Do you still remember what you promised six months ago? Have you tracked how you’ve been doing? For couple years I’ve posted my goals and updates on how I’m doing to here. Posting or sharing your goals can help you remember them and to stay more motivated.

 

In this post, I’ll look back the last 6 months and tell how I’m doing with my 2018 resolutions.

 

 

 

New Years Resolutions 2018 – Half Way There, How am I Doing?

 

 

1. Studies & Work

 

Above: Studying in Ibiza

 

I promised to…

 

– Pass all the medical courses

– Do at least 30 credits (15 US credits) of economics

– Do my best every day at work

– Earn money for a) wedding and honeymoon, b) some investments and c) start saving for 2019 travels

– Improve my Photoshop, Premiere and Lightroom skills

 

 

How I Did?

 

Above:  Student life in med school

 

So far I have passed most of the medical courses – I’ve done all the mandatory lectures (except 2 that I missed because of influenza), however, I struggled a bit with some exams so there is couple waiting for me at fall. What comes to economics, I’ve done 12 credits (6 US credits) so far. During the fall semester, there will be some more courses of both coming.

 

We have around earned the amount of money we need for the wedding. The honeymoon is also partly paid and during it, we’ll get one-month salaries so we should be fine. I haven’t been investing much but I’ve kept all I’ve had and bought a bit shares of the company I work for and I also bought an apartment. However, I’m meeting my investment advisor soon and we’ll plan my 18-month-plan – investing should turn a lot easier after the wedding. After honeymoon, it will be a great time to also start saving some money for upcoming travels.

 

I haven’t done much with Lightroom but I think I’ve maintained my skills. I tried to do videos to Shutterstock with Premiere but I think I still don’t quite handle that software though. I should find someone to teach me at some point.

 

What comes to Photoshop I’ve gone a bit crazy with it in a good way lately. I’ve started doing some fantasy themed colorful photos of nature (soooo cool, I love those colors and mystique they have!) – you can see some in my Shutterstock portfolio here.

 

Another thing I’ve got into is illustrating with Photoshop. I know really nothing about it but I just started drawing and now some of my work is on sale in Shutterstock and Alamy. Illustrating is fun and I’m hungry to learn more about it. Anyone else here into Illustrating?

 

 

 

2. Live Healthy & Look Good

 

Above: Tuna Avocado Salad in Ibiza – staying healthy while traveling

 

I promised to…

 

– Exercise at least 3-5 times a week

– Try at least 3 new sports

– Eat more greens and learn new healthier recipes

– Keep drinking a lot of water

– Cook healthy food more often

– Get more fit body – more tight muscle with the same or little lighter weight

– Find time to relax every week

 

 

How I Did?

 

Above: Gym time in a hotel gym in Kuopio, Finland

 

I have been exercising mostly 3-5 times a week except during my sick leave after the rhinoplasty. So far I’ve also tried one new sporty thing – it was a group fitness class called Warrior X (super upbeat class into which I’ll probably go never again but at least I tried haha!).

 

I love cooking and we have tried plenty of new healthy recipes. I’ve also done quite okay with drinking water and cooking.

 

What comes to getting fit I got fit, lost the fit and now I’m working on it again haha. Fortunately, we have a fitness challenge going on at work for this month so I can a) win and b) get fit simultaneously.

 

Of the goals in this category, the relaxing weekly has definitely been the hardest one. I might (with good luck) find a couple of minutes to relax some weeks but mostly I’ve been extremely busy, especially from January to April while I was studying and working simultaneously.

 

 

 

3. Travel & Explore

 

Above:  Flying over the Alps, ready to land to Geneva soon

 

I promised to…

 

– Travel to at least 5 countries, of which to at least 3 new ones

– Have a mini holidays in Finland at least twice

– Do posts about Finland too

– do honeymoon travel planning + post about ideas and plans

+ If possible I’d like to participate in at least one blogger meeting / event

 

 

How I Did?

 

Above:  Enjoying hotel breakfast in Ibiza

 

So far I’ve traveled to 3 countries, Spain, Switzerland and Estonia (and stayed in airport hotels in the Netherlands which doesn’t count). Of these, none were new to me. However, the honeymoon is soon and then we’ll be exploring plenty of new places I should not have any issues with reaching that 3 new ones target.

 

Honeymoon travel planning post is still yet to come but I’ve already planned to post about our plans during next couple weeks. Stay tuned! I’m not doing too well on posting about Finland but I promise that we’ll get there soon.

 

Finally, I have participated an event as a blogger. That event was the Nordic Travel Fair in Helsinki in January 2018. I hope there will be plenty of events coming during upcoming years.

 

 

 

4. Improve My Social Media & Related

 

Above:  Illustrating with Photoshop

 

I promised to…

 

– Publish quest post(s) in this blog (read this if you’re interested in a collab!)

– Write at least 2 articles to somewhere else

– Do at least 5 sponsored posts

– Get more visits, visitors, likes and comments than last year

– Get back on track with Instagram and Blog’s Facebook

– Be more active in LinkedIn and keep it up to date

– Leave more comments to blogs and Instagram

– Figure out how to make a career around social and creativity

– Be more constant and do 2-4 posts every week – no more than that. My focus will be on quality and consistency

– Raise my domain authority (January: 26.1) and page authority (January: 38.1), do these with better SEO and commenting  blogs with higher ranks

– Add at least 100 new photos to Shutterstock

 

 

How I Did?

 

Above:  Having fun with a photoshoot by the sea in Westend, Espoo, Finland

 

I’ve published 3 quest posts here – yeah! 🙂 One about Morocco by Maria and two by Rohit, one about hiking trails and another about packing. So far I haven’t written any to other sites.

 

I hope that this year will bring me a couple more wonderful guest posts and I wish I’ll have some time to write for other blogs or sites myself too. Let me know if you’re a fellow blogger or writer and interested in collaboration!

 

What comes to sponsored content I’ve only done one sponsored post about my travel bucket list. I have been super busy with other things and thus I have said no to couple cooperation possibilities. If I cooperate with a company I want to do it well and meet the deadline. Anyhow, I try to achieve doing the missing four by the end of 2018.

 

If I keep up same way I should get more visits, visitors, likes and comments this year.

 

Because of being busy in every area of life I have focused more on the blog than other social media forms around it. I’ve done some Insta stories and my FB shares to blog posts but that’s basically it. I know that I should do a social media calendar and start to schedule some content to all of the social media platforms.

 

Above: A cake party I hosted during March. There will be recipes to all these cakes shared later this year – this kind of content is what you can easily schedule to the future without it becoming irrelevant

 

Irrespective of the lack of time, I’ve kept my blog consistent with good planning and scheduling. I believe that this can be the first year when I go 12 months with consistent 2-4 post per week. So far I’ve posted 3-4 times every week from January to May, yeah!

 

I’ve been able to increase both my Domain and Page Authority. Nowadays my DA is 32.0 (was 26.1 on January) and PA is 41.0 (was 38.1 on January). Because the scale from 0-100 is algorithmic I’ve done quite well within a bit over 5 months I think. You can count your numbers for example with this calculator for free (in Finnish but you just copy your link and click “Laske” so it’s easy for non-Finn too).

 

Above:  shooting some nature photos to the photo stocks

 

And lastly, what comes to stock photography I’ve added 120 photos to Shutterstock already and nowadays I’m also selling photos in Alamy, 123RF, iStock and Dreamstime. I wish to launch in couple more platforms within next year. It feels good to have my own business around things I love.

 

 

 

5. Be Social

 

Above:  In Tallinn, Estonia with some friends (sneakpeak to my bachelorette party – more of it will be shared soon!)

 

I promised to…

 

– Meet friends and do something fun as often as last year

– Network with some new people in areas I’m interested

– Use LinkedIn to learn from others and to discuss

– Find new people to follow and start reading books and listening Podcasts

– Organize something fun with friends at least 4 times this year (wine tastings, beach volley, board game nights, etc)

 

 

How I Did?

 

Above: Meeting some new people and some old friends in my brother’s 1st May party

 

I don’t honestly know how I figured the scheduling but I actually spent quite much time with friends so far this year and I’ve also networked with some new people in real life and also via social media.

 

I’ve organized two wine tastings and one cake party so far. I’ve also listened to some ebooks and podcasts but I could have done better in this area. I guess I know how to spent time in a car next fall.

 

Above: Winter in Ibiza

 

Did you do any resolutions for this year? How are you doing with those?