New Years - New Goals

I don't usually make a ton of goals in the new year.  I've had some low maintenance type goals before but nothing ever really big.  I'm following along the same line here.  Nothing too big.  I think I had things I wanted to accomplish last year but I have no idea where I would have listed those.  Clearly they got thrown out the door while keeping up with Milam.

I've broken them down into several types of goals.  Me, money, photography, home, and daily.

I'll start with daily.  There is a general rhythm to my day and I'm trying to work in some good daily habits.  I've been doing pretty well although Georgia didn't go back to school until the 10th (three day week) and then was out three days because of MLK and snow.  So, amping up my routine has been hard because we haven't been able to get into the swing of things since Christmas.

• When I'm laying in bed, trying to wake up, I want to pray a quick prayer over my people for health and protection.
• Continue with our morning walks - weather permitting
• When Milam is eating breakfast I want to squeeze in my morning workout
• During Milam's nap I want to do my Bible study and prayer time, work on photography, and finally get dressed for the day (not in work out clothes)
• At dinner time I want to continue Georgia's family question time and list prayer requests and praises.

On our breakfast table I have a notebook for prayer requests and praises.  Under that is THIS little question book for Georgia and I also have a stack of question cards from Chick-fil-a that we really enjoy.  Also, there are a stack of Bible trivia picture cards that our church gave Georgia.  At dinner we don't have the TV on and try to talk.  It can be hard because Milam is so loud and busy but we really really try to catch up on our days.

Then, I have some more goals that aren't of the routine type.  My "me" goals.  Those are:

• Have a specific prayer time M-F
• Read one book a month. (already read my first!)
• Continue to eat healthy and create healthy food habits
• Workout M-F
• Be on the internet less
• Drink more water

Some of these are super vague and hard to track but I've learned in terms of habits I'm not really good at big change so I feel like small changes spur on larger changes.  Like, drinking more water usually makes me less prone to snaking and the water fuels my energy levels for our walks and my workout.  Since I've worked out and walked I don't usually want to undo those good things by binge-eating  chocolate chips during nap time.  BUT, if I have an off day and fall off the wagon my big thing this year is just starting fresh the next day.  Trying to give myself grace.

I also have super specific financial and business goals and photography goals.  I'm tracking all of this in a pretty little planner with washi tape tabs I quickly whipped together.  I also have room by room house goals that are all written down knowing I won't finish all of them for several years.  For this year I selected 10 goals to try and get done in the next 12 months.  I tried to keep it at a manageable level.

I've also written down each month, assessed all my goals, and assigned certain goals to certain months.  Each sunday I look over my monthly goals and try to assign doable things to the current week or following week to ensure I keep up with what needs to get done  My monthly budget I use to balance the check book and pay the bills is also in my goals notebook.

It all sounds like a lot but it's really not.  Its not about achieving it all but making forward progress.  I always have these life goals floating in my head so getting them all down on paper has really helped me.  It was actually a bit overwhelming but once it was all down it felt really good.

So there you have it, my 2018 in a nutshell of sorts!