New year- Same me

I love the start of a new year. It seems so fresh and without mistakes, but I feel like I need to apply that perspective to each new day! It's one of my goals for this year, to be more mindful about my life. Wherever I am, that's where I am.

1. My home is usually a mess. I know that part of it is that we live busy lives and sometimes have "drop and go" days. I also know that part of that is an excuse because I put off the little things until they are big things, and then feel overwhelmed by it all. I'm not happy when my home is a mess and since it bothers me, I want to fix it. It won't be perfect, but it'll be better.

2. This one is a usual goal, but I know how I can reach it. I work out often and intensely, but you can out eat any workout plan, and that's what I've been doing. I will control my portions, and practice the 80/20 approach to eating. I'm human and won't pass up a treat, but I know that overindulging isn't worth it.

3. Mindfulness can feel like a buzz word, but for someone with anxiety I feel like it's something I need to practice more. So often I have my lists going on and am planning the next thing I need to do while I'm spending time with my family, friends, or even having a moment of peace. This needs to stop.

4. This is a fun goal. My goal for 2017 was to squat 125 and I blew that away by squatting 155. I just think it would be fun to see that number grow. I love the feeling of getting stronger each day!

5. My marriage is important to me, but usually it gets the backburner due to kids, my job, and everything else that I feel responsible for. Usually I feel like my husband would just understand, but I don't feel like that's fair to him, or to us, at all. I want to spend more time with him and make our relationship a priority.

6. We racked up some debt this year and have some big expenses coming up. Some fun (like vacations) and some not-so-fun (plumbing repairs- ugh), but important to us and things we can afford if we spend responsibly. I would feel so much better without this debt hanging over my head.


SO those are my goals for this year! What do you hope to accomplish this year?

Setting Goals for 2013

I like the word "goals" better than resolutions. I'm not sure why. Maybe for me a goal is a long term thing and resolutions seem to expect perfection right away. At least to me. If anything, I'm a work in progress so I don't think that any change will make me perfect overnight. Even if I wish it would.

If you plan to set goals this year, make sure they are SMART ones. That word brings me back to one of my college classes {hahaha, like I didn't just graduate in May}. If you don't already know, it stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. So make sure your goals are clear, you can track the progress made, you actually can do it, you actually WILL do it, and you have a time frame to complete it.

So a goal of "Be more organized" wouldn't cut it. It isn't specific enough {do you need to organize your stuff, time, all of the above?}. It isn't measurable {how do you know if you're done?}. It really isn't attainable {there's no plan to make sure you're able to accomplish it}. It isn't realistic {if you can't even organize your goal, your life is going to be rough}. Where's the timeframe? I can easily organize a room for a day, but how do I know if that is enough?

So yeah. This has left me thinking of goals to accomplish this year. I've decided to focus on a few categories:
Home & Organization, Health, Financial, Career, Marriage, Philanthropy, and Fun.

Tomorrow I'll post the goals I've set and I plan to revisit them monthly to be sure that I am making progress. The good thing about goals is that they can evolve to reflect your needs, so I can change them if needed.

Do you set goals each year? How do you plan them out? How do you know when you're done?