I wasn’t sure I wanted to make yearly goals for this year. On the one hand, I love setting yearly goals because it’s fun the plan out what I want to accomplish over the next twelve months. I love to envision myself standing at the end of the year, and figuring out who that girl is and what her life looks like. On the other hand? I failed miserably at my yearly goals last year. I think I only completed one goal from my original list. By the second half of 2014, I was tired of the list and just basically gave up on it. (And ended up also giving up on setting monthly goals by September.)
But! New year, new me, right? Hopefully, at least. I feel different about this year. I feel less crazed about starting a brand-new diet, brand-new exercise routine, brand-new writing schedule, brand-new budget. January 1 rolled around, and nothing much changed for me. It was just… January 1. It’s a new year and I love the freshness of a blank slate… but I also know that just because it’s a new year… that doesn’t mean everything in my life will change automatically.
I’ve been thinking a lot about goal-setting lately. How much I love the beginning. That’s when it’s fun! I want to do this, and this, and this! Let’s set all the goals! Woooo!
But then… when it gets hard… when things get uncomfortable… when achieving the goal gets boring… it’s just so damn easy to give it all up. Go back to my old ways. Tell myself I’m just “not that girl.”
I don’t want to do that this year. I want to be that girl. I want to recognize when things are getting difficult, settle myself, and keep on going. Keep moving forward. Don’t let hiccups or mistakes or that nasty little inner critic of mine win.
All that said, here are the goals I set for myself for 2015. Let’s do this thing.
1. Complete the Book Riot Read Harder Reading Challenge. (And read 52 books.)
I am nerding out over this reading challenge. It is so up my alley! I’ve created an Excel spreadsheet for the different categories and the book I plan to read for them. I’ve started labeling books on my Goodreads account. And I’m so excited to get started. I’m cheating a little by allowing some books I read to count for multiple categories, but I also want to have the time to read my monthly book club pick, the books I review for TLC (already have four scheduled for the first four months of this year!), and the books I want to read for myself. Also, I’ve lowered the number of books I want to read this year to 52 (much lower than previous years!) I figure the books I read for the challenge are going to take me longer to finish than my usual easy reads, so it all works out in the end.
2. Get a tattoo.
This is on my “30 Before 30” list, and I want to finally mark this as complete. I’ve been wanting a tattoo for years, and I’ve been letting fear hold me back. I know the exact tattoo I want (this one) and where I want it (back of my neck). Now to just get ‘er done!
3. Move into my own apartment.
I’m planning on moving in August or September (because moving in suffocating humidity sounds like fun!) I need to start apartment hunting again, and putting away money for moving costs and things for my new place. I’m so excited about this goal!
4. Put 20% of my income towards savings/debt each month.
This is not much, and I’m hoping I can always do more than 20%, based on my current financial needs, but it’s an easily attainable goal. I’m hoping to put 10% in savings and put the other 10% towards one of my school loans, in the hopes of paying it off completely by the end of the year. (It’s one of my smallest loans, the other ones will take years. Yay.)
5. Travel to a new state.
I’m not sure what state, but there are way too many states I have not visited. In fact, I’ve only visited six states in my life. Isn’t that unbelievable?! I’ve been so busy with my cruises the past few years that traveling in the US has fallen by the wayside. This year, I’m thinking about forgoing my usual cruise vacation for traveling in the US. Time to knock some states off my to-see list!
6. Race a 5K.
This means, actually training for a 5K and setting a new personal record. I go back and forth with running, and maybe at the end of training for a 5K, I’ll find that running isn’t for me, but I want to at least say I’ve tried.
7. Master the 80/20 rule for healthy eating.
Every year, I set a specific goal for losing weight. And then I don’t lose weight. And then I get frustrated with myself. This year, instead of focusing so much on losing weight, I want to focus on healthy eating. I’ve mastered the exercise equation of things, and now it’s time to master the eating side. I like the 80/20 rule – 80% of the time eating clean, 20% of the time eating… less healthy foods. (I like this post, which breaks down what the 80/20 rule should really look like.) Hopefully, by living by this rule, I’ll see the weight loss I’ve been craving.
That’s it! Just seven goals to guide me through this year. Simple and attainable, but challenging enough for me to see growth in my life if I work hard enough.
Did you set any yearly goals?
I love setting goals in the New Year. For me, the trick is to make sure they are challenging but achievable, and not setting too many as I can get easily overwhelmed otherwise. You have a good set of goals – I think putting 20% of your income toward savings/debt is more than “not much”!
I posted my goals today, too. One of my biggest ones I want to achieve is resolving my sleep issues.
I agree with Lisa – I have to set goals that I know are possible for me to complete within the 12 months. It helps me to keep my list of goals handy to reference often because all too often life gets in the way and my goals slip to the back of my mind if I don’t make an effort to continue focusing on them. I think you have great goals for this year. I’m so excited for you to move into your own apartment! I am right there with you on the 80/20 rule. I tend to be all or nothing without any healthy in-between. Hopefully we can figure that out this year 🙂 My 2 biggest goals this year: to lose the weight I gained in 2014 and to read 50 books, both will be a challenge for me but are absolutely attainable if I focus.
I am also really excited for you to move into your very own place! Oh, the possibilities! And freedom! I also agree with your traveling plans. Now that we know that we will be moving later this upcoming summer, I have all sorts of plans to explore more of Texas and its bordering states. We have already nixed our tropical vacation plans to go camping in NM (and possibly CO) instead.
Your goals are awesome! I’m excited to follow your blog when you move into your own place. There’s nothing quite like turning a new space into a home!
Most of my goals for this year are continuations of the larger goals that I have already been working towards (changing careers, finishing school, etc.) or involve keeping track of the things I already do (books read, movies watched) so I can have a better “big picture” view of the year when it draws to a close. The one exception is my 365 Days of Kindness project, which has been so much fun so far!
Canada’s a state, isn’t it? Come here! 😉
I’ve always admired your goals and how well you stick to trying to accomplish them. (Even more so, I admire how you don’t beat yourself up if you don’t.) I’m a horrible goal-setter overall and generally don’t make them unless it’s something I KNOW I can accomplish. (Which is totally cheating.)
Awesome goals!
I know generally that I want to save more money, reduce clutter (and buy less STUFF) and also just reset my healthy eating this month but I haven’t really sat down and broke out my goals and how I’m going to go about achieving them. I am hopefully going to do that this week. Better late than never 🙂
Love the mix of goals: personal growth, just for fun, and etc. I think you’ll have a kick butt year, just a hunch 🙂
I don’t know if an intention & goal are the same thing, but I do have several intentions set for this year. If i get my act together, I may just blog about them… !
I vote Texas!
Those are great goals, Stephany! Definitely realistic and attainable. It’s hard sometimes to stick to New Year’s resolutions – I agree – but it’s great to set some goals as guidelines throughout the year. That’s how I see it when I think about what I want to do with the new year!
I don’t even know where to start with this post because I’m so excited! Love that you and Lisa are doing the Read Harder challenge – I don’t want to commit myself to something that big, but I am pushing myself to read more diversely.
Saving, moving out, paying off a loan, ahhh, so exciting! Also, you could visit Northern Virginia and see D.C. in ONE visit! And have a place to stay (if you wait until the fall and we don’t have a tiny newborn anymore), AND meet me and Lemon. Look at ALL those fabulous things – with one trip! 😉
I haven’t set any goals per say but I’ve decided my word for 2015 is “build.” Build my Arbonne business, build my family, build our savings, build my confidence that I can do this whole mothering thing. I can’t wait to see how it plays out!
This sounds like a very achievable list. I think it’s important to break goals into smaller, bite sized pieces. This way they do not seem as huge. Even when I am running, I only try to make it to the end of the next mile, and then the next one and then the next…so it doesn’t seem overwhelming that I have x number of miles still to go! Some of your goals can take care of themselves (like the savings can be deducted from your paycheck and put right into a savings account without you even touching it) and some are more hands on (finding an apartment / losing weight), so as long as you prioritize your time, you will do fine (and I know you will because you have spreadsheets)!
I love your goals and I love the tattoo you chose. I was scared to get mine, and while it DID hurt (kind of a stinging sensation), it was much easier and less painful than I anticipated.
Traveling in the U.S. always falls by the wayside for me too. But might I suggest New Orelans? It was awesome. OR…NYC if you haven’t been! 😀
I think that 80/20 rule is fab! You got this!
And I cannot wait until you get your tattoo! Ahhh! Getting mine was so fun and exciting and I still get giddy when I catch a glimpse of it! I hope you have a great experience, too! 🙂