Grace for Personal Goal Setting in the New Year

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This month I have talked about all the ways that I am trying
to set myself up for successful goal setting in the New Year.  I have my word of the year, I have
figured out what my long range goals are and I finally was able to go through those
goals to make them into more manageable goals using my word of the year.  Now, since we are at the end of January, it
is time to share some of those goals with you, my wonderful readers!
I know what you are saying, it is the end of January, how
can you be writing out your goals now?! 
Well, although in years past I have loved having the opportunity to take
the week between Christmas and New Years to get all of my goals written out and
reflect on the previous year, the past couple of years that has not
happened.  Instead of getting upset about
how I can seem to get my schedule to work, I have decided to embrace it.  

Easing into the New Year throughout January has helped me to
combat the after Christmas blues, it has allowed me freedom to know that I don’t
need to make all the changes on day one. 
If you are looking for a much more eloquent explanation of this, I would
visit Renee at Fimby – she explains this easing into the New Year and
how it is working for her this year.
I am going to get my easiest-to-make goal out of the way
first – read 100 books.
This has been a goal of mine since 2013.  I think that I successfully read 100 books in
one of the past four years.  I know that
I can do it, but trying to keep myself on track to read a couple books each
week is difficult.  I definitely go through
phases of reading a lot, and phases of reading very little. 
Because we have a literature based approach to
homeschooling, I do a lot of read alouds with my kids.  I have decided that instead of only logging
the longer books, I am going to log everything that I read to the kids as well
as the books that I read for myself.  I
think this will help give me a true picture of my reading for the year, instead
of only logging the books that I read for myself and some of the long read
alouds I do (Harry Potter) with the kids.
This is a big one for me this year.  I finally came to the realization in 2014
that self-care was something I needed in my life.  I worked hard to find some of that in 2015,
and then it totally went off the rails in 2016. 
I realized that if I don’t plan for that time, it won’t
happen.
There is always someone else to take care of, something else
that needs my attention, and my own self-care gets put on the back-burner.  When that happens I get burned out, and that
is no way to live.  If I don’t take care
of myself, how can I take care of my family.
I am going to make it a point to schedule time for
myself.  I want to have one planning
weekend a quarter and a bi-weekly evening of quiet.

The planning weekend is partly homeschool related, I need to
be able to sit and figure out where we will go next in our homeschool
journey.  I also want to use this
planning weekend as a time to revisit my goals, see what is working, make
changes and figure out next steps in the process.
This planning weekend will be an interesting attempt, and
I’m not sure how realistic it is with three little ones, but I am going to try
and get all of my ducks in a row so that I can at least try to get away for one
day each quarter and get my “work” done.
I have seen two examples of this weekend off.  One from Erin at the Humbled Homemaker, and
the other more recently from Renee over at FIMBY.  Both of these women have written some amazing
words about the practice, and it is something I have come to desire in my own
life.  I plan to use the tips that these
women have shared to create my own planning weekend retreat.
The bi-weekly evening of quiet is something that I started
doing in the fall when I was at my breaking point.  I would go down to my mom’s house, use her
internet, and really just sit and do nothing. 
It was very welcome, and I plan to continue this in the New Year,
especially now that the holiday madness has calmed down.
Keeping a Sabbath
As a Christian, I should keep a Sabbath, but I don’t.  In fact, when Sunday rolls around, I try to
cram as much stuff in after church as possible. 
It is the one day of the week where we typically don’t have plans, so I
use the time to work like a mad woman; clean the house, get laundry done, write
for my blog, do social sharing, try and tackle big de-cluttering or organizing
projects.
It has to stop.
Since my word of the year is Margin, I know that I need to
create that in my life, and taking a Sabbath is going to help me to re-center
myself and prepare for the week.
I have written in the past about Unplugged Sunday and the
need to take a rest from technology one day each week, but it is difficult, and
something that I definitely need to work on. 
I’m not entirely sure what our Sabbath rest will look like,
whether we will use that time to get outside and enjoy nature, whether we will
use it as a family game time, or if we will watch a movie and just enjoy each
other’s company.  This is more of a
family goal, not just for me personally. 
I know that having this time to reconnect as a family is important,
especially with how busy we have been over the past several months, and I think
observing the Sabbath is a perfect way to do that.
I love to cook, I enjoy cooking from scratch, I love to see
the bowls of beans and grains sitting on my counter soaking, I love the time it
takes me to make meals, the entire process is fun for me – except when I forget
to soak the beans, or miss the window of time to get the slow cooker going, or
if I just don’t feel like eating a specific meal that day.

I have an awful time with meal planning.  I am much more a spur of the moment person
when it comes to what we will eat in a day, and I think it is because I enjoy
cooking, and the challenge of coming up with meals using what we have in the
house. 

Unfortunately, this is the worst way to prepare meals for a family of
five.  I have come to realize that trying
to make meals with three littles in the house is next to impossible.  Come 4pm everyone is hungry, everyone is
cranky, and I am also at my wits end – not a great combo when trying to get
dinner ready.
Meal planning in and of itself is super easy for me, just
write down a bunch of meals, nothing to it. 
The challenge for me is actually sticking to that meal plan.  I can have all the ingredients in the house
for a meal, and then either not want to make it because I don’t feel like
eating that particular thing, or for the above mentioned forgetting to get the
food prepared in a timely manner.

The change that I plan to make for my meal planning this
year, in order for it to actually be successful, is to work more on freezer
meals.
Freezer meals are not something new, there are tons of
recipes on Pinterest that go on and on about freezer cooking.  The problem I have is that I don’t typically
have these types of ingredients on hand to make the freezer crock pot meals
that everyone raves about.


In the fall I signed up for a course with Heather Bruggeman
from beauty that moves called whole food freezer cooking.  When the class was live, my entire family was
sick, so I didn’t actually take the class. 
I did however download all the e-books and material for the class, and
now I plan to work through all of that material in order to stock my freezer
with some delicious and healthy meals for the future.

I think this will definitely be a game changer for me.  Having the ability to take something out of
the freezer (beyond the soups that I normally make) will be
something that helps me when the evenings are crazy – and honestly, they are
always crazy!
I am really excited about these goals for 2017.  I think it is going to be an amazing year
with a ton of opportunity for growth, both personally and with my family. 
I know that throughout the year my goals will evolve, and I
will add more to the list, but I thought this would be a good place to start.

What is one personal
goal you are working on for this year?

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19 Comments

  1. Meal planning is definitely something I want to start doing. As my son has started pre-k at a public school he goes from 8:30-11. That means he has a regular bedtime and a regular dinner time. This may also help jumpstart my weight loss if I'm on a regular meal plan.

  2. I think it's important to have goals for the year, it keeps you on track and it's a good motivation to take better care of yourself and everything in your life. These are lovely goals, I like that you included self care in the process.

  3. I love planning and writing down my goals in my planner. I used to have an EC last year and I loved it but I went with the mini happy planner this year only because its less heavy and I feel you can customize better, plus you can take pages out if it gets too heavy to carry in your purse. You have a great system there that I am sure will help you stay organize and make your goals for the year happen.

  4. I love your Sabbath goal. Since moving to a new area, I still have yet to find a church I like, and you've reminded me that I still really need to make it a priority and spend Sunday the right way. Thank you for sharing with us!

  5. These are wonderful goal. One of my words for 2017 is'Completion'. So many times I set intentions and goals but without setting a plan I know I won't succeed at them so this year I am focused to set plans and work towards completion.

  6. My word for the year is fearless and I'm working hard to me mindful of it. I tend to hold myself back or put mental roadblocks up for no reason. This year I want to stop doing that. It has been challenging since my mom was diagnosed with cancer in 2015. I've been helping my dad care for her and helping her as well, and I feel like I've been putting my needs on the back burner. I need to find a way to make myself a priority too.

  7. What a thoughtful little post! I totally agree that keeping Sundays free is something we don't do but should do much much more often! I'm guilty of it as well, in fact I've planned A TON of work for tomorrow. Well I can always start the week after right. x

  8. One personal goal I am working on this year is making time for myself. Since I homeschool my daughter, I don't have any time alone. I am making myself a priority once a month.

  9. Love your goals 🙂
    This year I'm shifting toward monthly goals. I think the frequent check-ins will help keep me accountable and on track to reaching my overall vision! 🙂

  10. You should totally log the books you read to your kids, technically your reading them too! I have also had the goal of 100 books for the past five years. I've hit it once and was twenty pages short the next year and haven't hit it since. Self care is sio important and I am glad you are taking the chance to do that!

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