New Year's Resolutions you can actually accomplish
Imagine sitting in a room of people, asking anyone who has successfully seen their new year’s resolution through to December to please raise their hand. Likely, you’d be met with uncomfortable shuffles and lowered eyes—not to mention your own guilt for “accidentally” losing your yoga pass two weeks into January. But New Year’s resolutions aren’t all destined to fail—and they can actually be a really useful tool for growth. The key to accomplishing your New Year’s resolutions is making them accomplishable.
Especially when it comes to your business, setting goals with a specific and realistic timeline is a good start. If those goals excite you—even better. (You can set all the reminders your phone can handle, but if you aren’t excited about 8D fan drilling, you’re never going to do it). Instead of giving yourself generic resolutions you can easily slip out of, turn your ambitions into goals you not only want to accomplish, but can.
What you want: To be more active on your business social media
The resolution: Post to Instagram 3x a week
Whether Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter is your preferred platform, getting your work into the world via social media is an important part of building a local and even global following—plus it’s free advertising. But “more active” is not really a quantity you can measure. By giving yourself a quota, whether it’s a few times a week, daily, or even multiple times per day (thank god for scheduling apps) you can turn a vague goal into an achievable one. Plus, you don’t have to wait until the end of the year to see if—like your miserable Downward Dog—you’ve gotten any better at it. Every week you get those three gorgeous photos up you’ve met your goal, and having that sense of accomplishment throughout the year will motivate you to keep going.
What you want: To have better work/life balance
The resolution: Take Sundays (or Tuesdays, or Fridays) off
The search for a balanced life is a common goal—it’s also the epitome of a vague resolution. If your aim is better work/life balance, start small. Pick one aspect of your work or home life you want to change (turning your phone off after 9pm; actually taking a day off every week; or meditating for 5 minutes a day) and focus on that. Trying to tackle everything at once will leave you feeling like you haven’t gotten anywhere. But meditating for 5 minutes every morning? That you can do. Sure, you might miss a few days—or twenty—but every day you do meditate will be a micro-accomplishment and one more step toward a more balanced life.
What you want: To grow your skill as a lash artist
The resolution: Take one course
You’re already growing with every lash set you create, but chances are, you’re looking for a more specific type of improvement in your skill. Maybe you want to take the leap into volume lashing, or become a master stylist. Rather than just hoping for “better” this year, set your sights on a specific technique and take a course. LashPRO Academy has a lineup of online courses and private training opportunities, including classic lashing, volume lashing, and lash lifting. Not only will you elevate your lash (and business) skill in a real way, you’ll get a document of completion to prove it. Or enroll in LashPRO Accelerator™ 2018, the first online business course created specifically for lash artists that teaches branding, marketing, lash skill, business skill, and self-care. Every week you’ll get new modules, and real, specific ways to implement changes into your business.
What you want: To show inner corners who’s boss
The resolution: Do them first, and lash every. single. one.
In The Volume Course Online, Christina Ballstaedt talks about getting over her aversion to inner lashes, and deciding to make them her favourite. And while this goal is much more specific than “growing your skill”, it can be hard to know where to start, and even harder to measure. How exactly do you get better at inner corner lashes? And is “better” good enough? Instead, commit to working on the inner corners first, and to lashing every single inner corner lash before moving on. By devoting yourself to those two things, you’re not only giving yourself a realistic and measurable goal, you’re starting each set off with an achievement! Shop our favourite tweezers for inner corners here.
So as 2018 approaches, and you think about what you and your business need to prosper in the coming year, remember to narrow your goals down. Make your resolutions specific, achievable, and get excited about them! You might just be the one raising your hand next year.
