I Am a Total New Year Stereotype // February Goals

How in the heck is it February already?!?  Hope you all had a great weekend and a fun Super Bowl Sunday yesterday!

Anyway, let’s just get right to the point, shall we? Remember this post – the one where I shared my goals for January and my commitment to blog about them each month? Well, let’s just say it’s a good thing I’m tackling goals WITH GRACE this year. 😉  Y’all, I’m a total New Year’s Resolution Stereotype… I didn’t meet a single one of my goals 100% this month.  (And, really, if you aren’t sticking to your goals in January, is there even any hope for the rest of the year?!?)

To recap – I wrote a “Best Stuff List” to start the year and have structured my goals for the month and year around those eight priorities.  Each month, I plan to link up with The Tiny Twig’s “Goals with Grace” and share my progress etc. Here’s what I wrote back on January 1st with a few comments now that the month is behind me:

January 2015 Goals:

1. My Spiritual Life: Complete the She Reads Truth John Study (24 days)

Full disclosure here.  I did ten days.  Some days I just made time to pray and be quiet with God on my way to work or as I got ready in the morning; but, a lot of days I skipped out on time with Him altogether.  Sadly, even just ten days (or so) is an improvement; but, still, I have a long way to go to make this the top priority I want it to be in my life.

2. My Marriage: Spend more time talking/hanging out and less time on our computers in the same room. Go on at least one official date.

I’d say we did spend more time hanging out and talking, but we didn’t go on an official date. 🙁

3. My Kids: Spend at least thirty minutes of focused time playing with Sam every day.  (Does this make me sound terrible?  It’s the “goal” I’m most embarrassed to have to set, for sure; but, the truth is, “play” is hard for me.  I’m much better at “do” or “go.”  Anyone else?)  ALSO, get Sam to bed earlier!!

I pretty much failed at both of these miserably.  I played with Sam more – for sure – but definitely not every day.  And bedtime? Well, I tried… for about four days.  Ugh.

4. My Health: Make good decisions about the food I am eating, exercise at least three times a week, and treat myself with kindness.

You know what? I DID do this one.  I wouldn’t say I worked out religiously three times a week, but – on average – I did.  I’ve started wearing my Fitbit pretty religiously again and am motivated by the “competition” with some of my friends.  (If you have one and want to be “friends,” send me your username so I can add you!) I’ve also come to really value and enjoy some time to myself on the treadmill or just walking around the neighborhood with a podcast or a good book to read.  I think that is SO important, and I know it will be much harder to do once I have a new baby etc., so I’m trying to make the most of it now.  I’d say I’ve also been as good about eating and as kind as I can be about my body for someone who is almost eight months pregnant, so I’ll call this one a success.

5. My Calling/Career: Catch up (& stay caught up) on all grading at school, & make a good start on maternity leave plans.

I’m (mostly) caught up on grading – the end of the semester will do that to you – but I haven’t even touched on my maternity leave plans yet.  Must.do.this.immediately. (Seriously, I lay in bed at night worrying that something will happen and I will go into labor/be put on bed rest early and not have the first thing done at school. It is bad!!)

6. My Relationships: Invite one couple over for dinner. Schedule a coffee date with a friend I haven’t seen in a while.

I did have a coffee date with an old/new friend and a couple of fun play dates.  BUT, we didn’t have a couple over for dinner this month.

7. My Home: Finish Sam’s bedroom and the nursery. Organize all baby stuff.  (Admittedly this is a lofty goal, but time is of the essence right now with this stuff… We’ll see how it goes!)

The nursery is probably 90% done right now (yay), but it still needs some organizing, etc. and I haven’t updated the gallery wall in Sam’s room or done anything with all of the baby stuff in the basement.  As much as I genuinely tried during January, it looks like February will involve quite a bit of nesting and checking things off “the list” too.

8. My Hobbies/Creativity: Set goals for blog (using The Blog Planning Kit) and implement some regular weekly and monthly routines and features. (More on this tomorrow!)

I didn’t even touch “The Blog Planning Kit,” but I did start two new features – Mid-Month Confessions & Monthly Favorite Finds – and I felt pretty good about my blogging in general this month.  Not too bad.

So…  What’s next?  I didn’t do great in January, but I did make some progress, and I think these goals and priorities are worth it. Progress not perfection, right?  The whole point of “Goals with Grace” is to allow myself room to “fail” and focus on the positives each month instead. I don’t want to abandon these goals just because one month didn’t go exactly as well as I had hoped; so, I’m sticking with it.  I’m going to have the exact same goals for February and see how it goes.

To help, I found this fun app – Commit – that allows me to track my progress each day.  Have you seen it? Basically, I’ve plugged in about six things I want to do every day that are directly related to my goals that can be checked off in the app each day.  It will remind me at a certain time if I haven’t done one yet, and I can keep track of my success with the little bar at the bottom that fills in each day I meet the goal. (I just set this one up, so my bar is empty. I’m going to do something about that right now!) Cool, huh?

So, how are you doing on your New Year’s Resolutions/goals?  Anyone else having a fresh start today? I’d love to hear from you!!

Have a great Monday!

E

P.S. If you missed my January Favorite Finds post on Friday and/or haven’t entered The Animal Print Shop give away yet, make sure you check it out here!