PP 531: As Shared on My Blog, My 19 for 2019

Welcome back to another episode of Positive Productivity. This is your host, Kim Sutton, and today I want to share with you a blog article that I just put out two days ago because I thought that some of you could use to hear it and you may not read the blog, which is totally okay. Trust me, I don’t read blogs, but I love to write, and sometimes it’s easier for me to get the word out. via, written word versus spoken word.

The title of this article was, “My 19 for 2019,” and it was inspired by Gretchen Rubin, who in the past has done a list for the beginning of a year. Unlike New Year’s Resolutions, this is a list of goals that I would love to accomplish over the course of 2019. Some are small, some are big, but without further ado, let me just jump in and share my list with you.

Before I do that though, you know I am always very transparent, so some of these may surprise you, especially considering how small some of them are. It may also surprise you how just completely open I am with you about some of these topics, but I don’t see the point in sharing with you if I’m not going to open up and be completely honest.

So now I’ll try one more time. Without further ado, here is my 19 for 2019 list

Number one: I want to save at least $20 a week. My friends, I have not yet passed a six-figure year. It’s not because I don’t work hard, because I can tell you that I most definitely do, but not breaking a six figure year doesn’t necessarily have to do with the lack of savings that Dave and I have.

We have struggled in the past, and we continue to struggle with, getting significant sums of money in and then not necessarily saving them as we should, or saving any part. So, this year I simply want to save $20 a week so that at the end of the year, when holidays come around, we’re not scrambling. And, I’ll tell you that we have scrambled in the past. So, number one is save at least $20 a week.

Number two is write at least one blog a week for Positive Productivity. As I already shared, I love to write for the blog, and sometimes it’s just a whole lot easier for me to write than it is for me to speak — especially when I’ve got the littles in the background, which I do today, so you may hear them.

I would love to build the blog and also to get contributors. By the way, if you’re interested in being a contributor, you can go to the show notes page for this episode and submit an application — it will be in the sidebar to the right — but I would love to build the blog to be a huge, great resource for people like you who are looking for tips in the areas of self-care, systems and or support.

One blog a week will give me so much content to share across social media, and right now, Pinterest is really working for me. My followers are really responding well to blog articles and I want to continue to keep that up.

Number three is secure my first speaking gig. While I have been on the stage before, I have never been paid or necessarily asked, well I guess it’s not really the truth. I have been asked to speak before, it’s just that it was at a bad time, but, this year I would love to secure my first speaking gig.

I think it’s really important that I get out there and share the message of Positive Productivity and let people know that there is hope. Even when our businesses aren’t going well, we can still stand up and keep moving forward.

Number four is contribute article to major publication. I have tried in the past to contribute to Inc. or Fast Company or Entrepreneur, and because of the nature of what I write about, it hasn’t necessarily been accepted. They want actionable steps, not necessarily always the mindset and the inner work.

Now, if anybody from Fast Company, Inc. or Entrepreneur is listening, I’m not saying that you never accept this stuff. I’m just saying you haven’t liked the articles that I have proposed in the past. This year, however, I want it to be different. I don’t want to change what I’m writing, but I do want to see one of my articles in print or online.

Numbers five and six are along the same lines as each other and they are family vacation, paid for and taken, and honeymoon paid for and taken.

My family has never been on a family vacation that didn’t involve going to see family, and my husband and I never took our honeymoon when we got married in 2012. This year, I want to see that change.

Number seven is monthly massages. You’ve heard me say in the past that I need to be better about self care, and to be totally honest, I’m sure you do too. So, this year, I would love to get monthly massages.

In some areas of the country. I know there’s shops like Massage Envy or other chains that allow you to pay a minimal monthly charge and go in and get a massage. While we do have Massage Envy near Dayton, it is a little bit far for me, so I want to find somewhere a little bit closer, If not even a massage… Massagist? That doesn’t sound right, but somebody who will even come into my home.

Actually, scratch that. I need to get out of my house if I’m going to enjoy a massage, because if the kids are here, that would be totally unenjoyable.

“Mom, what are they doing? Mom? What are they doing?”

No thanks.

So I’m going to revise this one. Monthly massages outside of the house.

Number eight is LASIK. Without contacts or glasses on, I am blind as a bat. I have been wearing glasses since I was in the fifth grade, so for practically 30 years, and I want to be able to take my contacts off at night — which by the way, I’m completely horrible about — and wake up the next morning and still be able to see fine. This will be a hefty investment — because insurance does not cover it — but I know in the end it will definitely be worth it.

Number nine. I want to launch Heartfelt Funnels, which will be my course, one of my two flagship courses, about how to build a heartfelt marketing funnel. My funnels are working really well for me, and I want to share what I know so that others can build heartfelt funnels as well.

By the way, if you go to thekimsutton.com/blog, you can scroll down to my 19 for 2019 list and you can get on the waiting list for when Heartfelt Funnels comes out.

Number 10 probably won’t surprise you if you’ve been listening to the podcast for a while, but I want to have my first draft of Chronic Idea Disorder — my book, if you haven’t listened before — written.

To be totally honest, I don’t know that that’s going to happen this year. Would I love it to happen? Yes. But, it may require that I clone myself, and that’s just something I cannot do.

There are a lot of other items on my list that I would love to do before Chronic Idea Disorder, and in the spirit of Chronic Idea Disorder, I’m going to conquer it this year. I’m going to focus on one task at a time, and when the book comes out, it comes out. I know that it will be damn good when it does.

Okay. Number 11 is one of those super transparent ones. It’s pay off PNC. And, I want to elaborate a little bit more so that you know — if you’re going through something like this — that you’re not alone.

PNC Bank is a local bank in my area, and several years ago, and I’m talking maybe four or five, I had a personal bank account, and we were struggling financially. Well, I told them that I wanted the feature where they could ding my ATM card even when there wasn’t money in it, I wanted that shut off.

But, it wasn’t shut off.

And, I don’t know if you’ve been in this situation before, but you get on a monthly subscription plan and the charge goes through and all of a sudden, “Oh, I’m negative.” But not just, “Oh I’m negative,” but “Dang, they just hit me with a $35 overdraft charge.”

And then another one goes through and then another one goes through. Long story short, I owe PNC bank close to $2,000 due to fees, interest, and just lots of fees that have accumulated in the three plus years since the account was closed. But I really need to pay this off.

I don’t know if I’ve ever shared on the podcast before, but back in 2011 it was recommended to me that I file bankruptcy. I didn’t, for a couple of reasons. One, I didn’t have the $2,500 to file bankruptcy and number two, and I’m not saying this is knock to anybody who has filed bankruptcy, I felt, and I still feel, that my debt is my responsibility.

One way or another I will get it paid off. Is it going to take a lot of work? Yes, it most definitely will. But, while I could let this PNC debt just go, number one, I feel it’s my responsibility to pay for it. And number two, I can’t even get added to my husband’s bank account until I take care of this debt.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, banks in the US, if not even internationally, are all connected to each other. So when they see that you have an outstanding overdraft with one bank account, other banks can see it. And, they won’t let you open an account personally if you don’t get it taken care of.

And it’s the same if you have an outstanding overdrawn bank account for your business. They look at your EIN or your social security number and you just can’t do it. But, on the flip side, I’m glad that I haven’t been able to get another bank account because I’ve learned a lot in the years since. And even with my business bank account, I haven’t seen it go negative.

Number 12. I want to read at least two books a month. When I’m not taking care of my self-care, and when I’m working too much, when I’m not sleeping enough, reading is one of the first things that falls off my list.

To be totally honest, I want to read one book a week, but, I wanted my list for 2019 to feel good and not to be too pressure filled, so I decided to say two books a month. We will see how that goes.

By the way, if you head on over to thekimsutton.com/resources I believe — by the way, just click resources in the navigation and you’ll find what I’m talking about — there is a “Read With Kim” page so you can read along with me. On the “Read with Kim” page, you can also find a link to sign up for the Positive Productivity Book Club. It is a paid book club, but we meet once a month and we have active discussions about books in the spirit of Positive Productivity.

Okay, number 13. Eat dinner with my family every night. This is a big one and I know it might sound like a, “Why is that on your list, Kim?” And, I’ll tell you why.

Less than 10. That’s the number of times I ate with my family at our dining room table in all of 2018, and I can tell you that one of those times was thanksgiving. Other times were probably birthdays, and that really leaves the whole rest of the year, so 355 other days, of me eating dinner at my desk.

How sad is that? I don’t want to do that anymore. I want to eat dinner with my family. The discussions that happen around my dinner table are so entertaining, and I want my kids to remember that versus, “Oh, mom’s eating at her desk again.”

Okay, number 14. You’ve heard over the course of the Positive Productivity podcast that I have struggled with weight. I live a very …? Okay. I sit a lot. I work at my computer and I don’t move. Sedentary? Okay. I’m not going to try to pronounce that word anymore, but I’ve been working on my health and my fitness and my diet and one of those key elements is getting rid of Fast Food and Soda, which is my number 14.

If I’m not careful, I can pick up and slam one Mountain Dew after another, and it’s full of empty calories, and I just don’t want to do that anymore. I also have a weakness for Mcdonald’s French fries, just saying, so both of those have to go.

If it’s not healthy going in, then it’s not going in. I thought I would have something wittier to say than that, but that will just have to do

Number 15 is no emergency room visits for me. I’ll tell you that in 2018 I visited the emergency room four times, and the first time I was even admitted to the hospital for a week because I was showing or exhibiting all the classic signs of a heart attack. My blood pressure was through the roof. Just so many things were looking wrong, and they thought I was having a heart attack. I wasn’t. I’m fine, but I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole again.

I need to take care of myself. I need to focus on self care this year — and beyond — and unless I’m hit by a truck (that’s a joke, but I know it’s not a funny one) I don’t want to wind up in the ERE again. Ever.

Number 16. Double 2018 income in products alone.

This is huge. I’ve already shared with you in this episode that I have yet to break six figures. And, I’ll tell you that I’ve been within like $2000 for the last two years. It’s so painful when I see $98,000, but I just can’t cross that barrier into six figures. But, I will also tell you — and I learned this from The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks, okay, I got it now — that often when we’re about to hit a major awesome milestone in our life, we will do things which sabotage our own success.

The year I want to launch Heartfelt Funnels, and I’m also going to be launching Profiting From Pinterest, my Pinterest course. So, between the two of those alone, I shouldn’t have any trouble doubling the 2018 income, which was all service based — trading hours for dollars, by the way — in just products. That would feel so great because it would mean that I’m not having to work 18-20 hours a day all year long. Yes, there would be very intense launch cycles, but then after the launch, it’s fairly easy… ish.

Number 17 I want to double web traffic on my personal site, thekimsutton.com, organically. Historically I have not done a lot with ads and I want to continue not doing a lot with ads. As I already shared, Pinterest is working really well for me and I want to bump that up a bit. As articles, and episodes and lead magnets are shared, the traffic should go up even greater, so that goes back to the earlier point of writing regularly for all my sites. The more I do that, the more traffic I get, theoretically, so I have to keep that up.

Number 18 weekly outings with family on the weekends. When Dave and I started dating in 2010-2011, we were really good about making plans to do even just one small thing every weekend. Since our three kids were born, that has fallen off… Completely. I want to make memories, not just money.

Number 19 is my biggest. On January 1st of this year, I surrendered everything to God — my personal life, my professional life. I have handed it all over to him and said, “Guide me.”

And, this is not something I have done in the past. And while my faith, my Christian faith is extremely important to me, until January 1st, I had never just told God “It’s your way.” I’ve always tried to make it my way, and that hasn’t gone very well. I realized that’s because it’s not supposed to be my way. So, number 19 is talk to God multiple times a day.

If you are religious like me and had been struggling, I’m going to encourage you to give it up as well. I don’t know what this journey’s going to look like for me, but I know that I’m not supposed to know. God has it all mapped out, and I just have to enjoy the journey. But, with that said, just because God has it mapped out doesn’t mean that there’s not going to be a lot of work.

So I’m committed to doing it.

I would love for you to share a few of your 19 for 2019 list items, so head on over to thekimsutton.com/pp531 and let me know what made YOUR 19 for 2019 list.

And, if you’re interested in doing a 20 for 20 list with me next year, pop a note in the comments as well and let me know. Maybe I’ll set up some type of organized event so that we can all keep each other motivated throughout the entire year.

Now, with all this said, go forth, and make it a positive and productive day.