Do you set goals for yourself? My husband is a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goal aficionado. He's much better at this than I am. When our children were all living at home, we had family camp every summer, where we would set goals as a family and as individuals. Since we've become empty nesters, we've been more on our own.
Goals are very helpful to me, but as with anything in life, you have to want to do it, to actually do it. So profound, ha. I do find that if I read through my goals weekly, it helps me stay on track. I won't post about these often, but I love reading what other people set for goals, and it helps me stay accountable when it's all "out there."
I would love to hear some of your goals! Please feel free to share in the comments.
1) More intentionality regarding ____________________.
This is a very personal goal, and I will not share the particulars. I would give myself a C+ at this point in the year, which is sad, because it's my number one goal for a reason. I think I need to come up with smaller, more measurable steps.
2) Read entire Bible through.
I'm using the One Year Bible Plan, which provides daily readings in the Old and New Testament as well as Psalms and Proverbs. It's a nice mix. Solid A on this one. I rarely miss a day, and when I do, I catch up the next day, or sometimes I read ahead if I know a particularly busy day is coming up. Currently reading Deuteronomy in the OT and Luke in the NT.
3) Read 40 books.
40 a year averages out to about 3.5 books a month. I'm doing well, and on track. A.
What I've read so far:
You Were Warned
Women at the Well
Deception Point
The House by the River
Hope They Like Rice
The Address
First Aid Manual
Broken Grace
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Currently Reading (I almost always have one than one book going at any given time):
Your Money or Your Life
Anna Karenina
Generous Justice
4) Spend at least 20 minutes daily in prayer/prayer journaling. (In addition to Bible reading and gratefulness journal.)
I would say a C on this. Prayer is an area of struggle for me. It's not that I don't sit down to do this almost every day, it's that my mind wanders far too frequently. And we all know that thinking about (translate: over-analyzing/worrying about) an area of concern is NOT the same thing as praying about it. I believe Satan likes to keep us here. This is why I wanted to try using a journal, and this has helped, but I need to figure out a better system.
5) Take Cantonese classes.
Ongoing, yeah me!! I've been wanting to do this for 6 years. Thankfully, a group of students at our school have volunteered to teach weekly lessons this year. It's been fun....I just need to be a better student. Study, study, practice, practice. Aiyah! (The Cantonese catch-all expression for everything from excitement to disgust.) P. S. Cantonese is SO hard! B-
广东话
6) Weigh ______ by Will's wedding, July 20.
(Daily: 10K steps, at least 60 active minutes-per fit bit, 1100 calories or less, 2L water)
I have 5 pounds to go to reach my goal. After 50 years, you would think I'd have this down, but it always feels like an uphill battle. I gain, I lose; I gain again, I lose again. I suppose the good news is that I am very aware and work at it constantly. My goal this year is figuring out a sustainable plan rather than quick fixes. It is a surprisingly small number of calories that my body needs to maintain its current weight, and a VERY small number to lose. Slow and steady. B-.
A pretty average day. I walk to work and back daily.
7) Hike Mt. Katahdin before I turn 51 (on July 29).
Katahdin is the highest peak in Maine, and the end (or beginning) of the Appalachian Trail. Some of you may remember that I was thwarted in this goal last year on my birthday weekend. Baxter State Park only takes so many summit hikers a day, and we did not make the cut off. Jolly Little Park Ranger Man was not at all moved by my "but it's my 50th birthday and I've been planning to climb Katahdin when I turn 50 for over 3 years" spiel. I'm sure he was wondering why I didn't plan well enough to reserve a spot. I was wondering that myself. So, we climbed the nearby North and South Brothers instead. I will succeed this summer. Plan: sign up online in May for a June day summit.
On top of South Brother, pointing to Katahdin.
It looks deceptively easy, this slope. But it's steep, and slippery, and I wiped out dramatically.
Our church here in Hong Kong is in the beginning stages of a building campaign. We are making steady progress on our promised donation. Original goal was pay off by December 2020.
9) Save $________ by the end of the year.
I honestly am not sure if we will make our projected goal, but in the savings department, SOME is always better than NONE. C-
On track. I do this in a variety of ways: having guests stay in our home, having friends over for a meal, taking someone out to eat, providing meals for others in need (after a baby, an illness, etc), sending gift cards for meals when I cannot provide a hands on dinner. Come to our house---have chicken feet! A+
11) Volunteer 3 hours a month on average and 1 week at Living Waters.
I am a doing well on this goal. A+. I normally teach Sunday School two times a month, and I also volunteer every other month at the Ronald McDonald House. I've participated in a couple of other events. Today, I tried to donate blood at our school blood drive. But alas, I was rejected because I vomited last week. Really? (Not before they got my hemoglobin...)
12) Post on my blog weekly.
I didn't start until Feb 22, and this is only my 6th post. That's 6 out of 12 weeks, or 50%. Which is failing. Solid F. But that percentage will go up as the year goes on, if I stay the course. Maybe I can end up with a B.
13) Write a real letter or card weekly.
Don't you love it when you get a real letter in the mail? It's a rarity these days. I've done pretty well on this. I think I may have missed a week, but overall, I try to write a note to someone over the weekend. B+ or A-
14) Buy one new piece of "investment" clothing for Mike or myself monthly.
Complete Fail. F-. I have not purchased anything at all in this category. I really hate to shop anyway, so this was a stretch for me. The goal here, at our ages, was to buy some clothing and shoes that will potentially last us many, many years, or even the rest of our lives. I'm thinking boots, jackets, classic dress clothes, "Darn Tough" socks, which purportedly have a lifetime guarantee. So, so hard for me. Maybe when we are home this summer....
15) Finish up and notarize our will. Talk to the funeral home.
Finishing our will has literally been on my to do list for 20+ years. I downloaded software eons ago and just could never seem to prioritize this. I finally worked on it last fall, and basically just have to have it notarized, put it in the safe deposit box, and talk to all the kids about it. I'm going to make that happen this summer.
I also want to talk to our local funeral home this summer about planning ahead. I'm not sure what that looks like, but that's exactly why I want to start the conversation. We already purchased cemetery lots in my family cemetery a couple of years ago. That's a start!
16) Change over old 401Ks to IRAs, or at least talk to financial planner.
Another summer goal.
17) _______a ________ for _________.
A personal gift. You'll find out about it when the recipient does. But I haven't started, and I should have. So F right now.
18) Get nursing CEUs finished by summer.
This should not be a problem. Ongoing, but C+ right now.
19) Get some sort of travel certification.
I have been looking into what this takes. I passed the national TAP (travel agent proficiency) exam two years ago. But I'm not sure what the next step is. Apparently, it varies by state.
So fun to get to know you a bit!
ReplyDeleteI set a goal to read 30 books, but I've already read 20. So maybe I should bump that up to 40 like you. ;)