On the last day of 2015, I am reflecting and planning for the upcoming year. Chic in Academia has grown in ways I never imagined and I have you all to thank for that!  Your insurmountable support is unequaled, and I am forever grateful to you for that.  An added special thanks to all my sponsors this year.  You have made blogging such a fun-filled adventure!!

Personally, I also learned a great deal about myself.  I learned that my body breaks down when I take on too much and that the elusive work-life balance is something that I had not managed to attain this year.  2016 will be different, I hope!  That’s where the planning and goal-setting comes in.

This past week, I made time to plan for 2016.  Uncharted waters are ahead both professionally as well as for CIA (you know, Chic in Academia).  As such – and in an effort to ensure some form of success – I endeavored to plan by setting goals.  Part of that included creating a mission statement. A couple of friends of mine shared this with me, so in turn I am sharing this with you!  One of them happens to also blog and pens the blog Olivia Adventures.  To begin to set goals, one must first decide on a personal mission statement.  The following comes from the Leadership Development Institute at Kent State:

A personal mission statement answers questions like these:

-What do I want from my life?

-What do I value?

-What are my talents?

-At the end of my life, what do I want to have accomplished?

A personal mission statement is the beginning of personal leadership. It sets guidelines for life. By referring to it and internalizing its meaning, we make choices that serve values and reject the things that oppose them.

Once I had a personal mission statement in mind, I began my goal-setting.  My goals are divided into the following categories: 1) Family, 2) Academia, 3) Blog, 4) Me.  Not in that order, and not all carrying the same weight.  Most importantly, I remembered to include myself in this plan.  This is something I had forgotten to do in the past.

I bought the planner pictured above to help me keep things organized.  It has a page per day for to-do lists and note-taking, which is ideal for me.  I do use my Gmail calendar to keep track of day-to-day meetings and events, though.

The planner is a Day Designer.  I had one last year and really helped me stay organized.  Or, you know, more so than I would have been otherwise, haha.  It is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also well-constructed!  Although a ring binder, the rings held up all year despite daily use and wear!  It comes in two sizes, though I opted for the largest size.  Additional details and pricing can be found here: The Day Designer.  If you cannot commit to the planner, but want to take advantage of some of the planning tools they offer, be sure to download their free planning printables.  I plan to use them as well!

One of my goals for 2016 is to read.  Read anything and everything.  I think it will help me become a better writer, which is the goal of many academics, I believe.  So, I started with Amy Cuddy’s “Presence”.  It follows her über successful Ted Talk, “Your body language shapes who you are”.  Have you seen it?  If not, watch below:

https://embed-ssl.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are.html

I was super inspired when I watched the talk, but the book is even BETTER.  Many of the pages include text that I swear I could have written myself.  It’s as if she is speaking to me in many of her anecdotes!  I posted the picture below on Instagram and guess what??  We’re Instagram buddies now.  That’s right, we’re insta-besties. 😉  Seriously though, she followed me back and I had a little happy dance moment.

In closing, I hope that you will stick around and watch what 2016 has in store for CIA!  I would also love to know more about what you would like me to write/post about.  Though a lover of surveys, I thought instead I would ask you to leave comments below with some of the things you would like to see on the blog/Instagram/Facebook/Pinterest/Twitter.  I very curious to read what you have in mind!

Finally, I wish you all a fruitful, productive, healthy 2016!!  May you achieve every goal you set and may you be even more ‘Chic’ than you already are!

Until next year!  Stay ‘Chic’!