People frequently ask me why I set so many monthly goals, and I’ve always countered with, “I think it’s fun!” Which I do. I love having all these goals to strive for and I don’t feel pressured to mark them all complete. These goals are just for fun; they’re not life and death. However, I’ve always known that I will stop setting monthly goals or stop setting as many when it stops being fun. Annnd… it has stopped being fun.
The problem isn’t the goals themselves. I still love setting goals, but I think I’ve overwhelmed myself with too many goals. I’ve started to feel like I’m setting goals just to hit this arbitrary number I’ve given myself (five goals connected to my yearly goals, five daily habits, five tasks). So, I’ve decided to pare down my goals to just five tasks and three daily routines. This will allow me to concentrate on the goals I really want to get done and clarify exactly what goals are important to me from month to month.
So, with all of that out of the way, let’s talk about how I did on my August goals:
August Goals
Small Steps Toward My Yearly Goals
1) Watch two seasons of a TV show. Not complete. I watched exactly zero seasons of shows that were not reality TV shows. I’ve been going back and forth with myself whether I care or not. On the one hand, watch whatever the hell you want, Steph! But on the other, there are lots of TV shows that I’m interested in watching, but I just always pass on them in favor of reality TV.
2) Research cake decorating classes to find an option that works for me. I actually did this! And there really aren’t any good options around me unfortunately. The only one I found is $160 for a two-day course, which is way more than I’m willing to pay.
3) Spend at least 30 minutes a week researching podcast engagement. I only did this once in August, but I think I came away with some good ideas and food for thought.
4) Work through another section of the “I’m Dead, Now What?” workbook. Not complete.
5) Schedule my next tattoo appointment. Not complete.
Daily-Ish Routines
1) Do a daily stretching routine. LOL, nope. I did this a few days out of the month but nothing worth mentioning. I don’t think I cared enough about this goal to do it, which is good for me to know!
2) Play with the cats for 10 minutes three times a week. Sigh.
3) Take my meds. (71%) This is as of August 5 because I threw away my old notebook where I was tracking these daily goals since I was finished with it and forgot to record the first few days of the month. But I am very proud of this number! This is a 16% increase from July and a 26% increase from June, so hooray! What has really helped is having a daily pill container that I fill up every Sunday. One of my pills has to be broken in half so I think just that little process cutting up a pill every day was enough to stymie me. But now I can just easily grab the pills from the day’s little box and it’s easy-peasy. I’ve been so much better at taking my meds once I implemented this system!
4) Drink water every day. (63%) My water-drinking percentage decreased a bit in August, ugh. I really need to be better about sipping on seltzer in the evening rather than reaching for another Dr. Pepper.
5) Do two 30-minute standing sessions during my workday. No. I kept forgetting about this goal, oops.
Tasks
1) Track how much food my cats are eating. Complete. I didn’t track how much they are eating every day, but I did figure out how many calories I am giving them. Do they eat all of those calories daily? No, they do not. But all I can do is give them food and they can eat as much as they want.
2) Declutter my medicine cabinet. Complete! It looks so much better now.
3) Figure out my cups situation. Complete! I am in love with my new cabinet and the way it looks.
4) Declutter the top drawer of my dresser. Complete! I still want to buy some fabric dividers to keep things contained, but the decluttering process happened this month.
5) Sell my spin bike. Not complete. While I did put up my spin bike on Facebook Marketplace, I was a very, very bad seller and completely forgot about my listing. I thought I had notifications on for my Marketplace messages, but apparently, I do not because I opened it up one day to find a handful of messages from weeks ago. OOPS.
September Goals
1) Watch two seasons of a TV show. I’m going to try this again in September! I want to watch season 2 of Suits and the most recent season of Abbott Elementary. I can do this!
2) Read another Agatha Christie mystery. I am leaning towards The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
3) Sell my spin bike. And maybe this month, I can actually pay attention to my Marketplace messages.
4) Declutter the space underneath my kitchen sink. As organized as I try to be, these little spaces can easily become messy if I don’t pay close attention to them. This month, I’m decluttering the cabinets under my kitchen sink, which is where I keep my cleaning supplies.
5) Eat breakfast at home. I have gotten into a bad habit of going out to pick up something for breakfast. This is an expensive habit, especially if I do it multiple times a week. I need to just have stuff at home to eat for breakfast so I’m not tempted!
Daily routines
- Take my meds (goal: 80% or better)
- Drink water every day (goal: 75% or better)
- Move my body (goal: 65% or better)
What’s the last space in your house that you’ve decluttered?
Ooooh your medicine cabinet. Also – I think I need one of those racks to put mugs on. I feel like our mugs could also be better organized.
I am watching NYPD Blue Season 2, finally, after decades of rewatching season 1 only. What can I say, it’s a comfort watch. But at this rate I’m thinking that the 12 seasons is going to last until I die.
Speaking of death – maybe I need the “I’m Dead Now What” workbook. We have wills and all that, of course, but I often think – what happens to my blog when I die? What about my social media? I want to live for another 50 years but shit happens and WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO MY IG ACCOUNT. It’s grim but worth thinking about.
I know it’s not as fun as a class but I learned the basics of cake decorating on youtube. That said, one of my friends has a cupcake company and often gives classes, but she’s in Calgary, so I don’t even know why I’m bringing this up.
Um, what else what else. What have I decluttered? MY JEANS THAT DON’T FIT. I need to take them to the donation bin, they are threatening to topple over.
Those racks come in handy! They are a great way for expanding some cabinet space. I love them!
I have a friend who used to work at a bakery as a cake decorator so I may see if she’s willing to teach me some things!
I often think about the social media aspect of what happens when I die. My mom is set up as my emergency contact on my phone, so I think she would have access to everything if I did pass away and would be able to log into IG and all of that. But yes, email + my blog… I need to figure that stuff out!
YES to decluttering jeans that don’t fit. YES, YES, YES!
If setting goals is fun then of course you should do it! I occasionally take a stab at it, but for the most part it wouldn’t be fun so that’s why I don’t set goals. What I like about these posts is that they show that just because you set a goal, it doesn’t mean that you have to achieve it. Sometimes you start down a path and find something else.
It’s been so long since I’ve seen a TV show that I can’t imagine hitting the two seasons in a month…it was a very different story a few years ago. I also can’t remember the last time I used my standing desk so we’re tied there. I could if I wanted to!
It is VERY ambitious for me to watch two seasons of a TV show in one month. I’ve done it before, though, so maybe I can do it again! We’ll seeeee.
I am glad you got a days of the week pillbox. It’s a game changer! I’ve had one for YEARS since I have so many meds to take daily and some are twice a day. I can also forget if I have taken my meds yet which is embarrassing but my brain has lot to keep track of. So the pillbox makes it so much easier. Although I prob need to get a new one as mine is quite worn out!
The last space I decluttered was a drawer in our kitchen which was a disaster after I rifled through it looking for the extra key to our Corolla. So it NEEDED to be organized badly. I also got rid of some of the kids’ toys when they were gone. We had a pile of stuff to take to goodwill so I plucked a few other things out that I knew they would not miss.
I think you are wise to pair down your goals so you can focus more on a smaller list!
Oh, I forget about taking my meds all the time. It’s just life! There is a lot going on, especially in the morning when you often need to take the pills. So I get it – I really do enjoy having a pillbox. It makes it so much easier for me! My mom has a pillbox that has slots for AM/PM/Afternoon/Night, which is genius if you have pills you have to take at certain times!
OKAY! I am going to give you news about Zelda the Cat. When she was a kitten, she loved a brown ball that was attached to one of those scratching post things that you put on a doorknob. When we adopted Hannah, we took away Z’s toys because we thought Hannah would ruin them. Well, it turns out that H doesn’t care one whit about cat toys, so we brought back the brown ball! And she plays with it all the time and carries it around in her mouth while she’s meowing and it’s SO CUTE. It’s a constant game of her tearing it off the scratching post and me putting it back on. We are playing!!!
That’s so fun!! I’m glad Hannah leaves that ball alone and Zelda can have oodles of playtime with it.
Your mug cabinet looks awesome 👏 As Nicole mentioned above, I’m gonna get some racks like the ones you have. Thank you for sharing!
Yes, please do! I love them and can’t believe I wasn’t using them for my mugs beforehand!
I also LOVE to declutter. It is one of the best things I can do for my mental health. I find it so restful and meditative. I did a HUGE declutter of basically the whole house when both my kids were at sleepaway camp. It FELT AMAZING. I will admit that everything feel chaotic again because I think that’s just unavoidable with two youngish/active kids.
But I am feeling the declutter urge again. School starts this week which means it’s time to reorganize and get ready for new routines and my favourite season of the year!!! The one thing I don’t like about fall is the fact we’re back to needing mittens and hats again. That ends up adding a lot of clutter. But where we live, cold-weather gear is a necessity for a big chunk of the year.
Decluttering is one of my love languages! It is just so soothing and satisfying to take a previously chaotic place and make it organized. Ahhhh. I hope you get some time to declutter when the kids are back in school!
I cleaned out the boys’ bathroom, and it was SO SATISFYING. I love a good purge.My acupuncturist told me the best way to drink more water is to love your water bottle, which is how I justify my Owala addiction.
There is nothing like a satisfying cleaning/decluttering spree!
I am addicted to Yeti water bottles and I need to buy more!
The most important part of this post for me was, I love your mugs! Specifically, the black cat mugs and even more specifically, the orange and black one. Your cupboard looks great- I need a rack like that (or actually, I think I have one! It was displaced when we redid our kitchen, and now I want to find it and use it again.)
I like your new paired-down goals. Good luck with them!
Yesss – I figured you would like those mugs. Those are my Halloween mugs that are already out for the season. Woo!
As you know, I don’t really have a monthly goal list although I am such a list maker. I think if it stops being fun for you, pairing it down is the right choice. You still get so much accomplished 🙂
I recently decluttered my closet a bit and it felt good to put a big bag of stuff away that I haven’t worn for a long time (now, I only have to take it to Goodwill or something LOL)/
I love a good decluttering project. It’s always satisfying to pare down a closet, too. But I feel you on the “taking to Goodwill” forever goal. I’m always so bad at dropping off my donations!
Hi friend Stephanie,
I really am so behind on reading blogs and commenting. This week has been sucky.
Sigh.
Anywho. Loved reading an update about your goals, especially the decluttering ones. I declutter on the regular, so it’s an ongoing process for me. Each time something doesn’t fit or is broken – it leaves this house and goes into a bag in the basement that later goes to the donation center. Example: a blue dress I used to love but I gained weight because peri-menopause and I don’t exercise so it doesn’t fit anymore, into the bag it goes. I don’t really do it by “space” per se.
I really like your September goals! Mine are just revolving around survival now- the kids are back at school, I am back at work, and T is back to traveling for his company: meaning it’s me and the two small humans. Is it time to have a cocktail yet?…
Reading about your declutter makes me want to do so myself. Almost… HA
I applaud you for realizing you are overwhelming yourself with goals and task. It is a good thing you realized this and take a step back. I am sure the joy of goal setting will be back in the foreseeable future. You just need a break. Life is enough without more added pressure.
Love love love that you pared back your goals to focus on the ones that are important to you right now. I am desperate to declutter my bathroom bins but stuck right now in work-related stuff. Sigh. Maybe by Thanksgiving? Wish me luck. Or just come visit? 😉