My 2020 Personal & Blogging Goals

2019 was an incredibly challenging, yet rewarding, year. Here are the goals I’ve set for myself for 2020 and how I plan on accomplishing them.

I’ve never been a New Year’s resolution kind of gal. I’ve always thought the “new year, new me” mentality was a bit of a cop out. After all, why should you have to wait until the new year to change your ways and begin working towards building your dream life? But at the end of last year, I set a couple actionable goals for myself to tackle in 2019 and shared them in my year-end recap here on the blog. To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure how many people read — much less remembered — the goals I set for myself last year. But since I’d broadcasted my New Year’s goals on the Internet, I felt like I needed to actually follow through.

And boy oh boy, did I follow through.

I actually just reread last year’s 2018 recap and I started laughing so hard. In the first section, I labeled 2018 as being “a year” — you know, the type of year that punches you in the face, kicks you while you’re down, and then picks you back up again? I thought I’d put all that behind me, but joke’s on me because 2019 was another challenging year. Thankfully, many of this year’s challenges were self-made and they wound up making me even stronger than before.

I’ll likely still write a 2019 recap post (even if my parents are the only ones interested in reading it — ha!), but I wanted to dedicate an entire blog post to my 2020 goals. Partially because sharing my personal and blogging goals holds me accountable and lights a fire under my tushy to actually make things happen, but also because there are a few goals I’d love some input on. So if you’re a blogger or you work online somehow, I’d love your feedback on my blogging goals in particular. There are a couple places where I’m really struggling, and your guidance is appreciated!

2020 Blogging Goals

Write 2 blog posts per week

In 2019, Tall Girl Big World’s traffic was the highest it’s ever been, which I attribute largely to my consistent posting schedule. At the beginning of the year, I created my first editorial calendar and told myself I’d publish two blog posts per week. For the most part, I stuck to that goal. Things got a little rocky when I moved from the US to Germany, and I’ve experienced my fair share of writer’s block due to the stress of the move. While I wish I could’ve had a perfect year and met my goal in its entirety, I knew when I set myself the challenge of two posts per week that I’d have periods throughout the year when it wouldn’t be feasible to publish anything. But that’s why you set goals, right? To challenge yourself, and to develop your skills.

Looking ahead to 2020, I know I can’t commit to more than 2 blog posts per week. That goal was challenging enough this year, so I’m committing to 2 posts per week next year as well. I’ve already started mapping out my editorial calendar and am so excited to share more travel content with you guys!

Post to Instagram 3 times per week

One blogging task I’ve really struggled with this year is creating engaging, useful Instagram posts. The truth is, I felt close to burnout a few times this year. My transatlantic move sapped my mental energy and during the visa process the last thing I felt like doing was hopping onto Instagram. In 2020, I’m aiming to post photos to Instagram at least three times per week. But know that I don’t want to post just to post. I feel like Instagram has turned into a highlight reel — it seems like all I see my fellow travel bloggers posting about is their fabulous PR trips and swanky meals.

Obviously I’ll keep posting photos from my travels on Instagram (I am a travel blogger, after all!). But next year I’m giving myself permission to post more about my everyday life as well, whether that be updates on my freelance work, room décor updates, and more. I definitely want my account to remain travel-focused, but I feel so much more myself when I talk about what’s really going on with my life on Instagram. My life isn’t perfect, so why should my Instagram feed make it look like it is?

Consistently share Instagram stories

Instagram and I have a love-hate relationship. On the one hand, editing photos and posting them to my feed stresses me out. What should my caption be? Will people think this is boring? I want to give tips, but what’s worth sharing? But on the other hand, I actually love sharing Instagram stories. I feel like it’s the wild west of social media. I rarely edit the photos I share on stories (they’re just snapped on my phone), and it’s so easy to whip out my phone and take a quick video of whatever I’m up to at the moment.

But as much fun as I have on stories, I’ll admit that I’m not the best at posting on them. When I’m with friends, I try not to have my phone out too much because I want them to know I’m focused 100% on them. But I think trying to find a balance between sharing stories throughout the day and being present in the moment is worth exploring.

Figure out Pinterest

Okay, I know goals work best when you set concrete numbers and such, but I don’t even know where to start when it comes to figuring out Pinterest (PS. You can follow my Pinterest account here!). SEO is my specialty and I think I write fairly well, but Pinterest? Forget about it! I currently make pins for each blog post I publish, but I typically only pin them to a board on Pinterest once and then forget about them. I know quite a few bloggers who get thousands of page views from Pinterest every month, and I’m itching to learn their secrets. I’ve heard of a scheduling tool called Tailwind, but I’m not sure how it works. If I can to a point in 2020 where I’m consistently getting 2k+ page views per month from Pinterest, I’d be a happy clam. (Hey, that’s a concrete goal! I did it!).

Hit 25k sessions per month

I know it sounds silly, but I’m a little nervous to type out this goal simply because sharing it with you all makes it real. I’m currently a far cry from 25,000 sessions per month, but I’d love to hit that number by the end of 2020 so I can apply for the ad network Mediavine. The reason I’m nervous about sharing this goal is because it seems like such a huge milestone in my blogging journey. Once I sign up for Mediavine, I can start making more money from Tall Girl Big World, which would bring me one step closer to my current life goal: to have my blog be my main source of income.

Here’s how I plan on achieving this traffic goal:

Publishing 2 blog posts per week
Conduct more thorough SEO keyword research for each new blog post
Continually updating older blog posts so their information is always relevant and correct
Share new posts on all social media platforms
Utilize Pinterest to drive more traffic to my blog

2020 Personal Goals

Read 24 books

Growing up, I was a step beyond being an “avid reader.” I was an obsessive reader. Literally any spare moment of my day was spent with my nose buried in a book. Looking back, the number of books I was able to devour in just one week was truly astonishing. My dad used to take my brother and I to the library on Sundays, and some weeks I’d return home with six or more books. Six! In a week! I actually got in trouble a few times in school for reading books under my desk.

All that’s to say that I’m a huge reader, but I’ve been reading less and less over the past few years. Between graduating college, moving to NYC, getting a full-time job, losing my full-time job, and moving to Germany, I haven’t prioritized reading like I should have. I sleep so much better when I limit my screen time and spend the last hour to 90 minutes before bed reading. It’s so easy for me to make excuses why I don’t have time to read — I need to write a blog post (my personal favorite excuse), there’s a show on Netflix I want to watch, and so on. But reading not only keeps my anxiety at bay, it also improves my writing. Even though I don’t read travel-related novels, reading good writing every single day fuels my own creativity and helps me write more freely.

So, my goal is to read at least two books every month in 2020. That’s 24 books total. Think I can do it?

Explore more of Germany

When I studied abroad in Freiburg, Germany, I explored very little of the rest of Germany. Looking back at my semester abroad, I seriously regret not taking the time to see more of the wonderful country I was living in. I was too focused on visiting all the other popular spots in Europe that I let Germany sit on the back burner. Since moving to Berlin, I’ve visited a few cities in the area (Schwerin, Hamburg, and soon Dresden, to name a few). But in 2020 I plan on taking more weekend trips to see Germany’s beautiful towns. If I’m not able to renew my visa in two years, I don’t want too look back at this chapter of my life and think, “Man, I should’ve done more in the area.”

Give myself more time off work

As many of you know, I began freelancing at the end of 2018. This year has been a great year for me business-wise. I have a full roster of clients, and I’ve gotten to the point where I’m having to turn down projects. I’m proud of myself for having come this far, but it wasn’t until I visited Copenhagen in October that I gave myself a real vacation. I didn’t work for an entire week, and it was sheer bliss. 10 months is far too long without a vacation, in my opinion. And had I not taken off work to go to Copenhagen I have no doubt I’d be ringing in the new year with a serious case of burnout.

In 2020, I want to take more time off work. I need to figure out how to balance a full workload and take real vacations. It’s tricky managing this as a freelancer because I don’t get PTO. If I don’t work, I don’t get paid. But my brief stint in Copenhagen showed me that the world will keep turning if I turn off my computer, so I plan on doing that more often next year.

Be more proactive with my trip planning

In that vein, I’m also setting the personal goal of being more proactive about planning my trips. Again, 2019 was a weird year for me since I moved countries. Once I moved to Germany, I wasn’t allowed to leave the country for 90 days since I didn’t have a visa yet. Because of that, I waited until the last minute to plan the trips I took later in the year (after all, what’s the point of getting excited to travel somewhere if you’re not sure you’ll even be allowed to go?). I’ve now fallen into a rut of planning everything at the last minute, which makes it tougher for me to schedule time off and stresses me out to no end.

I’ve already begun chipping away at this goal — I have a trip to Mallorca booked for the end of January and a trip to Italy with my mom in October. I have a few more trips in the works at the moment, but I’m feeling better about having solid travel plans for 2020.

Plan more fun activities during the workweek

I know this goal is probably a no brainer for most people, but I’m an introvert at heart and it’s far too easy for me to stay cooped up in my apartment until the weekend rolls around. Again, it’s so easy to make excuses as to why I shouldn’t leave the house. I’m either too tired, or I had a long work day, or I know my weekend will be busy so I should enjoy the alone time right now. But I’m so much happier when I get out of the house once or twice during the workweek and meet up with friends. I often get stuck in my own daily routine, so it’s nice when a friend asks me out to dinner or wants to do something fun together. 2020 will be the year when I initiate the fun activities. I know my friends and I all lead busy lives, but I want us to spend more time together — even if that means a quick drink after work before we head back home to make dinner.

Thanks for taking the time to read through my 2020 goals. If you have any advice you’d like to share about any of my goals, please leave a comment down below!

Tell me: What’s one goal you’re setting for yourself for the new year?

My 2020 Personal & Blogging Goals