It feels like New Years Day was just yesterday but we’re already a tenth of the way through 2017! Crazy!
How are you doing on your 2017 goals?
To be honest, I’m crushing it in some areas and failing miserably in others.
Goals That I’m Failing On
Workout 200 Times This Year = NOT STARTED
I set a goal to work out 200 times this year and I haven’t worked out once!
I just haven’t made exercising enough of a priority this year.
I do have a 44 pound Cast Iron Kettlebell
that I keep in the corner of my apartment and everyday I do at least 30 kettlebell deadlifts. Sometimes if I get real crazy, I do swings.
I don’t consider that a workout since it takes less than 5 minutes. It’s better than doing nothing though.
Luckily I have more than 200 days left in the year so I can still hit my goal if I make the effort. And I plan to!
Schedule More Date Nights with My Husband = IN PROGRESS
My husband and I are addicted to personal development.
Our go-to date for the past four years has been sitting at a coffee shop, working on our blogs, or reading business books, or brainstorming ideas.
We don’t really go on normal people dates like the movies or hiking.
One of my goals for this year is to carve out more time with each other where we can just relax.
This is easier said than done for us because we’re always go-go-go and we have huge dreams.
We’re working on taking time to relax.
Goals That I’m Crushing!
Continue To Further My Career = IN PROGRESS
I graduated with my Masters a few weeks ago, which was mostly paid for with tuition reimbursement.
I’m now offering 1×1 career coaching to a small number of clients. Click here to learn more.
Pay Off My Parent’s Parent PLUS Loans = COMPLETE
Last year, I found out that my parents were still paying Parent PLUS loans for my college tuition.
For those of you who don’t know what these are, Parent PLUS loans are federal loans that your parents can take out for your education.
Unlike direct student loans which have a cap, Parent PLUS loans can be taken out for the full cost of attendance.
Unfortunately, my parents started taking out Parent PLUS loans nearly 10 years ago when interest rates were at 9%. Ugh!
Since they took it out for my education, I had set a goal to help my parents pay off the rest of that debt ASAP.
Just tonight, I paid off the $6,900 of the loan that was left for my tuition.
I had originally hoped to help them pay off the full total but the remaining loans are for my sibling’s education.
In the end, I decided to just pay off the $6,900 in my name for now and use the extra cash I have to create cash-flow that can help my parents out in later years.
I’ve now paid off nearly $96,000 of debt in total. WOWZA.
I also looked into refinancing their Parent PLUS loans into my name. I recommend SoFi if you have student loans that you’re looking to refinance. We’ve helped hundreds of readers save thousands on their student loans by refinancing into paying a lower interest rate. I also know for a fact that SoFi lets you refinance Parent PLUS loans into your name since I asked them about that in 2016 when I was researching doing this.
Generate $18k in Side Income = IN PROGRESS
I set a goal to generate an extra $18k in side income this year.
$18k is the amount you can contribute to a 401(k) and I’ve consistently maxed out my 401(k) the last few years.
My husband no longer has access to a 401(k) so I want to help him out. I will hire him to help with the blog.
I’m killing it on this goal so far!
Just this January, I made nearly $800 in side income. Most of that money was from blogging. Check out my January side income report for all of the deets.
Even though I still have $17,500 to go, I’m confident with the pace I’m scaling that I’ll get there this year.
I’m also offering blog coaching if you’re interested in learning how I create passive income blogging. Sign up for blog coaching here.
I also have a physical product business that I plan to launch late February/early March which I hope will generate more passive income.
After hours of research, I made an order for a product and expect it to ship late next week.
My husband made an order for a different product and we’re both going to launch our businesses together.
Moving Forward With 2017 Goals
Overall, I’m super psyched with my progress so far on 2017 goals. I’ve already saved over $10,000 in my retirement accounts and we’re rushing towards early retirement.
For the next tenth of the year, I need to focus on improving my health, spending more quality time with my husband, and maintaining my current progress.
How are you doing on your 2017 goals? Are you 10% of the way done with most of your goals?
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I think that’s awesome that you are paying back the loans your parents took out for you! My parents didn’t take out any loans but helped me pay quite a few bills in college. I hope to be able to repay them in some way down the road.
Thanks! It’s a great feeling to be able to pay your parents back for sure!
Congratulations on crushing your goals! There’s still plenty of time left in 2017! Wish I found out about your blog earlier!
Thank you! Good luck this year!
10% already? Time flies!
Sounds like you’re crushing those goals (except for the gym, lol) and I’m excited to read about you making $18k in blog income by the end of the year. I bet you’ll exceed it! Whoever signs up for your coaching services is gonna be real lucky to have you as a mentor.
10%?! Wow!! We are making steady progress on all fronts. We paid off 3 more student loans this year! One more to go.
Garrett has a new biz idea we’ve been working on, so I hear you on the struggle for balance. We’re working on the biz together, but is that quality time? Maybe. Maybe not. We have also been making a point to shutdown, but then we start talking about our new ideas. Haha!!
Looks to me like you’re doing pretty well so far! I’m similar in that I seem to focus on financial and career goals rather than fitness goals, and the results speak for themselves. I think I need to find a little more balance, but for whatever reason, I always struggle with this. Maybe because money is easy to count while other things are often harder?
Haha yeah I think we all prioritize things in our life and it’s hard to prioritize everything. For me, I can get into a regular workout routine when I’m NOT stressed at work. When I’m stressed, the workout routine falls to the side (when I actually need it the most ironically). Good luck this year!
Love to hear more about your Amazon biz as you go!
I’m on track so far to hit my $100k NW goal this year. Other key things are save to renovate the kitchen, figure out next career step, and focus on the blog and create a digital product.
Congrats! Looking forward to hearing more about that digital product!! I will definitely be writing about my Amazon product in the coming weeks.
Paying off loan’s taken out by your parents is such an incredible feeling. We paid off student loans my in-laws had been carrying from my husband’s undergrad a couple years ago and they were so proud. Proves the return on investment of a good education!
Also love re-framing early February as 10% of the year! It is too easy to think of the year as having barely started and slide way behind.
When I realized it was 10% of the way through 2017, I was like crap – got to get going!! Congrats on paying off your in-laws student loans. It’s great to be able to give back!
The title of your post totally gave me a “crap – got to get going!” feeling too. I wanted to start a blog for 2017 and only started a few days ago – oops! At least I have 90% of the year left!
Good luck with the rest of your goals this year!
Congrats on joining the blogging community and love the glass half full mentality! 90% of the year is left!
Congrats on the success so far, Julie!
Is the Amazon business selling with FBA? I’d love to hear more. I started the process of starting one last year. I got samples from Alibaba and did a lot of research on finding a profitable product using the “Jungle Scout” tool. At the time I decided to prioritize debt payoff and not pursue it. Hopefully, I can get back into it later this year to create another income stream.
For me, So far I am doing well prioritizing my money goals; I’ll be debt free by the end of March and have produced some side income with flipping on Ebay. I’m reading a lot and listening to a lot of good podcasts/audiobooks as well.
I had a solid morning routine but have been slacking on it the last few weeks. Also, I haven’t been consistent in writing content and improving my blog. I hope to improve on these in the next couple of months.
Congrats on the upcoming debt payoff target! Woot Woot! Yeah, I totally agree. It can be tough to get into the blogging rhythm. I had intended to post only on certain days in 2017 to keep me to a regular schedule (such as Mondays and Wednesdays) but then life got in the way!
Sounds like you’re doing an awesome job on your goals!!
Thank you!
Nice work so far Julie! Cannot believe it’s almost March! I think we’ve been on track with our blog goals so far, but there are definitely things like monetization we’d love to speed up a bit. However, we’re still trying to build awareness about the blog.
Definitely keep up with your fitness goal though! Maybe even break it down into monthly or weekly goal sessions? I try to get to the gym at least 4 times a week and it’s so much easier to stay motivated when I just set myself weekly goals 🙂
Amanda xx
Thanks, Amanda! I know, I need to totally get on that! Congrats on hitting your blog goals!
I recently found your site and so appreciate you sharing your wins, they are a great inspiration. My year has started off with a bang so I hope to overshoot my goals. I love how striving toward goals you truly want doesn’t feel like work, but more like play.