Now that it's 2013, everyone is making resolutions. Why do so many people putter out after a couple of months and not follow through with their resolutions? I am guilty of this myself, but luckily, back at the end of 2011, I found several goal planning worksheets from www.moneysavingmom.com. (They're no longer there in the same format, boo! But she has TONS of other goal-setting resources and printables.)
Instead of setting resolutions, this was setting up a list of goals for the upcoming year. They were even broken down by category and had focus areas within each goal to break them down even further. The nerd in me rejoiced! Along with a clear list of what each goal entailed, there was a check box at the bottom for each month so that you could do a self-check at the end of each month and see how you were progressing.
The difference between making resolutions and setting goals is subtle, but has been monumental in my life. I can definitely see how setting attainable goals, writing them down, and holding myself accountable has allowed me to succeed in many of the goals that I set for 2012. One of my main goals was to read the Bible all the way through and I did it! There were definitely times that I had to go back and catch up on a few days (or weeks!) of reading, but I completed the goal and I know God has used that in my life quite plainly. I have found myself in a situation and a verse or a passage that I had read recently would come back to me and be appropriate for that exact circumstance. This year, I'm reading the Bible again-chronologically and I look forward to being able to dig deeper into the Word this year.
Many of our goals for 2012 were financial and one of those was to finish paying off my vehicle and to become debt free except the house. We did it! We piled money into savings until we had enough to completely pay off the truck! We were also able to save our 6 month emergency fund AND sell our house in North Carolina that we had been renting out for the past 2 years. So now our only debt is the home we live in!
This year, I have 7 main priorities: Relationships, Financial, Reading, Fitness, Managing my Home, School, and Crafts/Projects. I think this is a huge list and would be really overwhelming if it wasn't broken down into smaller (bite-sized) pieces. Taking a large goal and making it doable is only possible by breaking it down into baby steps! I am a list person, so being able to check something off a task list is HUGE for me. I feel so accomplished when I can visually see progress.
For example: Under the Reading priority, one of my Focus Areas is Classic books. A few months ago, inspired by the fact that I was starting back to school and might need to CLEP out of a Literature class, I decided I wanted to go back and re-read some of the classic books I read throughout my academic career and finally read the ones I never got around to. So I made a list. Over 110 books later, I figured I'd better get started. So I set a goal to read 2 books per month for 2013. I am really into the fact that I can get MOST of the classics free for my Kindle and then read them while I'm on the treadmill during my lunch hour! Gotta love killing two birds with one stone! :)
I have my goal planning worksheets in my Household Binder so they go with me wherever I go and whenever I have a few minutes, I'll sit down and review my calendar and take a look at my goal list just to see where I'm going strong and where I need to tweak things to make it work. Small changes throughout the month are much easier to implement than trying to totally overhaul your life once a year. It's also easier to get back on track if you fall off the wagon if you continually review your goals. If I slip up and have one soda, it's much easier to give myself a little grace and start over than if I started drinking soda every day for 6 months straight.
Maybe I should add a new category for keeping the blog updated! It seems like I have yet to come up with a workable schedule of how and when to get everything done and blogging has definitely fallen to the back burner. With Mason scheduled to make his appearance here fairly soon, I really need to figure out a time when I can blog consistently (that's not 1am!)... I'm adding that to my goal worksheet right now! :)
