I’m a Reluctant Goal-Setter

I’ve always been ambitious and driven. I love my work, sometimes too much. I plan everything. But other than losing 40 pounds before I got married, I can’t think of a time I actually set a specific personal goal and worked towards it.

I have followed Elise Blaha Cripe‘s work since before she got married, so reading Big Dreams, Daily Joys (Amazon affiliate link) for this month’s Book Club discussion was quite a trip. I’ve long admired her ability to turn anything into a project and work towards goals of all kinds with so much joy and persistence.

It was her recent Instagram posts about attending a specific number of pilates classes in a year that really got me thinking about specific goals I could count. The PowerSheets Goal Planner then helped me put those into a bigger context.

My Personal Goals for 2020

I put together this list as I worked through the first part of the PowerSheets. While I love the snowball effect of the process, I had so many ideas swirling that it was helpful to have a place to start getting them organized.

My vision is to sit with these goals for January and make sure it’s all what I really want. I am so guilty of leveraging a good mental place and ample time (e.g. Christmas break) to be overly ambitious about what I can accomplish.

• [Home & Family] Invest time in what matters.
  • Complete 10 craft projects with Emily.
  • Plan & execute 10 family day trips.
  • Declutter and organize the basement.
• [Mental Health] Spend less time working.
  • Read 20 fiction books.
  • Watch 10 documentaries.
  • Go for a walk 2x a week.
• [Physical Wellness] Lose 25 pounds by June 1.
  • Go to sleep by 10:30 5+ days each week.
  • Track meals 6+ days each week.
  • Attend 50 classes at the YMCA.
• [Creative Growth] Be a finisher.
  • Complete 40 scrapbook layouts.
    • 12 BLP hybrid layouts
    • 8 Silhouette layouts (past year stories)
    • 10-6×8 layouts from 2019
    • 10-8.5×11 layouts from 2020
  • Finish all remaining December Daily projects.
  • Complete Photo Editing Study Group exercises.
  • Print 6-12×12 and 9-4×6 photos for wall frames.
• [Work & Security] Hit a specific revenue milestone.
  • Run at least 1 ad campaign each month.
  • End work at 4:30 p.m. and pick up Emily.
  • Collaborate with Steve on a family budget.

Favorite Organizing & Planning Tools

As you heard on episode 43 of the podcast, I’ve tried a lot of different approaches to organizing my life and planning my days over the years. Some things worked for a while and others never did.

I’m excited about the solutions I have in place right now. Yes, it’s a lot. You might need more or much less. I waffle between geeking out over seeing them all together in the photo here and wondering if I am a bit nuts.

Here’s what I’m using:

• I’m using PowerSheets (gold binding, floral cover) for big picture goal-setting and a Panda Planner Weekly (Amazon affiliate link, black bound book) for weekly/daily tracking. The PowerSheets tending page will be washi-taped into the Panda Planner.
• Emily and I are also using Elise’s daily goal tracking sheets (not pictured) to monitor our progress on reading 30 minutes a day. These will live on our fridge.
• I’m using a Carrie Elle 7×9 meal planner (silver binding, black and white cover) and tracking my food with Cronometer on my phone (not pictured). I have the Gold version of Cronometer to remove ads and have more customization.
• Over the break I set up the green binder to house recipes we enjoy. I’ve never been one to cook the same thing twice and I want to do more of that going forward.
• I’m using Trello (free version, shown on computer) for project management and my Panda Planner for weekly task management.

One Word for My 40th Year

I’ve mentioned this a million times, but I’m about to turn 40. This milestone birthday certainly has a role in my decision to pivot to a more goal-oriented approach. This year feels like a turning point and I am ready to build an even stronger foundation for the next 40.

I didn’t choose a word last year and I’ll admit, I felt a bit disconnected. I had been sitting with the word “connect” (ironically) since last month’s Book Club meeting, but it didn’t feel quite right. Then when I finally dug in to the PowerSheets, the fog lifted. My word for 2020 is HOME.

I want to love my home and the people in it. I want to leave my work “at the office” so that my home can be more of a sanctuary. I want to find my forever home with food. I want to celebrate my creative home (scrapbooking, of course). I want to build security for my home.

I’ll be using my word in my PowerSheets Goal Planner and in my Panda Planner Weekly. It will likely play a role in my scrapbooking, but I’m not specifically doing a creative project to support it. I know that when I live this word, I will have plenty of stories to document!

So what about you? Are you an avid or a reluctant goal-setter? Are you choosing a word for 2020? Leave a comment sharing how you approach new year planning.