As another vibrant year unfolds, it’s time to publicly declare our aspirations and ignite that intrinsic motivation that comes with sharing our dreams. We’re embarking on a journey of growth, creativity, and deeper connection, and we can’t wait to bring you along for every exciting step.
Goal #1: Embrace the Unexpected & Thrive on Flexibility
Having navigated the dynamic landscape of blogging for five years, with over two of those years dedicated to it full-time for both of us, one truth has become crystal clear: no two days are ever truly alike. Yet, the upcoming year promises an unprecedented level of excitement and, admittedly, a touch of delightful chaos. With the highly anticipated release of our book on November 6th, followed by an extensive 15-city+ book tour, coupled with a handful of secret side projects we’re bursting to unveil (and no, mom, it’s not a pregnancy announcement euphemism!), the next 365 days are poised to be extraordinary.
Our primary objective for this pivotal year is to cultivate an unwavering sense of flexibility. We aim to consciously resist the futile urge to cling to any predefined notion of “normal” or rigid routine. Instead, we’re committed to adapting, pivoting, and flowing with the unfolding opportunities and challenges. Our philosophy is simple: the less we stress about things deviating from a meticulously planned schedule, the more fully we’ll be able to immerse ourselves in, and genuinely enjoy, the incredible experiences that await us. Rest assured, as every exciting, perhaps even “crazy,” detail transpires, you, our cherished readers, will be the first to know.
Goal #2: Cultivate Content Diversity: The Smorgasbord Approach to Engaging Storytelling
A recent stroll through our blog archives, particularly highlighted by insights from this morning’s retrospective post, revealed a subtle shift in our content. We noticed that in our earlier days, our posts often showcased a broader array of topics and formats. We attribute this change, in part, to our Type A personalities, which can sometimes lead us to fall comfortably into established routines. Over time, we’ve recognized a slight diminishment in that initial spirit of spontaneity and the delightful randomness that characterized the nascent stages of our little blog.
Therefore, a core objective for this year is to reinvigorate our content strategy by embracing a more diverse, “smorgasbord” approach. While we remain deeply committed to our foundational pillars—our engaging projects, exciting giveaways, and inspiring reader redesigns—we’re eager to infuse the proverbial YHL pot with a richer blend of creative ingredients. This expansion aims to ensure our content not only remains fresh and compelling but also accurately reflects the multifaceted nature of our real-life experiences, acknowledging that we’re certainly not engaged in projects 24/7. Our weekly rhythm of two or three project-related posts has consistently proven to be our sweet spot, a pace that fosters significant accomplishment, as evidenced by our detailed monthly recaps. This sustainable pace is also crucial for preventing burnout and managing our budget effectively. So, we’re wholeheartedly recommitting to reintroducing beloved older content formats, boldly experimenting with new ideas, and generally “smorgasbording it up” alongside our consistent project showcases, which, after all, were instrumental in bringing us to this point.
Here’s a glimpse of the exciting new flavors we plan to add to our content mix:
- House Crashings: Unscripted tours into real homes for fresh inspiration.
- Window Shopping: Exploring design trends and aspirational finds.
- Budget Blooms: Creative and affordable floral arrangements and decor ideas.
- Fast and Free Upgrades: Quick, impactful improvements that cost nothing.
- Advice-Seeking: Tapping into community wisdom for our challenges or others’.
- Table Setting: Inspiring ideas for everyday and special occasion dining.
- Holiday Decorating: Seasonal cheer and festive DIYs throughout the year.
- Mood Boards: Visualizing design concepts and themes for upcoming projects.
- Using/Tweaking What We Have: Innovative ways to repurpose existing items.
- Round-Ups & Top Ten Lists: Curated collections of ideas, products, and tips.
- Road Trips & Travel Adventures: Sharing insights and inspiration from our explorations.
- Random Off-Topic Chitchat: Personal anecdotes and lighthearted reflections (often our favorites!).
Goal #3: Achieving Editorial Harmony: Less Verbosity, More Lived Experience
The pursuit of balance, particularly in the delicate art of crafting engaging yet concise content, has been a recurring theme in our annual goal-setting. It’s a skill we acknowledge we haven’t quite mastered, and as such, it makes a meaningful return to our aspirations this year. While we fully anticipate dedicating some evenings and weekends to our craft, and occasionally indulging in our characteristic rambling, we also recognize that some of our most beloved and impactful posts in our archives are far from 2,000-word epics. Similarly, many other blogs we admire manage to captivate their audiences with a less long-winded approach.
This year marks a renewed commitment to refining our writing style. Our aim is to strike a more harmonious balance between offering comprehensive, “long juicy stuff” that provides in-depth value, and delivering “short & sweet” content that is equally impactful and easily digestible. We believe that by consciously working on conciseness, we can enhance the overall reader experience, respecting your valuable time while still conveying our passion and insights effectively. Here’s hoping that the third time truly is the charm, and that you, our wonderful community, will embrace this evolution in our storytelling, appreciating both the extensive deep dives and the delightful, brief inspirations we serve up regularly.
Goal #4: Strengthening Our Community: Inviting More of YOU into Our Creative Journey
Our ambition for this year is to foster an even deeper connection with our incredible community. While the exact blueprint for this enhanced interaction is still taking shape, our overarching desire is to weave more of your stories, perspectives, and creativity directly into the fabric of our blog. Imagine us not just showcasing our projects, but also celebrating yours—from “crashing” more of your beautifully lived-in homes to gathering your invaluable insights on how you personalize and cherish your living spaces. We are committed to working harder, and more innovatively, to cultivate a sweet, vibrant little community right here. Our desire is to integrate you, our readers, even more profoundly into our daily content and conversations. Truly, our casa is su casa; we invite you to step in, get cozy, and make yourselves at home. You might just find us inside, striking a playful pose, fully embracing the collaborative spirit!
So there they are: our four ambitious goals for what marks our sixth year of dedicated blogging. We acknowledge that not all of them may be perfectly accomplished, but rest assured, we will try our absolute darndest to make significant strides! While we’re on the topic of goal-setting, we also find immense value in annually revisiting our prior year’s objectives to gauge our progress and glean lessons learned. You can delve into them with a bit more depth right here, but for the sake of a concise evaluation, we thought we’d summarize last year’s aspirations to assess how we fared.
Last Year’s Goal #1: Find Balance
As we candidly mentioned earlier, this particular goal has been a perennial focus for several years, even making an appearance in our 2011 resolutions post. Our intention was to avoid the pervasive trap of pouring all our time, financial resources, and creative energy into our home and blog to the extent that we neglected our personal lives, depleted our savings, and minimized quality time with Clara. In an always-on digital world, it’s undeniably challenging to unplug; we frequently find ourselves connected on nights, weekends, during vacations, and even on holidays. This persistent connection was, in part, the impetus behind launching Young House Life – a conscious effort to carve out moments for fun, embrace spontaneity, and crucially, step. away. from. the. laptop. The verdict: While it’s still very much a work in progress (a sentiment reflected in this year’s Goal #3), we genuinely believe we’re showing incremental improvement. After all, this year marked our first-ever dedicated break from blogging, a significant milestone in our quest for balance.
Last Year’s Goal #2: Not Drone On in Every Post
We astutely noted that achieving conciseness might actually be the very key to unlocking the greater balance we so craved in our first goal. This inherent connection is precisely why we’ve reintegrated this objective into our current year’s aspirations. It’s a recurring challenge, and we openly admit to still navigating its complexities. The verdict: Oops, it appears we’re still actively refining this particular skill as well!
Last Year’s Goal #3: Bring Back Before & After Inspiration
Back in 2010, we made the decision to phase out our beloved Reader Redesigns, instead encouraging our community to share their inspiring makeovers on our Facebook page. However, after a year of genuinely missing the dedicated spotlight on these incredible transformations, we wholeheartedly decided to bring them back to the blog. There’s simply an abundance of amazing creativity out there that offers profound inspiration and encouragement to us all, and you know how much we cherish the opportunity to share that love. The verdict: Wahoo, mission accomplished! We are incredibly thrilled that Reader Redesigns are back and thriving!
Last Year’s Goal #4: Be Secure In Our Own Bloghood
This goal addressed the often-challenging reality of creative work: the inherent desire for every single person to adore every single post, a longing akin to wishing for a chihuahua that lays golden eggs. The truth we had to internalize is that we simply must be okay with the understanding that not everyone will love everything, or even anything, we produce. In turn, we hoped our readers would appreciate that projects, decor choices, and writing styles are as deeply subjective as favorite foods and hairstyles. We vowed to consistently remind ourselves of this principle and, as a result, blog with greater fearlessness and unwavering confidence. The verdict: It took five years, but we’re finally settled into a comfortable “just-doing-our-thang” groove these days, which is a wonderful feeling! For any fellow bloggers who might be grappling with similar sentiments, you can find further insights and encouragement in this post and this post.
Last Year’s Goal #5: Be Grateful
This objective was fundamentally about cultivating a mental shift. We recognized that the often-intense stress associated with a demanding project or an extensive blog to-do list could, in fleeting moments, overshadow the profound realization that this is, without a doubt, a dream job. Therefore, this goal encouraged us to pause during those “oh-crap-we’re-stressing” moments, take a deep breath, and consciously recall the geeky, giddy excitement we feel for this incredible opportunity. The verdict: We genuinely took this commitment to heart. Whenever we found ourselves feeling overwhelmed—be it by book-related pressures, general life challenges, or the myriad tasks associated with projects and the blog—we actively made an effort to pause, breathe, and find a reason to smile. Life is indeed good, even when it’s wonderfully full of chaos.
Last Year’s Goal #6: Try New Things
Our intention with this goal was to foster an open-minded approach towards fresh ideas, whether it was a quirky, half-baked decorating concept that unexpectedly sparked our imagination, or a grander new adventure, such as embarking on the journey of writing a book. Essentially, we aimed to be receptive to these novel experiences, striving not to dread them or allow them to spiral into a ball of overwhelming stress. The verdict: We successfully delivered several awesomely random and spontaneous posts, navigated three intense weeks of book photography at home without a single conflict, and generally cultivated a more open attitude toward spontaneous post ideas, life opportunities, and project inspirations. We are optimistically looking forward to even more of this spirit in the coming year!
Now, it’s time for us to gracefully transition from our metaphorical hockey uniforms and slip into some grass skirts for a little “love hula” dedicated entirely to you. Oh yes, these swaying hips are a heartfelt testament to the fact that our appreciation for you transcends mere words. Without your unwavering support, our primary goal would, quite frankly, be “get back into advertising” because we’d be out of a job! Haha. But seriously, please understand the profound depth of our gratitude. It’s not the casual “thanks for holding the door for me” that you might offer strangers five times a day. Rather, it’s a genuine, profound “thank you for making our life possible” – a sentiment we hold dear every single day. And speaking of the exciting prospect of meeting some of you, we’ve just heard that next week, all our book tour dates will be officially finalized, allowing us to finally announce them! We eagerly anticipate the chance to connect with many of you in person and express our sincere thanks for consistently dropping into our lives. You, our incredible community, are not only the fundamental reason we can pursue this passion for a living, but you are also the very essence of why we absolutely love doing it. Your encouragement and the laughter you bring into our lives, in ways you may never fully realize, truly make our day, every single day. How’s that for an all-encompassing lovefest?
Psst- The first image was originally sourced here, and the last image was found here (naturally, without our heads on them, which we playfully added!).
Psst – We’ve just announced the fortunate winner of this week’s fantastic giveaway! Click here to see if it’s you!