I killed it with my January goals. Straight-up killed it. I completed 8.5 of the 10 goals I set! Here’s what I think helped: using Todoist to list out my monthly goals and put in subtasks to help me complete each goal. For example, for the “get bloodwork done” goal, I set up three subtasks: call doctor for referral, schedule bloodwork appointment, and go to the appointment. Breaking down my goals into these smaller subtasks really helps my brain! What also helped was using a paper planner to write down weekly goals every Monday. I’m on attempt #850 on using a paper planner and maybe this time it will stick! I bought one that has a weekly spread with the days listed out on one side with room to write down appointments and other responsibilities; the other side has a lined section where I can write down my weekly goals. I’m hoping these tools can help me with my February goals, too!
But before we get into February, let’s look back on my January goals.
January Goals
1) Find a place to donate old prescription glasses. Complete! Visionworks was happy to take my old glasses, and I was happy to finally get them off my hands.
2) Have a no-spend month. Complete! I am so proud of myself for not spending any money on frivolous purchases in January. It was much-needed. Next, I want to do a no-spend money where I don’t spend money on frivolous purchases and restaurants. That will be the true test of strength.
3) Find a dermatologist. Complete! I was able to find one pretty easily by Googling “dermatologist near me” and the first one that popped up accepted my insurance! I have an appointment scheduled for next Friday.
4) Switch to having just one 10-ounce can of Dr. Pepper for lunch. Complete! (Mostly.) Of course, there were some days this month when I had a little more Dr. Pepper (usually on weekends), but for the most part, I did really well with this goal. My Dr. Pepper cans are actually 7.5 ounces, not 10 ounces, so I drank even less than I originally planned for! A lot of you suggested drinking flavored seltzer water in place of my soda, and I’ve started keeping lots of cans of Bubly on hand and it really does the trick for me!
5) Set up tracking spreadsheets for some of my yearly goals. Complete! This was a really easy goal to accomplish, and a fun one, too. I like having an easy place to look at all the goals I set for myself and to keep track of my progress.
6) Work through years 2009-2011 of blog posts and make a spreadsheet to list out the posts, categories, and tags. Complete! I finished up my 2011 blog posts in the nick of time.
7) Set up two recurring savings deposits: for my new mattress and for my house down payment. Not complete. My credit card bill was a bit out of control after the holidays and other stuff, so I prioritized paying that down, which meant I didn’t have a lot left over for savings.
8) Get bloodwork done. Complete! It’s good to have a starting point.
9) Clean my interior doors and baseboards. Complete! It wasn’t a fun job, but it was a job that got done. Woop!
10) Make one recipe in the air fryer each week. Half-complete. I was doing well with this goal in the first half of January, but fell off towards the latter part of the month. Oh well!
February Goals
1) Walk 1 mile every day. Based on my bloodwork report, I realized I need to take some steps to lower my cholesterol and I think daily activity can certainly help. My goal: Take a 1-mile walk every day. That’s all I have to do! Easy enough.
2) Buy a coffee table. I think February is the month I finally buy my coffee table. I have my eye on this one from Wayfair. Hopefully, it’s not too difficult to put together.
3) Bring down my phone’s screen time average. You guys, it’s embarrassing to receive my weekly screentime report every Sunday. Currently, my daily average is around 6 hours. !!! I use my phone to listen to podcasts/audiobooks, but I also spend a lot of time on Happy Color, playing silly phone games, scrolling through Instagram, etc. I’d love to bring down my daily average by at least one hour, but more would be better.
4) Review 2012 and 2013 blog posts and list out the posts, categories, and tags. It has definitely been an eye-opening experience to read through what I was writing about in my early twenties. In 2013, I started at the job I am still at, and I’m excited to see what I talked about at that time in my life!
5) Clean my oven. Remember how I had a goal every month in 2021 to clean my oven? I still haven’t cleaned it. But in February, it’s happening!
6) Start Moby-Dick. I have yet to begin my reading of Moby-Dick, mainly because I’m always intimidated to start a new classic on the Serial app (I don’t know why!), but I’m going to start the journey this month.
7) Keep ice water near me at all times during my working hours. I made this a goal for myself early in 2021, but never really followed through. I get really dehydrated during the day, but there’s something about going into the kitchen and filling up my water bottle with water and ice that is such a goddamn struggle. Instead, I’ll just go into the kitchen and take a long chug of Gatorade. My goal is to do this in the morning before I even sit down at my desk as part of my morning routine. I know I will sip on it throughout the day and hopefully end the day feeling a lot less dehydrated than I currently do.
8) Research online mattress options. I’m pretty sure I’ve never in my life bought a mattress for myself (whaaat), and when I have needed a mattress, we’ve always gone to a regular mattress store. But it’s 2022 and everyone buys their mattresses online now! I know of many different mattress brands (Caspar, Helix, Purple, etc.), but I’m not sure which option will be best for me in terms of comfort and price. I want to spend some time this month researching different mattress brands and maybe even make a comparison spreadsheet (!) to figure it out. (And if you’ve ever bought a mattress online, I want to know more!)
9) Spend time every day on my dating apps. Ugh, I have a goal to go on one date per month this year, but that goal will be hard to reach if I never open my dating apps! There are just so many other apps on my phone that I’d rather go to than Hinge or Bumble. But I also want to find love! The constant struggle of the single person, sigh.
10) Reorganize my walk-in closet. I spent some time in December reorganizing my walk-in closet, but it’s still not exactly where I want it to be. I need to spend a little more time reconfiguring how I want things to be organized on the shelves.
Do you have any goals for February?
“Breaking down my goals into these smaller subtasks really helps my brain!” – this is SO true for me as well.
Regarding online mattresses; all the best. It is SO hit and miss. We eventually settled on one called Brunswick but tried Endy, Silk and Snow, Purple, and one from Structube (that my friend swore was the best mattress ever). Purple was the one I was most excited about. It was EXPENSIVE…but it just did not work for us. Ugh. Thankfully all could be donated to good causes/charity and I appreciate that, but I hated the process of trying all the beds. I don’t “love” the one we have, but I have a lot of muscle and joint issues so I don’t think there is a perfect bed for me. I guess the hardest part was having people swear by a mattress and then hate it. The whole process was so stressful and I’m still traumatized by the 2-year saga of finding one that isn’t awful for my body. Sigh.
Oh man, that sounds like such an awful mattress shopping experience! I am very nervous about buying online because I have such specific needs when it comes to my mattress, but I do like that they allow you to try it out for 100 or so days and that the return policy is very easy. I’m going to add all the different ones you mentioned to my list to research!
Congratulations on the soda thing! Glad the Bubly helped. : ) You really did great on your January goals. For February, I think you’ll really enjoy your one mile walk (you can listen to podcasts!)
I do agree that breaking goals down into smaller segments helps, a lot. I’ve been writing my weekly goals at the top of my planner page every week, and it really helps me stick to them. I haven’t set any specific big goals yet for February- I better get moving on that!
It has definitely been easier to give up my twice-daily Dr. Pepper with having Bubly on hand! I just need that sweet carbonation, haha.
Wow! Look at you, Stephany!!! What a great start to the year!
Love your goals for February. Especially the oven cleaning goal — I need to do that one, too. Yuck.
At the beginning of January, I set a recurring reminder on my phone to tell me to drink water every two hours. It has already become ingrained in my behavior!
Also, I love Bubly! My favorite is the raspberry!
Ooh, that is such a great idea to set a reminder on my phone! If I have my water by my side, I’ll drink it but sometimes just the act of getting the water can feel like a lot, which is really silly because it takes, like, 2 minutes (probably less). But I’m hoping by connecting it with my morning routine, it will become an ingrained habit in time.
Wow, what an epic start to the year!! I bet it felt good to mark complete on nearly EVERYTHING! Hats off to you!
Mattress buying is so overwhelming. We are sleeping on a mattress I bought probably 12 years ago? I bought it in-store, though. I think that is the approach I would have to take as I fear the return process would be annoying if I didn’t like what we ordered online! There are just so many options, too!
I love flavored sparkling water, too. I no longer drink soda – quit when I started WW and was surprised to find I liked flavored sparkling water after not liking it previously! I like lime, raspberry and grapefruit best!
For February, I am hoping to finish the block of the beachbody workout program I’m doing. I’m on working 69 of 100, and the blocks have 20 workouts. So I *should* get through 11 more if my body cooperates? I had to get a steroid injection in a joint to treat a flare yesterday, though, so we’ll see when I feel well enough to workout again. I’m also continuing my video purge project. I will go through Feb videos from 2014-2020 – but most videos are from 2018 and beyond since that is when Paul was born! It’s been a really fun project as I love seeing Paul as a baby/toddler! Lastly, I did Apartment Therapy’s January Cure and I’d like to finish the tasks I haven’t done yet – which is probably 3-4 so not bad.
What has sold me on trying an online mattress company over a regular mattress store IS the return policy actually! It’s really seamless – you usually get 100ish days to try it out and if you’re unhappy with the mattress, the company will come by and take it away for you and you’ll get a full refund! I’m really not sure if regular mattress stores have that same policy (the try-out period, at least), so I’m really sold on the idea that I have a 3-month period to return it if it’s not working for me.
Look at you meeting all those goals! Great job!!!
We actually went to a Verlo mattress store and bought a pillow top mattress. I am highly suspicious of mattresses that come in the mail and we have a warranty, so if the mattress needs to be harder or softer, it can be adjusted. They also did delivery and set up! It was worth every penny to me.
Oh, that’s so interesting that the mattress ITSELF can be adjusted to be harder or softer. I didn’t even know that was a thing that could happen! I always assumed you would need to have a totally different mattress.
I think the setup for a mattress in the mail is pretty easy – you just take it out of the box and it inflates slowly over the course of a few hours. At least, that’s what the Youtube ads tell me, haha. I’m also kinda sold on the idea that I have a 100-night free trial and can return it pretty easily if it’s not working for me. But, like you, I’m still a LITTLE suspicious that it all will be fine, and having a mattress I haven’t even tried myself first! It shall be an experience, at least. Haha.
Wow, look at you go! Killing the goals! Way to go!
I cleaned my oven in January after seeing my posts from January 2021, when I last cleaned my oven and noted “this would be easier if I did it more frequently.” IT IS EASIER. It was hardly anything at all! Mind you, it was pretty gross and awful in January 2021. I used some kind of Easy-Off no-fume spray and it was pretty effective.
You’ve reminded me I’m supposed to call my doctor for blood work! Thanks for the reminder!
Oh, look at you with your yearly oven-cleaning goal! I need to get some of that Easy-Off spray so hopefully, I can just get this goal DONE and not have to look at my dirty oven for another day!
Fantastic job!!!! And the pivot to pay off your credit card instead of save as much is good! 🙂 I thought of you when I was buying my mini dr pepper cans this weekend! So good.
That table is going to look GREAT in your place! 🙂 I should have a goal to spend less time on my phone too. I am on Insta waaaaay too much.
Gosh, I should have a Feb goal, but I am still doing my Jan goal of moving every day (so far, so good!). Oh! I know. I started this last week, and it’s related to the screen time thing. I am trying really hard not to be on my phone as much around Steven. And actually listen. (He is on his phone a lot a lot… but I get a bit compulsive and respond to things that can wait). There is not a great way to track this, but I will know if I did a good job 🙂
I love the goal of being off your phone when you’re around Steven. And hopefully, he will see that you are not on your phone as much around him, and he will do the same for you! A reverberating effect.
You did so great with your January goals. Amazing. Way to go. I love that you broke up your goals into smaller – more check-off-able chunks 🙂 that’s the way to do it (esp. if you thrive on the checking-off process).
Man, I love that checking-off process, even if it’s a really simple goal like scheduling a bloodwork appointment. But it feels so good to make even incremental progress toward a goal!
We have a Casper, & we loooove it! I can’t be super helpful re: purchasing, & researching because we got it from my mother-in-law when she sold her condo (it was in her guest room), but I can, at least, confirm that it is extremely comfortable, even for me & my many chronic back problems.
That is so great to hear! I have heard great things about Caspar, but it’s so hard to know which reviews to trust. I’m glad it’s been working great for you guys!
Dude, you ROCKED January. I am so impressed! Wow. Totally with you on the smaller tasks add up to bigger things – it’s the truth! And so excited that you are making real, hopefully sustained change in so many priority areas of your life. I’m sorry about the dating thing, though.. .it’s hard, I imagine. Getting up the courage / energy to put yourself out there and then actually meet people? Whew. Sometimes it feels easier to stick with what is known, doesn’t it? I did order my mattress online but honestly don’t remember from where. It’s foam and works perfectly for me!
It truly is easy just to not make the effort when it comes to dating. And while I have met some wonderful people and have had some wonderful experiences from dating, it’s never really been that much fun for me. I’d much rather meet someone in the “real world” than through an app, but it seems like the chances of that happening are so slim. Blah. I’m just not in the right dating headspace right now, I guess!
I’ll be honest, despite my newly (re)single status, I’m not interested in all at seeking out another potential partner. I don’t think I am that ‘good’ (whatever that means…) at relationships. And, I don’t think anyone would want to put up with me! Probably better for me to remain single at least for now – and maybe for longer. That said, I also think it’s really hard when you want to have a partner and the opportunities for meeting (finding?) are so limited.
I totally understand! And I think there are some really great things about being single. I really love being able to do what I want, when I want. Decorate my apartment exactly how I want. Not have to worry about other people’s energies and emotions and FAMILIES. It’s really great most of the time (especially for introverts!)