They say in order to break a bad habit (or to form a good one) you need to constantly remind yourself about what you're trying to accomplish. So... that's what I'm going to do! I want to start posting my monthly goals here so I can see them regularly, while listing smaller weekly goals on top of my monthly goals in my Erin Condren Life Planner.
Speaking of my Life Planner (which I'm still anxiously waiting for...), that leads me to the first of my goals: be more organized. Last year, I did a pretty awesome job at keeping up with my planner. I listed all of Thomas' and my appointments/meetings/when bills were due etc. etc. When Chloe was born I sorta stopped using my planner and started to lose track of things. Of course a large part of that was the fact that I was a new mommy and I had a newborn... but 7 months later, I think it's time to reorganize our lives and figure out a new system that works for all of us!
Next is to stop making excuses. Thomas noticed that I said "I wanna do this..." or "I wanna try that..." a lot but I never actually did it. When he asked me why not... I always had a list of excuses. One day he told me that I'm full of excuses and that if I keep living that way I'll never get anything done. So! When I find myself about to make an excuse for why I'm not going to do something or why I should do it later... I tell myself cut the excuses and just do it. It's amazing how much has changed since I took on this new attitude. I find that I'm starting to do a better job at keeping up with things around the house (of course it's not perfect but I'm working on it!)... I get more done in a day while using my time wisely... and most importantly I make sure I (or if Thomas is home we all go) take Chloe outside for at least an hour. One of our New Year's resolutions was to lead a more active lifestyle... and so far we're doing a pretty good job! Chloe loves being outside... and we all get to spend more time together without sitting in front of a TV or computer.
This leads me to my next goal... I want to be active. I want to make sure that I do some kind of activity that will benefit my mind and body... and essentially my soul. Thomas started meditating a while back and he recently taught me what he does... it's nothing crazy technical. Just focused breathing... and really focusing on relaxing and tensing certain muscles. If I finish everything I need to do, I try to meditate while Chloe is down for a nap. It's amazing how fast 10 minutes or even half an hour can go by. Another favorite activity we love to do as a family is to walk... And we'll walk anywhere! The mall, the park, all around our hill. If it's just Chloe and I... I'll walk for at least an hour to an hour and a half or I do an exercise my sister-in-law, Val, taught me. What you'll need is a good area to run, with evenly spaced "markers". These markers can be light poles... fence poles... anything that stretches a good distance with these markers consistently spaced the whole way. So... What I do is I walk around a bit just to get warmed up. Then I walk to this stretch of road near my house. When I reach the first light pole on that street I start sprinting as hard as I can... as soon as I reach the next light pole I stop sprinting and I walk. I walk until I reach the next light pole, which is where I begin sprinting as hard as I can again. You continue to switch off sprinting, running, sprinting, running. I try to do this for at least half an hour. I try to make sure I go outside and exercise whenever Thomas works... which is usually five times a week now (we have a jogging stroller and Chloe loves to go running with us). This is what works for us right now... and I want to make sure I keep it up and keep pushing myself to be healthier.
My last goal is probably going to be a life goal for me... I want to make sure that I do everything for a reason. I don't want any of my actions to be wasted. I have this one life to live... and I want to make the best of it for myself and my family. I guess this goes a long with my goal of stop making excuses. If I have the time and energy to improve myself or improve things for my family... I want to do it. At the end of my life... I want to look back and know that I gave everything I had to live the best life that I possibly could.
Do you set goals for yourself? If so... what are your goals for this month?
Until next time...
