Cultivate Habits: New Work Skills

Going into 2020, I am focused on cultivating new skills that will help grow Simply Cultivate.

I have been out of the work environment over the last 12 years as we were growing our family. Our girls are finally getting more independent which frees up some time for me to cultivate new skills and explore different creative outlets in my life.

From this new space, came the idea of Simply Cultivate. My desire is to learn about digital marketing, expand my computer skills, and share ideas that build up family values.

To that end these are the healthy habits I would like to integrate into my life this year.

Posting daily to Instagram

My natural tendency is to be behind the scenes. Daily putting my life on social media is a muscle that I need to work. I tend to be a private person so making this a habit will help bring people into my world.

If I do this first thing in the morning and add it to my daily habits, it does not take as much energy to accomplish.

One of our family mantras is, “Do the hard thing first”. For me social media fits this description. I am excited to grow Simply Cultivate and strengthen my social media muscle.

Writing a blog post each week

Since I have been out of the workforce for so long, it has also been a long time since I have written anything other than emails or letters to friends.

I am motivated to learn how best to communicate through social media and blog posts. Positing weekly to the blog will give me plenty of opportunities to write. My hope is that blogging will:

• Create community
• Be a space to share ideas
• Help me find my written voice
• Reveal areas that I need to work on

Reading a business book/month

The nonfiction books I have been reading over the past year were inspiring. They all were so different and did not revolve around any particular theme.

To make my reading habit more inline with my goals around Simply Cultivate, I am going to specifically read books that will challenge me to think differently about growing a business. Some of the books on my list are:

• The Dichotomy of Leadership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
• So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
• How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams

Right now, Simply Cultivate is mainly a creative outlet for me and a place to learn new skills. I know that part of learning is making mistakes and giving myself room to try new things.

Wrapping up

Each of these habits will help me know what skills I am lacking and my natural strengths. This will be incredibly helpful in determining what goals to go after and how best to achieve them.

Starting something new feels like a lot but breaking it down into three new habits seems doable. Making my morning routine purposeful and focused will bring rewards.

What new habits are you adding this year? Do you have a certain area that you would like to see growth in your life?