Get to your Goals in 2018

Mood: Coffeehouse Blend Playlist, Apple Music.

Today marks the start of a New Year: 2018, BABY! For some of us, this comes as a sigh of relief, as we see this as a new beginning to something better.

One of the greatest lessons God taught me in 2017 was contentment. I’m not talking about your typical Sunday-School lesson either. The true understanding of contentment needed to come the way it did; through a series of events that left me emotionally and physically beaten. I was practically bed-ridden for two weeks in October– forced to process and do A LOT of self-examining and heart-checking. I didn’t even know that I had an issue with being ungrateful until this season in my life. I thought that problems had to be more obvious. Seeing our massive mounds of clean laundry, made me complain that I never have time to do it. Having to take out the recycles, had me complaining that I’d done this one-too many times this month. Not being able to eat all the foods I used to tolerate, had me complaining that it just wasn’t fair. It was also my impulsive shopping habits that concealed the ungratefulness of not having enough clothes in my closet. The heart change that I allowed God to do in me, was life changing. God has literally brought joy, understanding and patience into my life when I confront everyday things.

The start of a New Year is a great chance to start a new approach to how we do life. I have literally only kept one resolution in my whole life… that was the time that I promised myself I wouldn’t eat those massive-sized candy bars anymore (mini-sized bars were the ONLY exception, HA).

GOOD NEWS!

This is not your one and only chance to have a new start this year. No, it’s the start of a new year FULL of 365 NEW days that mark themselves as fresh beginnings and start-overs. Tapping into this year, I’m going to create goals that MAKE SENSE for MY life. Not for the life of someone else who I see, who seems to have their ducks all in a row. Not everyday will go according to my goals, but that doesn’t mean all hope is lost. I want to look ahead and expect to fail, to have shortcomings, temptations and trials. BUT WORD…

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-11

With that in mind, I also want to look ahead to new beginnings everyday, that allow the power of God to work through me and accomplish these goals.

Our approach to goals needs to come from a place of being GRATEFUL for what we have: which is TRUST in our God to lead us, sharpen us and hold us through it all.

2018 GOALS

Below you will see how I have split 5 main areas of my life that take my time and attention: Faith, Family, Business, Personal, and Social-life. Next, I listed multiple goals I have under each category, some in order of importance. Lastly, you’ll see a brief description of the action plan I have to go with it.

Faith
- Daily Bible reading and meditation
  - Set alarm clock for 5:30AM M-F and Sat/Sun plan for reading with Russ.
  - Pray more- Make a big jar with popsicle sticks and a marker. Every time there is a prayer request, write it down on a stick and place in jar. Place it out where I’ll see it everyday.
Family
- Engage more than maintain the kids
  - Uninterrupted play with them–set timer for at LEAST 15mins
  - Lead by example with health and fitness, faith and limited screen time.
  - Utilize Parent Cue
- Grow in love with Russ
  - Monthly dates, weekly pow-wows, daily intentional sacrifices, go on two, 3-day excursions with Russ: Schedule these into Calendar!
- Stay connected with Mom, Dad, Sister and Brother
  - Send letters, kids artwork and call at least 3x a week.
- Go camping with the kids
  - Send invite to friends to join us 3 months out
- Remodel parts of the house
  - Get graphing paper and draw up plan and dream of the end result.
Personal
- Stress less:
  - Rejoice more! (work on my ungratefulness) Philippians 4:4-9
  - Yoga weekly–breathe deeply!
  - Eat Carby-Paleo and start making fermented foods
  - Be more aware of God’s presence/Be real not perfect–sticky note reminders on mirrors!
  - Be active everyday–power lift the kids, Ninja warrior classes, running with friends, yoga, lift, HIIT, Bike, etc.
  - Less screen time- studies have shown that our breathing is shortened while we look at our phones and other devices!
Business
- Start personal training in-homes
  - make business cards and set hours
- Start a VLOG
  - brainstorm and map out the design for studio in basement
  - Blog weekly and Insta post most days of the week
- Become a independent consultant versus employee.
  - Schedule a meeting with bosses about logistics
  - Teach a young women’s JFIT class in the church gym, or school gyms.
  - Become a certified PPC (girls gone strong)
Social-life Note: I don’t like to be super scheduled because everyone else has their own schedules that might not tie in with mine at the moment. My goal here is to be open and allow space for flexibility with people.
- Be a mentor-friend to a certain middle school girl
  - monthly planned hangouts
- Ladies night in/outs
- Monthly dinners with a church family
- Coffees dates
- Plan a girls weekend away (wine tour, Quebec city, Boston, etc.)

After writing out those 5 main areas with their goal and action plan, we are going to break it down into our calendars. You can use a daily calendar or journal to stay organized and meet your goals.

A. Give each of the 5 main categories a color using highlighters or markers.

B. Take time to write out how much time each of those activities takes throughout your day or week.

C. On your calendar, write each activity in it’s own time slot and color code it.

The goal of what Michelle Myers calls “Block Scheduling”, is to only do what is designated for the specific time slot. You only do work when it’s time for work, and family when its time for family. Eliminate all distractions that would keep you from those priorities–Facebook, Instagram, Netflix, texting, cleaning, cooking, fiddling etc.

YOU CAN DO THIS TOO!

Grab a pen and journal (if you’re old school like me)
Set your timer for 20 mins
Split up 3-5 main areas of your life into their own brackets
Write out at least one DOABLE goal for this year, under each category
Under each goal, write out an action plan that will make this thing happen! (be as specific as possible)
Next, fill up your calendar specifics with all the color-coded categories as stated above!