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The Big Change I’m Making To This Blog in 2020

You’re hearing it here first: This little blog of mine is about to shift directions, and I hope it’s a shift that’s going to benefit YOU! Let me elaborate.

If you’ve followed Hustle and Hearts for any length of time, you probably know that it’s always been a bit all over the place in terms of focus. I’ve tried focusing on tips for building a freelance writing business, I’ve thought maybe I could build a beauty blog, and I’ve been adamant that you can blog successfully without a niche.

And, for the record, I still think blogging without a niche is perfectly acceptable, and actually very helpful if you don’t know what you want to blog about yet…

BUT, even if it takes you close to three years to find it, when you come across a subject matter that feels exciting and lacking in the market, well, sometimes you have to bite your tongue and give your blog some focus, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do in 2020.

I won’t go into too much detail about how this little shift came about, because honestly, that’s probably a little boring for you, so let me get right into what you expect from Hustle and Hearts in 2020.

What to expect on this blog in 2020

Hustle and Hearts will be making the transition to a blog dedicated to personal development, growth, and self help.

… are you confused?

I know, I know, that seems like a totally random shift, considering the majority of my content is beauty and business focused, with some of my top performing posts being in the food niche.

But here’s the deal: in 2019 I had all these aspirations to really work on myself. I wanted to read books on personal development and devour podcasts on how I could be a better person. And sure, I did a little of this, but honestly, for the most part, I just couldn’t relate to things I was reading/hearing.

Everything felt SO cheesy, and just not for me.

Manifest.

Abundance.

Unapologetically you.

Positive mindset.

Authentic.

Heart centred.

Girlboss. 

Limiting beliefs…

I started to hear these words so much that they just started to loose their meaning, and I threw in the towel on my journey to improve myself.

Anyone else struggle with connecting to some of these words and ideas?

How I’ll be approaching personal development on this blog

When it comes to personal development, I’m no expert, and I’m certainly not going to claim to be.

I mean, let’s be real: I don’t always have myself together, I frequently have days where I don’t accomplish much, and I’m definitely not always a positive ray of sunlight.

I’m just a girl who has a drive to be better.

Better with my work.

Better with my relationships.

Better with my mental health.

Better with my ability to communicate.

Just better.

And so, rather than try to tell you how to be better when I’m not even sure how to do it myself, I’m going to be running a little experiment on myself, or what I like to call my “Self Improvement Plan” (SIP), documenting the whole experience on this blog.

What is the self improvement plan (SIP)?

SIP is my way of keeping myself accountable to change. It’s my way of trying to figure out what parts of self help truly work for me without any judgement (i.e. dismissing ideas because I don’t like the way they are worded).

How am I going to do this?

Well, in 2020 I plan on reading 12 books (one per month), all in the personal development field.

I will be picking some of the top books in this category, with a specific focus on books that are outside my comfort zone.

I will start the month by reading the book, and then for the rest of the month I will be implementing some of the major themes in the book.

Of course, in a month’s time, I won’t be able to implement all of the ideas in the book, so my plan is to pick 3-5 major themes, and then dedicate myself to implementing those ideas into my everyday life throughout the month.

I’ll be documenting my experiences with these “lessons” (i.e. are they improving my life?), and I’ll be taking you along on my little deep dive into this world of self-help.

Sometimes that might mean exploring one of the major themes, sometimes that might mean sharing a story of how one of the themes helped me personally, and sometimes that simply might mean showing how something didn’t help.

My main objective, though, is to be open-minded with all the books I read, even with the ones that seem outside my comfort zone.

I won’t be simply reviewing or critiquing these books, but more so showing how some of the ideas can be implemented, and how they change me throughout the year.

Changing the narrative on self-help (especially for women)

Like I said earlier, despite wanting to do this challenge, I’ve always struggled with finding self-help that resonates with me.

Just because I plan on reading these books and being open-minded with them doesn’t mean I necessarily relate with the wording, even if I do end up finding the ideas helpful.

So while my primary goal is to complete and document this challenge, I also hope that by writing about these topics and exploring them, I’ll be able to find the words that help convey them to you in a way that doesn’t feel cheesy or cliche (because there’s got to be some of you out there who are like me who don’t resonate with the majority of the “self help” out there).

I should also mention that I don’t expect this to be an overnight thing (that’s why I’ve specifically given myself a one year timeline to explore this topic), but I do think by reading, writing, and thinking about these topics on an everyday basis, I should be able to start forming a narrative that feels a little more in line with what resonates with me in the personal development field, and also hopefully with you.

Join me on my Self Improvement Plan

I’m excited about this new journey I’ll be taking on my blog, and I hope you’ll also find it interesting seeing how taking action on these books influences my life.

To follow along on the journey, I’d recommend following me on Instagram; however, if you’re not an Instagram person, I’ll also be posting most of my in-depth updates on my blog.

And so, with that, my first book that I’m diving into is Marie Kondo’s The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

I figured starting with something that will help me get my space nice and tidy for 2020 would be a good idea.

Follow along, and (hopefully) watch me slowly start to transform myself 🙂

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