2017: My Year in Review + 2018 Goals + GIVEAWAY!!

In all honesty, I’m pretty shocked at how quickly 2017 ended and how fast 2018 arrived. It feels like barely any time has passed since this time last year yet so much has changed in my life and I’ve experienced so many new, amazing things! Like plenty of other bloggers out there, I figured it would be good to do a 2017 Year in Review and 2018 Goals post in order to effectively wrap up my year and start 2018 off with a running start.

I also wanted to give you all a sneak peek of a little something I’ve been cooking up for you, my readers! Who’s ready for a giveaway to start 2018 off on the right foot, and to make sure that we’re as consistent and productive in our endeavors as possible? Then make sure to read through for a sneak peek of the deets!

2017: My Year in Review

What did I accomplish?

GatorMUN XIV

For those of you who know me personally, you know exactly what this. For those of you who don’t know me personally, GatorMUN is a high school Model United Nations conference put on by the University of Florida for which I was the Secretary-General last year! Over 800 high school students, 80 advisers, and 130 staffers attended the conference early in January, where the students competed in 21 different Model UN committees that simulated the United Nations General Assembly bodies as well as historical and futuristic crises. I and my secretariat worked incredibly hard for the entirety of 2016 to get the conference ready and make it the best it could possibly be, and it was largest and best run GatorMUN yet. Being in charge of GatorMUN was my most fulfilling college experience and I loved every second of it!

Graduation with Honors

This, obviously, is a big one. I graduated from the University of Florida Magna Cum Laude at the very end of April with a double major in International Studies and French and Francophone Studies and walking across that stage with my best friends is one of my favorite 2017 memories. Another accomplishment that I couldn’t be prouder of: I was awarded Magna Cum Laude for my honors thesis on Turkey’s accession to the European Union! 77 pages and hundreds of researching hours later I couldn’t have been happier with how it turned out, nor prouder for the amount of time, effort, and energy that I put into it. It’s still my favorite document that I have ever written!

Career at EY

How could I not mention this one? After all, this is a career and lifestyle blog! After traveling around the country to do job interviews I landed my dream job at Ernst & Young in their brand new Jacksonville, FL location, conveniently the same city that my boyfriend was already living and working in. Ever since starting my new position I’ve learned so much about responsibility, time management, financial management, and the list honestly goes on. The work that I do is fulfilling, I’m constantly challenged and given opportunities to showcase my professional skills and develop new ones as well. As of December 26th I’ve worked here for 6 months and I can’t wait to see what the next 6 months bring!

One Year with my Boyfriend

Sappy, sappy, I know, but I couldn’t not include this one! October 16th, 2017 marked a full year that my boyfriend Fred and I have been dating. While this isn’t the longest relationship either of us have had, I can honestly say on my end that I’ve never been in a more supportive, loving, exciting, comfortable, or caring relationship. He’s honestly the best guy ever and I can’t wait to spend many more years with him, and to see what our next year together holds for us!

My Blog

Another obvious one, don’t you think? I officially launched Signed, Logan back in August to coincide with the start of the school year at most universities, and man, have I learned a lot since then! It’s been just under five months of sharing content with you all on topics that most young professionals need to know about and I’m so excited about where this blog has taken me. I’ve met some of the most amazing people in the blogging community, heard from many young professionals who appreciate my content, and received some incredible resources and feedback from other bloggers that I’ve had the absolute privilege to get to know! I can’t wait to see what 2018 brings me and what I can accomplish in this space!

What could I have improved?

Consistency

This has almost always been something that I have struggled with in any new project that I take on or begin. I have a pretty bad tendency to get really into something at the very beginning and then, as time goes on, it slowly fades from my priorities list and I gradually let it fall by the wayside in favor of something “newer.” I experienced that with my blog back in November: I took about a three-week break from posting anything because my life became stressful due to work obligations, getting back into fitness, and just a lack of motivation to sit down and write after a nine-hour workday. Either way, consistency for my blog in 2018 is an absolute priority!

[Read on: 3 New Year’s Resolutions Mistakes You’re Making + FREE PRINTABLE]

The theme of 2018 is going to be consistency: in my blog, in my health, and in my work ethic! Click To Tweet

Health

It’s not that I’m not healthy, because I am — it’s just that I wasn’t able to stick to my health goals I had tried to make at the beginning of 2017 because all of the drastic life changes that I went through (a new semester, being home for six weeks, moving to a new city, etc). I would work out consistently for a couple weeks and then drop off, or I (once again) wouldn’t make it a priority in my life. I’m already making efforts to change that, though, as I’ve started to consistently go to yoga classes and I’ve purchased a kickboxing fitness membership too! We’ll see what 2018 brings.

[Read on: How to avoid over-eating, from a self-proclaimed over-eater]

The focus should be on getting healthy, not on losing X amount of weight. Change your mindset to think about what you're GAINING (a healthier lifestyle) instead of what you're losing! Click To Tweet

Personal Relationships

I’ve always known that I’m a much better friend by proximity than anything else, but when you graduate from college that becomes a serious problem that you need to overcome and I’m not quite there yet. I’m a terrible texter, which was never a problem in college because if I didn’t text someone back I was basically guaranteed to see them within a day and could continue the conversation in person. Now? It could be months before I see that person again, so that method definitely doesn’t work. Moving forward I need to make connecting with my friends who aren’t in my immediate vicinity a priority!

Cultivating and maintaining friendships is an intentional practice that is well worth the amount of effort you expend! Click To Tweet

2018: My goals for the future (and how I’ll achieve them!)

My Blog

Oh man, I have so many goals for 2018 for my blog that I’m honestly a little overwhelmed about how I’m going to achieve them all! But the one goal that stands out amongst all the rest is that I want to grow genuine audience engagement and build up my core readership. How am I going to do that, exactly? By staying active on social media (even if Instagram is an eternal frustration of mine), supporting other bloggers, and creating honest, quality original content that my audience will want to read. Don’t worry, I have it all laid out even more in-depth on my printable that I made last week, so I promise I know more about what I’m doing than it sounds! (Want to get your own copy of my printable to fill out? Just signed up for my email list in the sidebar! —>)

My Career

It’s no secret to anyone who has talked to me about work that I want to be promoted by the time the next promotion cycle comes around. There are two possible outcomes that everyone gets when they’ve been with the firm for a year by the time October hits: you can either be “progressed” to the next stage or you can be “promoted” to the stage after that. I’ve been working incredibly hard for the past six months at any task put in front of me and I’ve always been proactive about seeking out more work and responsibility, something that I will wholeheartedly continue throughout 2018. I’m hoping that all of my effort pays off at the end of the day!

[Related: How to Build Your Professional Brand]

Consistently exceeding expectations and working hard at assigned tasks are the number one way to get noticed in the workplace. Just keep chugging along! Click To Tweet

My Health

This is a big one! My goal for 2018 is to drop two pants sizes by the time my trip to Germany rolls around in June, which is a completely attainable goal to do over the course of six months. As of right now I tend to have the “eating healthy” aspect of losing weight down, it’s just the exercising aspect that tends to escape me so that’s the area I’m focusing on. I have a membership both at a yoga studio and a kickboxing fitness gym for the new year, so I hope to use those extensively! And as for my AIM? Ideally kickboxing 3 times a week, yoga two times a week. And at minimum I want to go to one or the other once a week, but hopefully I’ll go more than that!

[Read on: How to Make Working Out Work for You]

Final Thoughts

In all honesty, had you told me at the beginning of 2017 that I would have accomplished all that I did and that I would be where I am now, I probably would have laughed. There aren’t words to describe how well my life has progressed this year to end-of-2016 me, and I’m hoping that the same will be true at this time next year when I complete the 2018 version of this post! One thing is for sure: I’m diving headfirst into 2018 more motivated, confident, and excited about all of the possibilities than ever before.

So so long, 2017, I miss you already — and hello to the new realm of possibilities, 2018!

P.S.: Remember that giveaway that I mentioned?

That’s right, I’m hosting a giveaway for my readers to help you all start 2018 off on the right foot with your blogs and endeavors so that we can make this year our most productive, successful year yet! Be on the lookout for a dedicated post later this week where I’ll have all of the specifics regarding how you can enter (and win!) the amazing bundle I have for you below (plus even more)!

So stay tuned to get all of the info on how to enter! I’ll give you a hint though, signing up for my email list will definitely benefit you! 😉

Happy New Year everyone!

What was your greatest accomplishment of 2017? What’s your biggest goal for 2018?

• 3 New Year’s Resolutions Mistakes You’re Making + FREE PRINTABLE

• How to Make Working Out Work for You

• How to avoid over-eating, from a self-proclaimed over-eater

• How to Build Your Professional Brand

• Choosing the Planner Set Up Best Suited for Your Life

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