52 Lists - List Your Current and Future Goals

It's time for the "Week Four" list for 52 Lists. This has been one of my favorites. In fact, I left extra pages in my journal where I am writing these so I can keep adding to my lists.

Here are a few of my goals that I recorded:

• Work diligently now so I can take June and July off
• Develop systems for the library to help next year go smoothly
• Organize my book shelves (DONE)
• Be under ___ lbs by my dr appointment (did not meet this one)
• Write a book
• Get a graduate degree in Children's Literature
• Cultivate our home to have less clutter and more space to move around

This is only a sampling - I always have goals and tasks I am working on or hoping for the future. I like seeing them in writing, even if there are some that I missed.

Going over my list again made me think of this blog post by Jon Acuff. There is some great stuff in here about dealing rationally with that voice inside you that says your goal/dream is ridiculous and will never happen. I walked through his process with my graduate school dream and I feel like it helped me think through the logistics that can help me eventually move this dream towards reality. I hope you will check it out.

52 Days

There's a lot of the number 52 floating around here lately. There's the 52 Lists project I'm doing and the 52 Days system I've been trying this year.

This is an update on the 52 Days deal. That's the one where the year is broken in to 7 sections of 52 days each. You set some goals for the first 52 days (January 2- February 22). If they don't work, or if your life changes too much for them to make sense any more, you change them up for the second round.

Someone figured up the following days to start each round of 52: January 2, February 23, April 16, June 7, July 29, September 19, and November 10.

So, I'm now in the second round. Here's where my goals stand:
Spiritual - I am keeping my goal of daily devotions. That's gone well and I like the three apps I decided to use.
Financial - that one went okay. I was working to only buy books with gift cards rather than the credit card. Now I want to keep that and expand it, working to make our credit card bill only have automatic charges on it, rather than a variety of online shopping, etc. We've gotten lax with our charging and I want to reign that back in.
Physical - I have been waffling on my weekly commitment to Weight Watchers. Some weeks are good and some feel like a lost cause two days in. I want to re-commit to that process and I have set a specific goal and time frame for myself.
Social - This one was pretty vague last time. I'm trying to tighten that up with a more explicit plan to reach out socially every week in some way.
Mental - This was the other goal that was vague last time. This time I want to read one non-fiction book each month (I read Quitter in February) as well as reading one e-book (this was my goal last time - in February I read Buried in Buttercream  on my Nook) and one Advance Reader Copy (ARC) that I have received for my blog (In February I read Killer Honeymoon).
Career - I want to keep the goal of adding 10 new books to the library every week. I haven't done this for a couple weeks, but I haven't felt too badly about that considering I was doing more than that for all of January. I want to get back to that and get caught up on the batch that is almost ready to go before I do another book fair at the end of the month.
Family - This was another vague one last time. This time I want to keep up our reading routine which we re-established at the start of the year. Then I want to add a movie or game night every week where we do that together, really focused on being together rather than just being in the same room but all doing our own thing.

So, those are my new goals for this next block of 52 days.

How are your New Year's goals holding up now that March is here?

52 Day Goal Update

A couple weeks ago I blogged about a new goal format for the year - setting goals in 52 day chunks throughout the year. The smaller time period would allow me to change goals that aren't working rather than scrapping them all together. The idea came from Jon Acuff.

Here's an update of how my goals are working so far in this first 52 day section of the year:
Spiritual (daily devotions) - I love the three apps I am using. As of this past Sunday (I check in on my goals each week on Sunday to keep them in my head and to refocus where I have gotten off track), I have only missed one day. I would like to keep up with this goal for the year and I feel like I've set a good foundation so far.
Financial (use gift cards, not credit cards to buy books) - as I was pulling together financial records for our tax preparation, I was embarrassed by how many books I bought for the school. A few is a nice gesture. This was ridiculous. This was manic. I want to exercise more self-control this year. Hopefully the plan to only buy books with gift cards will help with that.
Physical (Weight Watchers) - I have signed up for Weight Watchers and am slowly getting back into the swing of that. So far, we have been eating like we usually do and figuring out what points values go with our usual meals. The next step is to find some alternatives that don't burn through the points so quickly. I get about half the points each day that my husband gets (which is annoying), so I have to be much more careful in my planning.
Social (be more social) - I've discovered that I have an inertia problem. (Inertia is a body at rest wants to stay at rest). Once I get home on Friday afternoon, I don't feel like doing anything on the weekend. I just want to rest, dig into home activities, etc. I have to make the commitment to being social and force myself to follow through. I always have a great time once I go, but getting myself there is what requires the work.
Mental - my goal for this (reading on an e-device) was kind of lame, but I have done that. I have finished 4 books on my Nook this month.
Career (put 10 new books in the library every week) - In the three weeks of the school year, I have placed 83 new books in the school library. I found myself pretty sick of new books by the end of last week, though, so I started on a new project. We'll see if I keep up with 10 new ones this week or if I take a break.
Family (reclaim bedtime routine of reading) - we have gotten back into the routine of reading a book at bedtime during the school week. We finished the first book in the Wings of Fire series (The Dragonet Prophecy) and have started book two.

So far, I am pretty happy with my progress. I feel like I am taking manageable steps to form a life I want for myself and my family. Here's to the next half of the first 52 days!

Goals/52 Days

Over the New Year's holiday I read a blog post from Jon Acuff called, "Why I Quit New Year's Resolutions (And What I Am Doing Instead)."

This really resonated with me because I routinely bail on my New Year's goals by February. Acuff described my experience perfectly - the goals don't work because they are determined without any clue what the new year will hold by way of opportunities and challenges.

The idea of tackling the year - and my goals - in 52 day chunks seems like a great way to change the course for me. I am gradually working on my first set of goals, and I feel optimistic about them because I know if they stink, I will get to change them up in late February.

Jon recommends setting goals in seven areas: Mental, Spiritual, Physical, Financial, Social, Family and Career.  Here are mine for the first 52 days of 2013:

Mental - read one book per month (so one in January and one in February) on a device (Nook, Kindle app, iBooks). This is to help me actually use the books I have downloaded onto a device - and reading is always a winning goal.
Spiritual - download a devotional/Bible reading app and use daily. I want to be more intentional about my spiritual life this year. A colleague posted the following on Facebook:  “We never grow closer to God when we just live life. It takes deliberate pursuit and attentiveness.”   I don't know where she posted it from, but the sentiment challenged me. I have found a great Bible reading app and a couple devotional ones that I am doing every day. I'll post about those another day.
Physical - Join Weight Watchers in January. It's time. It worked well for my husband and I when we did it 6 years ago and I'm ready to get back to it.
Financial - only use gift cards or cash to buy books. We have worked really hard to pay off our credit card, but trips to the book store, at least for me, get pricey. It's too easy to swipe the card and worry about paying for them later.
Social - engage with friends in person - not just Facebook. This one is a little wimpy. I would love to make it more of a "invite friends to our home once a month" sort of goal, but I have issues with feeling comfortable with others seeing our house. It doesn't make sense. We've done a small "gathering" the last two years before Christmas and have really enjoyed it. But I have many more years of house-shame to overcome. Maybe that should be my goal instead - banish my house-shame by inviting people over.
Family - reclaim our bedtime reading routine, starting with Wings of Fire/The Dragonet Prophecy. We've gotten out of the habit of reading together at night and I want to get back to it. So far in the new year, we are doing better about being consistent.
Career - Put 10 new books out in the library every week. Before Christmas break I killed myself, working late even when I was sick, to get a big crop of books cataloged for the library. Now they essentially just need their coverings - laminate or those plastic sheets that libraries use on hard cover books with paper jackets. I brought three bags of books home to work on over break, and I ended up taking all three bags back to school, untouched. I really embraced the idea of a "break" for Christmas break, but I am still committed to getting new materials into kids' hands asap. So, we'll try for 10 a week and see how it works. Hopefully I can actually do more.

So, those are my goals for the first 52 days. What goals have you set for 2013?

New Year's Goals - How are you doing?

It's February. The year is 1/12 over. Did you set some goals for 2010? I did. How are you doing on yours? Mine? Not so hot.

I have mentioned before that I find myself needing to simplify my goals for this year - have fewer goals and break them down into doable units. I found this (free) resource the other day at Success Begins Today. The resource is a Word document that you can print onto business cards. Together, the 10 cards make up a Goal Setting Toolkit. There is a card for long term goals, another for weekly milestones, and another for taking a goal and making it measurable (so you'll know if you've met it or not). I think this is a great resource. The site also has an interesting system of using 48 minute blocks of time to get things done. You can start reading about it here.

I'd love to hear how your goals are going for the new year or how these resources from Success Begins Today can help you reach your goals.