Somehow I made it through September with some of my sanity remaining (and by some, I mean it takes me a few seconds to know what day it is… but I get there eventually). But it hasn’t been easy. It’s been full of hectic planning, editing in my car parked outside an event three nights in a row, emailing clients during my lunch break from my full-time job,  crying for no apparent reason (I’m blaming sleep deprivation), and multi-tasking to the max. I’m actually sitting in the Apple store right now blogging, replying to client emails, and scheduling editing time and shoots while I’m waiting for my data to be transferred to my new laptop because my one month old Macbook Pro had hardware issues (and it isn’t the first time I’m doing work from the Apple store this week).

Anyway, with today being the last day of September, I figured it’d be a good time to recap on my goals for the month, and set some new ones for October.

September Goal: With all the events I have scheduled, I’m hoping to streamline my editing process, create an efficient workflow (I can now use my Client Workflow Check List I created last month), and be able to have the photos edited and out the door within one week (two weeks max.).

• Results: This is a hard one to measure, since I’ve been doing a lot of second shooting this month and technically can’t get the photos to the clients until the lead photographer does. So this means I have 4 weddings in queue waiting to be released. Working on editing those as we speak.

September Goal: This one is carried over from last month, since well, I did everything in the world except get myself to the gym. I need to workout 3-5 times a week, for at least three out of the four weeks in September. I’ve already looked at the XSport class schedules and have penciled them into my calendar. Now I just have to get myself there.

• Results: Horrible fail yet again. The only squats I did were when I was trying to get different camera angles at my weddings (surprisingly I do enough that I’m usually sore the next day). There was just no way I was going to get myself to the gym with everything I had going on this month. 12 hour weddings every Saturday and Sunday…. working full-time Monday – Friday, editing until 10:00pm at night after work, and that was only on the days that I didn’t have a night event. Needless to say, I’m gonna try again in October… third time’s a charm, right?

September Goal: Cook one dinner recipe from Pinterest for Danny and blog about it. I look at these all the time and have even made a few, but I haven’t had the time to cook recently. I have a few that I’ve been eyeing for quite some time now so I’d love to get around to making them one night.

• Results: Well it wasn’t a recipe from Pinterest, but I did make a new recipe for Danny and I blogged about it… so I’m counting it as a win.

September Goal: This is a silly one, but I’ve been in my new apartment for nearly 6 months and I still have picture frames sitting on the floor. I want to fill them with new photos and have them hung ASAP.

• Results…. yeah, no dice. Maybe in December when things slow down 🙂

September Goal: Don’t sweat the little things. I’m the youngest of three kids AND the only girl. So needless to say I can be a bit of a drama queen. Sometimes I let small things really get the best of me, but my goal for the month is to get better at letting things roll off my back.

• Results: Umm… sleep deprivation and stress don’t really help in accomplishing this goal. I will say however that I was so preoccupied with the business that it didn’t leave much time to worry about petty things not related to the business. But I did find myself shedding a few tears of stress and overwhelmingness.

Bonus Goal: Learn to juggle, both literally and figuratively. I started to learn to literally juggle over the weekend, and I’m so close to being able to! And of course with all the different events going on this month I’m going to have to juggle my photography, personal, and work life.

• Results: I definitely learned to juggle all things photography. And I managed to plan a bowling night with my family so I didn’t do sooo bad. But there’s definitely a lot of people that I wish I could’ve seen more of this month.

Honestly, looking back on the list of goals, it was kind of a weak list. This month I’m going to try to set goals that are more measurable and attainable.

OCTOBER GOALS

Goal: Have all my September weddings edited, blogged, and uploaded onto www.jilltiongco.com by the end of the month.

Goal: Workout 5-6 days a week for at least the first two weeks of the month before I head to Utah for an adventure-cation with my roommate. If I don’t, I’m sure the hikes and rappelling down canyons won’t be very forgiving.

Goal: Have at least one date with my girls. I have an Indian food and Champps Restaurant Groupon waiting to be used with my friends Jess and Sam… hopefully we’ll be able to schedule those this month.

Goal: Get a 35mm  f/1.4 lens and start shooting primarily with that and my 50mm 1.2 at weddings. I’ll still use my 24-70mm 2.8 for families/kids, but I’m loving the shooting portraits/events with these prime lenses.

Goal: Although I love how busy I was this past month and it only means great things for my business, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t stressful at times. If I wasn’t stressed out about doing this right, it would mean I didn’t care about my clients, business, and quality of work. I take it as a good thing that I care so much… but I want to work on not caring so much to the point of tears. This month, no crying because of stress.

That about wraps it up. Wish me luck and hopefully I can get it all done this time 🙂