I’m really excited about this year. January 1 holds so much promise, you know? There is so much possibility in the air. Set all the goals! Make all the resolutions!
This is what I love about this time of the year. I love setting yearly goals. It allows me to think of the big picture of my life, and to really imagine what would make this year a successful one.
So, I’ve set some goals. In fact, I’ve set a lot of goals. I like setting a lot of goals. I like being wildly ambitious and feeling overcome by all I want to accomplish. I know I won’t mark every intention as complete. I may not save the amount of money I want to save or find a good therapist I can trust or lose the weight I want to lose. That’s just life. It doesn’t mean I shouldn’t set goals just because I might not accomplish them.
I’ve set a lot of yearly goals, but I’m taking a different approach than I have in years past in the hopes I can mark more goals as complete than not. Setting long-term goals can be overwhelming, which is why it is imperative to break these goals down into smaller, more manageable chunks.
So here’s what I’ve done: I’ve made yearly goals. Then, I went through my list and figured out what my priorities will be in the first quarter of the year within each category. After deciding on my priorities, I broke down those priorities into monthly goals so that each one has a solid game plan for achievement.
I also bought the Signature Planner from Sugar Paper to help me. The only reason I bought this planner (I’m not a paper planner person) is that it has an area to write down your monthly and weekly goals. (Seriously, guys, I drooled when I saw this planner. It is so up my alley!)
I’m also putting together a “goal binder,” which is just about the nerdiest thing in the entire world. This binder will be my guiding force this year. I’m going to have my vision for the year, my yearly goals typed out, and all of my work from the Holiday Council located in one place. I’m also separating the binder into four sections (one section per quarter) and each section will have my focus for the quarter, my monthly goals, and some places for journaling. It’s dorky, but whatever. I want 2016 to be a year where I take deliberate action with my goals. I want it to be a year when I make the conscious effort to achieve my goals so I can begin living my dream life. So I’m putting the practices into place to ensure this.
So, with all that said, here are the goals I want to achieve in 2016:
Main Goal
- Finish my novel and prepare it for publication
Health and Fitness Goals
- Lose 20 lbs
- Exercise 3 or more times per week
- Drink more water, less soda
- Figure out what’s causing my nighttime congestion
- Start therapy
Money and Debt Goals
- Pay off my credit card
- Save $1,000
- Spend less than $100 on myself each quarter
Adventure and Fun Goals
- Go on more dates
- Travel to a new state
- Go on monthly adventures
- Get a tattoo
- Take an online course
Books and Media Goals
- Read 75 books
- Reread Harry Potter and watch all the movies
- Watch 12 movies I have never seen before
What’s one goal you really want to accomplish in 2016?
I made a year of to-dos rather than goals, but one I forgot to write about is that I want to learn American Sign Language. I regret not taking the classes in college when I could have. Hopefully this year!
I vote that your new state be Ohio! Come visit! (When it’s not cold, which is rarely…)
These goals look good & hopefully mostly manageable & in keeping with the overall goals you usually seem to be working toward. I hope 2016 is a year of success & growth & a book we can all finally order in 3D!
These sound awesome, Stephany! I love your approach. I also have debt goals and wellness goals, as well as goals around friendships, spirituality, and becoming more involved in my community.
You’ve probably already thought of this – but have you tried sleeping with a mist humidifier in your room? That helps me with nighttime congestion.
I’ve been eyeing the online courses at Creativebug – https://www.creativebug.com/ – so you may have just given me a push to doing one this year!
I can’t wait to read your book. Good luck! 🙂
I love reading others posts about goals as it’s fun to see what all we are going to try to accomplish this year. I like the way you broke your goals up into categories and have sub-goals for them. I broke mine into categories this year, too!
One goal I REALLY want to accomplish this year is running a sub-4 hour marathon. I’ve tried to do this twice, though, and haven’t succeeded so I also know it’s the goal that I am most at risk of not achieving.
I love the goal to watch 12 movies you’ve not seen before! And of course the Harry Potter re-reading and movie watching. I finally watched the second movie over break; I have no excuse to not watch the others since I own all of them, but you know. Life.
I don’t think the goal binder is nerdy at all. I think it’s fabulous!
I’d really love to save up enough money to make a career transition. Fingers crossed! 😀
I love, love, love your main goal. So exciting! Your goal binder sounds awesome. I am using an Erin Condren Life Planner to keep track of my life and my goals this year. Hopefully will keep me more motivated that the zillion pieces of scrap paper I used last year. Are you going to share more about your game plans for these goals? I love to see how people approach their goals!
These are great goals and I like your binder idea! I got back into paper planning about a month ago and I love it – it’s helping me keep my sanity. I hope you love it!
This is so well organized, I haven’t even had a chance to sit down and plan my goals yet! Overall I want to take better care of myself – my theme word is “nourish,” so basically applying that to my physical, mental, and emotional health. Now I just need some action steps, or else I’ll never do it.
I love how organized you are! I’m seriously considering picking up a paper planner. Some of them are just beautiful, and I geek out like crazy over notebooks and the like. Yours looks so lovely and useful – great choice!
My top priority this year is getting my health – both physical and mental – where I want it to be.
I honestly haven’t really thought of what I want to do this year. I’m pretty focused on finishing school, getting an internship and doing well with my internship. Those goals seem plenty! I suppose I want to read more, get out of debt, and save money. I’d also like to do another movie challenge (I once watched 101 movies in 1,001 days!) and since we’re going to be getting rid of cable soon, this seems like a good time!
Just remember that fitness is a journey and a lifestyle, not a destination. Meal prep, more water, lifting heavy vs. steady state cardio, increasing your protein and figuring out your macros will help you get there! Small steps lead to big things. You got this girl! Just go get it and make it a solid part of your life that you can’t ever miss.
Love how you’re approaching your goal setting this year! I especially love the idea of a goal binder – so awesome. Makes me think of doing the life with intention course and how awesome it was to have all these worksheets and exercises to go through during the course. I also loved having them all set up in a nice little binder 🙂
I think those are all awesome goals and I look forward to following along as you work to achieve them!
Have you looked into whether your apartment has a mold problem? If your congestion just started when you moved and it hasn’t let up since, it sounds like you have a pretty bad mold problem.
I love reading your goals and your nerdery is right up my alley too. 🙂
One thing I heard recently about goals was not to make any that are results-based (like lose a certain amount of weight) because you really can’t control that. But you CAN control your actions, so goals like “quit soda” or “start Jenny Craig” (random examples) are things you can actually accomplish and will lead to the results you want. Just a thought!
Along those lines, I was thinking about what I want to happen this year, and I really want my kids to be less needy and tantrumy. That would be my main goal. 🙂 But obviously I can’t control that! So instead I want to have a calmer, more peaceful, and patient mindset with them – but that’s not measurable. However I have realized that I am such a better person if I have more alone time, so if I were making a goal I think it would be to have a better morning routine, and to ask for and set up more sleepovers for my kids with their grandparents.
Okay, thanks for letting me use your comments section to hash some things out with myself. 🙂
Ahhh planners! I love your goals and how you’ve broken them down.
I think overall my goal this year is to thrive and not just “survive.” Ben and I have been talking about how to feel like we’re living and not just getting through some of the day-to-day. And I think my word of this year is going to be grace!
May I suggest Texas? 🙂
I used to create resolution/goals booklets and I still sort of do, but it’s more like a wish list. I got tired of letting myself down all the time because it’s hard to focus on so many things! I like the way you’ve prioritised your goals, I think that will help because you’ve already decided where your focus is going to be if it all gets overwhelming. The one goal I really want to accomplish this year is to run a half marathon.
The only goal I’ve set for 2016 is to live more creatively. Right now that’s transpiring as reading. But I’m hoping to start up handlettering and watercoloring again. I just feel like all of this creativity will lead to something good.