I’m structuring my goals a bit differently this year. I’m setting 10 goals every month: the first five will relate to my yearly goals and the rest will be more of a “to-do list” of sorts. Those will typically be one-off goals I want to accomplish in the month, simple things I can check off easily. We’ll see how this new goal-setting structure works for me. It may be too much! But it’s an experiment of sorts.
1) Drink water every day. This is my healthy challenge for January, something I want to carry with me throughout the year. I’ve recently learned that I’m chronically dehydrated because I just don’t drink enough water. There are some days when I don’t drink any water. (I KNOW. Believe me, I know.) It’s easy to recover from chronic dehydration: just drink water! That’s all I need to do. It will help me have more energy, feel better, sleep better, and, well, without getting too TMI here, have better digestion. I have my trusty YETI tumbler and am aiming to finish one full tumbler of water every day.
2) Write 10,000 words in my novel. It’s time to get back to that novel of mine. 🙂 My goal is to finish the first draft during Q1 and I believe I have about 30,000 words left to write. So, you do the math for how I came up with this magic 10k number. I wrote 50k words in November so 10,000 should be a breeze, right? Riiiiiight.
3) Work out 13 times. This is the magic number I need to hit every month in order to mark off my “150 workouts” goal. I’d love to stay on track every month so I’m not scrambling to finish at the end of the year.
4) Read Nasty Women: Feminism, Resistance, and Revolution in Trump’s America. The Unread Shelf Project challenge for January is to read any random unread book on our shelves, so I picked this one. I bought this book years ago, right around the time it was published, and have let it sit on my shelves month after month. The beginning of this election year seems like a good time to finally crack it open.
5) Start meditating. This is my “do something new” goal for January. It took me quite a while to figure out exactly what new thing I wanted to try this month, as January is going to be a busy one for me and I wanted to set myself up for success. Enter: meditation. Meditation is something I’ve been wanting to try for a long time because I know how good it is for those who struggle with anxiety. I’m using a 30-day “how to meditate” challenge via the Calm app and I hope by the end of it, meditation will be a normal part of my life!
6) Switch over my files. It’s that time of year! I want to move my 2019 files into my bigger filing box and set up new files for 2020. I also want to reorganize my filing box and shred any bills/paperwork that are seven years old. This process is starting to feel outdated now that just about all my bills/paperwork are digital (or can be easily accessed online) but there are still some hard copies I need to file away and definitely lots of papers from 2013 to shred.
7) Schedule an eye appointment. I haven’t had an eye appointment in about two years. I was waiting to run out of contacts, which happened in early December but that’s also when I maxed out my FSA. Ha. So I will schedule my eye appointment this month now that I have a freshly replenished FSA. I’m debating if I want to get new glasses this year… depends on how much my prescription has changed, I think!
8) Cancel my “checking plus” account. I was “bullied”* into adding this “checking plus” feature to my checking account a few years ago, and as far as I know, it doesn’t have any real benefit for my checking account. It’s time to cancel it – that’s $7 down the drain every month!
*Okay, by bullied, I mean they mentioned it to me one time when I had to call about a checking issue and I pretended to be really interested in it because I’m SUCH a goddamn people pleaser and then had it added to my account.
9) Play with the cats for at least 15 minutes every day. I really need to get better at playing with my cats. They are lovable and playful little ladies but I can get very lazy sometimes. I have some fun toys that I keep hidden (like teasers and a laser and a robotic toy) that I need to bring out every night. I love playing with them and they always make me laugh – I just get lazy about it!
10) Check my bank account every night. 2020 is the year I get strict with my budget. I’m calling it here! I have gotten very lazy because I’m finally at a place where I don’t really need to worry about money. I don’t live paycheck-to-paycheck and I can always count on money being there. Buuut… I’m also in credit card debt, should have a helluva lot more money saved, and get a little too “spendy” at times. So, I’ve given myself a shiny new budget to follow and am going to get very strict about checking my bank account nightly and making sure to keep up with my budget day-to-day.
re: drinking water — as a person who was once in the same boat, believe the hype! You absolutely will feel a TON better when you’re drinking enough water. Last year, one of the habits I tracked was water intake, with a goal of having 80oz while at work Monday-Friday. It took a while to get there but I definitely feel a lot better. You’ve totally got this 🙂
80K seems like a pretty good length for a first draft on your novel. Do you have a schedule set up to get you there or are you taking it as it comes this quarter? I’m also hoping to finish up what I am affectionately calling a zero draft this quarter!
Good call re: checking your bank account every night and getting on a budget for the new year. I find that helpful for staying on track, especially where I don’t do cash budgeting like so many people who are trying to pay off debt do.
I bet checking your bank account every night will really help curb any extra spending!
I am excited to see how meditation goes for you! It’s something I think I should do, to chill the eff out.
Do you plan to write in the mornings again?
Once you start playing with the girls more each day, it will become habit!
I’m horrible with water as well! I’m a lot better than I was previously… Having a nice large pretty cup from Starbucks helps. And I have a nice Contigo strawed cup, too. Water bottles didn’t work for me… but lidded cups with straws? Yep. My goal is to drink 2-3 of those cups a day. However, most days it’s only one. Sometimes it’s half. But I consider at least 1 full cup a day is a win.
The water drinking thing will really make a big difference! I do great at drinking water on week days but I am not great on weekends when I am up and on my feet more. So I need to work on that!
I like the idea of monthly goals! I don’t set monthly goals but one thing I want to focus on this month is continued de-cluttering/getting rid of stuff. I also want to pick up some paint samples so we can put them on the wall and see how they look in different light. We are hoping to have our place painted this spring or summer once we can open the windows!
Happy new year! Lots of worthwhile goals here – I’m going to add some of these to my own list for 2020. For the water, have you tried committing to a full week (or more) of NO liquids except for water? I feel like doing so would reset your body and mind into wanting water. Except for one coffee every morning I never drink anything except for water (zero juice or soda) and I love it! I drink maybe 15 glasses of water a day and find each one delicious. When I was younger I didn’t drink water either but when I cut out all other drinks I began to crave water pretty much all day long. You could also try sipping hot water which can also be delightful. Good luck!
I really envy your discipline and your variety and creativity in setting goals. Looking forward to reading how you get on!