My Goals for 2013
This year I am seeking to have more discipline in my life. I'm also striving to let go of busyness and live more intentionally.
It is easy for me to make a grand list of crazy goals, I always have way too many ideas for my own good. This leads to me feeling disappointed in myself. I'm a little weary of that.
I am often unrealistic in my goals, especially during this season of life when there are many demands on my time. I set out to do this or that, and then another this or that, and another, forgetting that there are only 24 hours in a day and one must sleep.
So, with that said, I'm trying to be more sensible this year. Yes, I have lofty goals, and I will need to work hard to reach them, but I am at least trying to go after fewer things.
Home and Family
Read the Bible to the kids at breakfast most days (I'd like to say every day, and that is the goal, but I know it won't happen on occasion).
Be diligent about having the kids help clean up after every meal – in fact, I aim to train them to do it without my help.
Go to bed with a clean kitchen most of the time.
Go on an outside adventure as a family once a month – hiking, beach, bike riding, picnic. It doesn't have to be anything huge, just time outside, together.
Have a weekly cook up.
Bring fresh flowers in the house more often.
Set up new filing system.
Personal
Exercise 5 days a week
Continue studying to become a group fitness instructor – I want to set the completion date for March 1st. I still have to work on carving out some more study time, so I'm not sure. I want to get it over with so I can go back to my herb studies!
Have monthly meetings with my husband.
Read the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs (just 1 chapter a day). I hope to do more Bible reading, but this is the base line.
Keep a weekly review meeting with myself (to go over to-dos, plan menus, look over school work, and so on).
Live slow. Take pleasure in preparing food, sit outside on the ground and look at the sky, read a book, play games with the kids, pay attention to life).
Finances
Save 2 months worth of expenses.
Use cash more often (this sound a little wishy-washy, because my husband and I haven't decided how we want this to look, yet. I will at least work on using cash for groceries and spending money).
Blogging/Business
Set aside one large chunk of time each week to work on writing.
Write posts a week in advance.
Write another ebook.
A few more thoughts on discipline . . .
I mentioned before that I am using Crystal's book, 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life, to help me become a more disciplined person and to use the suggestions to tackle a mega project. My mega project is organizing my home (and homeschool).
I happened upon another gem that sat upon the crowded bookshelf: Discipline: The Glad Surrender, by Elisabeth Elliot. I've begun to read this and am enjoying it. I plan to finish it by the end of February.I'll let you know what I learn.
What are you hoping to achieve this year?
I'm linking up with Simply Rebekah's Insane Goals Link Up.
I am with you on some of these too! Especially having post written a week out – LOL – seems that is always a desire and then life happens and I scramble! Especially when I decide to do a 31 day series – since your 2013 word is discipline, I am sure you will be very successful!!
Thanks, Susan. Let’s keep plodding away, shall we? Getting posts written a week in advance would be sooo nice.
Stacy,
I feel like “making life more intentional” as an annual goal has been a common theme throughout all of my favorite bloggers! Way to go! I too see the value and have been attempting to integrate daily Bible study and discipline to my life. Recently, I’ve found that meal planning and saying, “no,” to projects have greatly enhanced my ability to spend more time with my husband and establish a routine in our home. Keep up the good work and awesome posting.
Hi Sarah,
It sounds like we are working on some of the same things.
Meal planning and saying “no” are great ways to stay on top of things. I don’t like saying no, but I’m doing it more often now. It is getting easier 🙂
Thanks for your kind words.
Ahhh…you mentioned sitting outside on the ground looking at the sky. I don’t remember the last time I did something so unbelievably awesome like that. Thank you for sweet inspiration!
Hi Rosann,
A friend recently told me I should sit outside on the ground every day for a few minutes. I thought that was a bit much at first, but it really helps me feel calm and recognize God’s blessings.
Thanks for your sweet encouragement.
I purchased your kindle book on sugar scrubs. Great info by the way thanks. In it you say coffee grounds, are they before or after brewing? Also can you use scented coffee like hazelnut? Thanks again.
Hi Megan,
Thanks for purchasing the book!
The coffee grounds are before brewing. They should be dry when you measure them.
I haven’t tried scented coffee, but I can’t see why it wouldn’t work.
Happy scrub making!
Stacy
A great list of worthy goals! Many of them are in my mind this year, too. I often create checklists of goals like this…things I want to do each day or each week or each month…and they almost always fall by the wayside, and then I feel bad about myself to a certain extent. This year, I am trying to work from larger principles: seeking natural items in my home (food, personal products, home care products), finishing unfinished projects, using what I have and trying to avoid buying MORE, acting in love. This gives me a little “wiggle room” to develop To Do lists from these principles. So far (and it’s only January 20!) this approach is working out MUCH more successfully for me than my approaches in the past.
I love the way you are planning your ear and I hope you will be able to follow this initial plan. I love meeting more and more people striving to live a simpler, more mindful life. I have noticed that organization is central to simple life because it helps us streamline our tasks and frees up a good part of our mind, so we can focus on inspiration!
Doing less but more mindfully is a goal I have set for myself this year. I am a self-confessed serial multi-tasker 🙂 so this is a tough one for me. I have also decided to spend more time on my blog guiding my readers to deliberately simplify their everyday.