Ok – if you know me, like really know me, you know that I don’t do resolutions. Personally, I think they are silly.

I feel like making a New Year’s resolution is automatically setting you up for failure before you even start something.

I believe in making things that matter happen. It’s a simple philosophy: be present in the moment and be aware of what you’re doing to get where you want to be.

There are simple strategies, like setting realistic mini goals to accomplish your big goal, as well as accountability by saying it out loud or writing it down and really thinking about why you want to achieve that goal.

I am not going to lie and say that I am good and practicing what I preach. The part about this though is intention, growth and the mental capacity to handle whatever it is you want to do.

For example; I let a lot of stuff go last year, mainly this blog. I wasn’t driven to change anything and then was upset when a blog post wasn’t read enough, or if I didn’t get as many likes on an Instagram post.

I half-assed my way through blog posts with poor planning and boring content that I thought people wanted to read. I was writing and taking pictures of things that weren’t me. I herded along with the rest of the cows and mooed my way to what I thought was going to my best year yet with the blog.

 My intentions were all wrong. My thoughts were like one of those “get rich quick schemes”. I wanted all the spoils of being a successful person without putting in half the work.

The growth I was making as a person wasn’t reflecting in my work (ie. getting married, starting a new chapter). I was still spewing the same things I had been talking about for the last 3 years. On paper (through the blog and the gram) I didn’t show any of the changes I had made. I didn’t bring people along for the ride. I simply told people, THIS IS ME, but it was like a mask. No one could see the growth, especially me.

I thought that I was the shit and things would just happen out of thin air…which bring me to my last point my mental capacity.

Because my mind was in la la land I couldn’t articulate the things I was feeling. Why was I being lazy? Why did I feel so entitled? I blamed everything on the wedding and used the excuse that “I didn’t have time.”

Everything that I had hoped for myself in 2019 I let lay to the wayside.

The real reason why – I wasn’t focused.

I didn’t set any short term or long-term goals.

I wasn’t keeping myself accountable.

I didn’t stop to think about THE WHY.

At the fresh age of 32 I realized, I want to be better. Not just for me, but for my now HUSBAND.

J and I are notorious for egging each other’s laziness on. If one gives up it is so much easier for the other to give up.

I don’t want that for our new family. Don’t want it for the future.

2020 will not end the same as 2019.

SO – what have I decided to change for this year?

First –  reading. My big goal is to read 12 books this year with my mini goal being 1 book a month.

Last year I swore to myself I would read, read, read. In the last 5 years I’ve maybe read 10 books which is pitiful.

Again, if you know me really well you will know that I used to be a total book worm and I owned 100’s of books. It got to a point where my parents refused to buy me new books because I would finish 2 sometimes 3 in 1 day!

I miss that me. So I am bringing her back.

I have scheduled in reading time into my calendar. The older I get the more I have realized that my calendar is CRUCIAL for my life.

It helps me remember and keeps me accountable. It annoys the fuck out of me if I can’t cross out something on my list.

Second – planning out blog posts ahead of time. I am going to hold myself accountable by keeping track of what I need to do, when its due and how I am going to do it.      

It got to a point where I was writing, cooking, taking pictures of things the day before the post would go live.

I stressed myself out and my content looked jumbled and the quality was poor. I KNOW that you guys could see that too.

Third – doing/talking/writing about things that matter to me. My WHY – was getting jumbled up with the “why” of millions of other bloggers. What was making me different? I had that same flat lay you have seen a million times before. I tried to talk about fashion – which isn’t really me (on this note, it is obvi OK to get out of your comfort zone. The thing about this is authenticity. It was very obvious that the way I was presenting my idea of fashion was not authentic). You can talk about ANYTHING YOU WANT – just make sure that the words are coming from YOUR LENSE.

& finally fourth – working to build my brand in Boston and around the rest of the US.

I thought if I hashtaged “boston blogger” on my posts or tagged restaurants and places around the city in my stories that it would help build my brand in the area.

Again, this was half-assed. It takes a lot more than going places to build your brand. It takes a community of people who see VALUE in what you do.

VALUE is one of my top takeaways for the year. You can’t expect to make a difference in people’s live if you can’t give them takeaways that they can use in their own lives. 

I really hope that this post brought VALUE to you and what YOU are trying to accomplish this year.

Xx

Komal

Sweet and Masala