2015 In Review – My Blog and Personal Goals

How did this happen? The new year is already almost a week old and I haven’t had a single minute to sit down, reflect and come up with goals for 2016. But now that the kids are back in school (and the grandparents are on a shopping spree), I’m finally sitting at my desk again, with a cup of coffee and nothing on my agenda until 2pm this afternoon. Yeah! So today I’ll start with a reflection on 2015 and my goals for the blog and my personal life. Ready? This is the post I wrote on this topic about a year ago (only in German). Let’s find out what happened over the course of 12 months!

2015 IN REVIEW

My blog goals

1. More readers, more interaction. This blog definitely has more readers than a year ago: the 84 posts that I published in 2015 were read by almost 9.500 visitors, compared to 27 posts and 1.200 visitors in 2014. Regarding interaction I’m not really sure if I achieved my goal. Only a few posts sparked a conversation. But nowadays people generally don’t comment on blogs as much as they used to; a lot of interaction takes place on social media; and when I think of my own online communication habits I have to admit that I see a lot of room for improvement – I’m always committed to comment on those blog posts that I truly enjoy and that inspire me. But I don’t always do that. For a number of reasons: typing on the phone is not fun; not enough time so I plan on doing it later (which never happens); sometimes I don’t really know what to say; sometimes a technical problems makes commenting impossible. But still, I will not give up and keep on working towards more comments, either here on the blog or on Facebook or Instagram. I truly want to get to know you, my readers, interact with you, hear your voice, your thoughts and suggestions, and move the communication forward!
2. Better photos with a more consistent style. I’m pretty happy with my photos – bright, light and colorful for the most part. Mission accomplished!
3. More diversified posts. There was a good mix of interviews, personal essay type posts, guest posts, the weekly link posts, and posts in German and English. Mission accomplished!
4. Better understand blog technology. Did not happen.
5. New blog design. As you can see, you can’t see anything. At least nothing new. So this goal will hop over to my 2016 list.

My personal goals

1. Read more. You know what changed my life as a reader? The Kindle I got for Christmas in 2014! I read TONS of books last year (my favorites: Big Magic, Das Jahr des Rehs, Walking on Trampolines). Although I still prefer holding a real book in my hand, I could not live without an e-reader anymore. The Kindle truly makes reading so much easier during the stage of life that I’m in. I can easily access English AND German books; I can download a free sample and decide whether I want to pursue or not; I can read in the dark while my 3-year-old is still tossing and turning (for hours…) in his bed and/or while my husband is already fast asleep (within seconds…); I can stick it in my bag and take it everywhere. It’s amazing! The only thing I don’t like is the shop with its recommendations and bestseller lists. I hardly ever find a book that I like in there, instead I rely on book suggestions by friends, bloggers and Instagrammers, or the good old printed magazine.
2. Try Yoga & Pilates. Been there, done that. It’s good for me, but not for me. However, I’ve become a passionate walker and stretcher thanks to two amazing ladies in our Chattanooga expat group.
3. Declutter: clothes, toys, furniture, decoration, contacts. Two yard sales, a couple of runs to Goodwill and many filled trash bags later my house feels decluttered, but not clutter-free. It’s work-in-progress that will continue in 2016. And please tell me: how do you declutter contacts? How do you de-friend properly? I’m sure time will tell.
4. Make money. I’ve always been in love with words, languages, linguistics, the differences between German and English from a grammatical / structural / stylistic and – most importantly – the pragmatic point of view. How do these two cultures communicate? Where are the differences and similarities? What happens when people from different cultural backgrounds have to work together in real life? In 2015 I had the opportunity to get a first-hand glimpse into what this looks like in real life. And now I wish that companies would see the need for an intercultural expert even in the most ordinary day-to-day business settings; an outsider who has the ability to facilitate, explain, communicate, resolve misunderstandings before they become big problems… I’ve also become a very passionate translator of technical documents. It’s like solving a puzzle!
5. Retirement provision. I tried. It turned out that I’m already doing a lot of things. Now I have to wait until my permanent residence is back in Germany.

Wow! I didn’t know that I accomplished so many things last year until I started writing this review! It surely never felt like I did… I’m really glad that I took the time 12 months ago to write down these 10 goals. Time to do it again, I guess!

Now I would like to know: how was 2015 in review for you? What goal(s) did you accomplish? Did you learn anything new, like I found out, for example, that Yoga is just not for me? I would love to hear your review of 2015! Please feel free to comment in German or English :-) Bitte lass Dich von diesem englischen Beitrag nicht abschrecken. Du darfst gerne auch auf Deutsch kommentieren! Ich würd mich freuen.