I've been working through the prep for the 2016 Lara Casey Powersheets to help me decide on my goals. It has been REVOLUTIONARY for my goal setting. Instead of feeling like I absolutely can't fail, I'm giving myself some grace and know that it's okay to not chase perfect. It's more important to chase progress. So even if every checkmark box doesn't get filled each day, each week, each month, it's OK as long as I'm still progressing.
So without further adieu, there are TEN goals that I've set. And yes that might be an outrageous amount, but I don't plan on focusing on each one every single month. I'm just taking these goals, and adding the action ideas to my tending lists for each month to tackle what feels most important to me that month. Some things will sit on the backburner each month and some will be a priority every single month.
+ GOAL ONE: Find Creative Ways to Worship
My sweet parents got me a Journaling Bible for Christmas and I am so excited to dig into that. I set a goal to read ONE book in the Bible a month. I've also pre-ordered the Write the Word Volume 1 Journal to use. I also plan to continue attending the temple 2x a month with my husband and having a monthly Ponderize scripture. We were created by a creative being, and I believe that by stretching myself creatively in worship will help me become closer to God.
+ GOAL TWO: Use the Internet for Good
I find myself mindlessly scrolling through social media far too often. I plan on taking #socialmediafreeweekends all year. This is going to be so hard. I did a trial run last weekend and caved a few times. I'm trying to figure out what to do with all the free time I have without being on social media. LOL! I plan on continuing my Monday in the Word series and sharing a weekly goal setting periscope every Monday morning as well. Another goal is to share a monthly family update on my blog and use NO SOCIAL MEDIA AFTER 9 PM. How much time could I spend in the scriptures or with my husband if I wasn't so attached to my phone at 9 pm. This will also be hard.
+ GOAL THREE: Tend to my Marriage
Make the bed every single morning. Colten loves a clean house more than anything. And when I make the bed it makes him so happy. He is 100% an acts of service love language. I also told Colten I wanted to plan two overnight getaways. We have a gift certificate we purchased this weekend to use at Anniversary Inn so we will be scheduling our first one soon! I want to write him a love note every week and read a book about marriage. I also plan to buy him a surprise at least once throughout the year. Whether big or small, just something that shows how much I love him.
+ GOAL FOUR: Take Control of Our Finances
I'll be real specific here folks. We've been using $500/paycheck from my paycheck to pay off our down payment mortgage. We should have that paid off in 4-5 months which is super exciting because we have been working super hard to pay that off. We also auto save $100/paycheck and I want to make sure that even though our goal is to pay off debt that we also are continuing to build our emergency fund. I want to complete a personal no spend month. No eating out while working, no Diet Coke runs, no new clothes, books, etc. Just one month of not spending money I don't need to. I want to donate some of my personal money each month (it's kinda like a grown up allowance so Colten and I don't have to get permission for all personal purchases) to causes that I care about. We are also building our food storage so I want to buy one thing for food storage each month.
+ GOAL FIVE: Take Care of Myself Emotionally
I want to plan one refresh day a month where the entire day is open and dedicated to recharging my personal batteries. I might have to work during the day, but the evening will be for me. I want to walk my dogs 1x a month, which I know is ridiculously low, but they get to run around our yard and we just don't take them on walks. But I want to. I plan on getting ready head to toe every single day. I work from home so I can be slobby/lazy in my appearance. Which was nice for awhile, and it's nice I can wear leggings every day, but it's done a number on my self esteem. On the days I get ready I feel so much better about myself. I'm also going to get my hair done 2x at least this year. It's been over 6 months since I last got it lightened and I am dying to be blonde again. I also plan on doing some capsule wardrobing and one big surprise for me is to get a massage this year, which I have never done!
+ GOAL SIX: Be an Encourager
I feel like I have been given the gift of being an encourager. However, I am shy and have social anxiety and struggle to reach out. I set some goals I want to try and reach this year, but will give myself lots of grace and praise for what I do accomplish. I want to invite someone over for dinner one Sunday every month, go visiting teaching and put my phone away when I'm with ANYONE. I am planning on hosting a Galentine's party again in February but truth be told I'm terrified. I also want to donate to good causes and send out "Happy mail" to someone at least 1x a month.
+ GOAL SEVEN: Improve my Eating Habits
I plan to meal prep my lunches for my work week. It may not be much, but it is do-able for me and I think it will make a big difference. Hopefully by July I can start meal prepping my breakfasts too. I want to stop eating when I'm full + eat slowly. Drink only 1 soda per day and eat only 1 dessert per day. My sweet tooth is OUT OF CONTROL. I also want to study the Word of Wisdom in Doctrine & Covenants to really understand God's perspective on eating/taking care of my body.
+ GOAL EIGHT: Improve Self Physically
Walk on the treadmill during my work breaks. This adds up to 30 minutes per day. I have been doing this for awhile now and it is so convenient and fun! I read or watch Netflix while I walk and love the break from work. I got a Fitbit for Christmas and am wearing it for awhile to get a feel for how many steps a day I take and will set a stretch goal to start reaching for. Go to bed at 10:30 and wake up at 7:00 am. Do yoga sun salutations 5 minutes per day. Walk the dogs 1x per month and stretch before bed. January I am focusing on my treadmill walking & my Fitbit. Everything else may come later.
+ GOAL NINE: Prepare to be a Mom
We are getting closer to starting a family! (My mother is probably so happy about this lol!) There are so many things I can do to prepare. I want to continue building our savings so if we have an expensive hospital baby we have savings to help, I want to tour a birth center and read books about pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. I also want to look up some classes in my area about birthing. (aka Bradley, Hypnobirthing, all that jazz) Another exciting thing is we are going to start taking the steps to be approved for adoption/foster care. Ever since we were married Colten and I have talked about the possibility of fostering and adopting children. We decided this year we want to take the steps to be approved including doing a home study. I'm not sure how this will all play out or what God's plan is with this, but we want to be ready for anything.
+ GOAL TEN: Pray More!
Scripture reading comes pretty easy to me, but prayer for some reason becomes an afterthought, which is totally backwards I'm sure. I want to write out some prayers in my journaling Bible, and ask my Facebook friends for prayer requests. I've started a prayer list on my phone of all the times I think "I should pray for them..." or "I should pray for that..." or "I'm so grateful for this..." so that way when it comes time for me to pray, I am prepared with all the things I've been waiting to tell my Heavenly Father. I want to read a book about prayer and ask on Twitter for more prayer requests.
Phwew that was a long post. I would love to hear what some of your goals are so be sure to leave them in the comments below! You can also tweet me about them @brooklynjolley and I'd love to chat. Happy goal setting loves!
13 comments:
This post made me think of something that Bailey Jean from Brave Love said in a Periscope once--she said "every unchecked space is a place for grace." I love that! I (like you!) just loooove making goals, but it's way too easy to tie our worth to it.
This really is a lot of goals and I admire how ambitious you are! A lot of these are really great, creative ideas. I love how you want to be an encourager. I know that you are through your blog!
I can't wait to here an update about how all of these are going! I hope you have a beautiful, blessed 2016!
Allie / callmesassafras.com
This post just makes me so happy. You know I love goal setting!!
I love how you have specific goals and then REASONS why you want to reach them. I think that makes it a lot more likely for you to succeed!
Girl, having a Fit Bit has been amazing. Let's be pals! I'm rstone1@ashland.edu
xoxo
I love your goal to be an encourager! I always find myself wanting to reach out to others but it makes me so nervous. This is definitely something I want to work on.
These are some wonderful goals! Good luck! I'll be interested to see how you do!
Okay, so I'm obsessed with the first goal. I cannot wait for my Write the Word journal!!! Also, definitely looking into that Bible study journal, I love that you're devoting at least one book a month from the Bible, looks less intimidating.
I also use my phone way too much at night, so I'm trying really hard to wind down by reading a book after 8:00 and to try and be asleep by 9:00 or 9:30. It really helps and I love it!
Deseret Book has a lot of books on marriage, I have so many on my to-read list!!
I'm totally going to try harder on our finances this month. I am so happy that you're so close to pay off your down payment mortgage. That's exciting!!! Brady and I are also going to try harder to pay off debt alongside saving money.
I'm so with you on the Visiting Teaching. I'm in Nursery so I've just felt as though that is my calling and I'm good. When in reality, VT is an on-going calling... you never get released from it.
ooooo I love the studying the Word of Wisdom.. That's such a good idea!! :) I love reading while I'm on the bike, or elliptical... I can't really do much when I'm on the treadmill except watch tv, but that usually helps the time go by. Maybe I should use my nook on the treadmill so I can just press the screen to change the page..... hmmm ideas!!
I love the foster care goal. I have definitely given that MUCH thought and I have a close neighbor who just went through foster care and recently adopted their children and were sealed to them. I really hope that can be something Brady and I can do!
My institute teacher once said, "Bed to knees, knees to bed." And I love that. It's so powerful. Prayer is really hard for me as well, and I struggle a lot. But I think if I put that right alongside scripture study, after about 3-4 weeks it will become habit.
Great goals girl... we're seriously soul sisters. I'm so excited reading this post... ha!!
xoxo
These are such beautiful goals I hope this new year brings love and light to you!
These are wonderful goals for 2016! I love doing Bible Journaling and Inspirational Art! Glad I stopped by! Lil at Embracing the Lovely
I definitely want to focus on taking care of myself whether that's physically, mentally and emotionally. I lost track of healthy eating, working out regularly, and being mentally and emotionally healthy. So, that's my number one focus for the year.
Sooooo many things to comment on!
First, I love how you mentioned chasing progression. I think that's one of the biggest misunderstandings of our LDS doctrine by both members and non-members-->we aren't try to be perfect because we simply can't. We are trying to eternally progress.
Second, Justin and I saw star wars 7 over break, so we decided to rewatch the movies and discuss each one. Last night we just watched episode one and talked about why one of the big reasons people didn't like it was because of how much time Lucas spent on world creating. We talked about why it was personally so important to Lucas and how beautiful (even though CG'd) all the scenery was and how that is similar to all who create. We mentioned how it is an inherent trait in humans to want to create, become super involved with their creation, and have it be their pride and joy. We realized that is because we are literal children of God and that is part of our Godly powers working in us.
I LOVE your second goal. I really want to grow my blog (community wise, not necessarily for stats) this year, but I don't want to be always glued to my computer screen. I need to work on that too.
To be completely honest, too, we are also taking control of our finances this year by moving into my parents' basement in three weeks. We can't afford where we are with only Justin's salary, and we both feel that for the time being, my place is at home with Rhys and not in a classroom. It was a hard pride pill to swallow for both of us, but we feel that God will bless us for making that sacrifice. And, your goal five is why I AM a SAHM now...I was not doing well emotionally, as you should know reading my blog this summer, so I did what was best for me and quit working and got on anti-anxiety/depressants
You definitely have such a gift of encouragement, Brooke. Seriously!
I am so jealous you have a treadmill! Really, the cold is honestly why I haven't done too well with exercise!
You've got some great goals. I love that you are going to tend to your marriage and also take time to recharge your batteries. I also love that you are getting off social media for the weekends. I think I really need to do something like that. I spend entirely too much time on it, when I should be focusing on my family.
These are all great goals for the new year!
Goal setting makes me feel so productive and accomplished.
xoxo, Jenny
These are great goals to have! I can't wait to see what 2016 has in store for you!
Girl, we have so much in common it's not even funny! First, progress not perfection is going to be the byline of my blog this next year ;). I keep trying to read the whole Bible in a year, and last year I only made it until May :(. I WILL finish this year! Health is always on my list, and although I'm probably older than you, my husband and I have been trying for a family for a while, and this year may be looking into adoption as well if IVF isn't in the cards for us. Anyway, I love your goals and wish you the absolute best in 2016!!
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