future were made.
Make A Plan
The final third of 2016 was when the changes happened and some real progress was made. I reduced my hours in the hospital. This allowed me to spend more time with my girls, help my husband get more organised within his business and work on my own new adventure, my equestrian shop and blog.
In November I took part in a 5 day challenge with the Female Entrepreneur Association. The idea of the challenge was not to wait until the New Year but to review what you had achieved so far to set some goals to work towards before the end of the year. I found the whole experience very inspiring and motivating. There was a pop up Facebook group to join for support. It was clear that what stops most of us progressing is becoming overwhelmed with everything that we need to do or think we need to do. This applies to home life as well as work. A clear plan with smaller achievable targets enables us to focus more and hence be more productive and ultimately achieve our goals.
Success in 2017
I am going to have a successful 2017. How do I know this? I know this because I have consciously set out to create my success. I have set some goals and have a plan on how to achieve them and I am committed to making it happen. Yes, I will make mistakes but instead of letting these mistakes discourage me I will learn from them. The more mistakes I make the more I will learn and from this I will find success.
I wish you all every success for 2017.