New Look at New Year’s Resolutions

At the beginning of every year, we ALL make empty promises to ourselves.

I’m going to lose 10-15 lbs.

I’m going to put more money into my savings.

I’m going to floss once a day.

I’m going to get better at NOT procrastinating

I’m going to become a master chef (or at least make 3 home-cooked meals a week, because that’s pretty much the same thing!)

I’m going to read 10 books (guilty…)

I SWEAR I’m going to use that gym membership that I’ve been blindly paying for, for years on end.

The worst part about these unkept promises? We feel SO guilty & bad about ourselves when we fail to follow through. We beat ourselves up for failing, yet again! Instead of starting off this year with hollow resolutions, let’s talk about HOW we can do a better job of setting realistic goals and HOW we can achieve them.

Before we dive into ALL of the things we want to change in 2019, let’s take a few moments & reflect on 2018. What are some big wins of 2018? Are there areas in your life that you wish you would have focused on more? Speak them out loud or write them down, so you can really appreciate and reflect.

In 2018, I took a HUGE leap of faith and started this blog! I had and still have no idea what this is going to turn into but I’m along for the wild ride. One thing I wished I had done better, was to be more intentional with my time. I so easily get caught up in the endless scroll of social media, or the next greatest Netflix binge, and this coming year, I REALLY want to focus on giving my full attention to those around me.

I wish I could say that I developed this strategy, but alas, I did not! In fact, I’ll be implementing this method for the very FIRST time this year, which is great, because we can work, learn & stumble (hopefully not too much) together! I first heard about this strategy when my husband & I took a little road trip to KC & we listened to a podcast all about “Setting Goals Together”.

Now if you know me, I love setting goals & I love creating lists, but like so many others, I’ve also struggled with STICKING to my goals & creating an action plan that will help me get there. Enter the podcast, featuring Wendy & Jay Papasan. I’ve listened to this about 3 or 4 times just so I can FULLY understand how to implement for 2019.

What it all boils down to, taking your yearly goals & breaking them down into smaller month-by-month milestones & then taking those month-by-month milestones & breaking them down into week-by-week tasks. My weekly goals will be based off my monthly goals which are based off my yearly goal. It helps you take that big, scary & hairy yearly goal & break it down into bite size pieces, so as not to overwhelm you. Halle-freaking-lujah!

The other key factor- looking at your goals every single week. Literally, once a week! Seeing your goals written down & checking in with yourself (or an accountability partner) every week will help keep those goals at the forefront of your mind, rather than making your goal at the beginning of the year and then completely forgetting about it until the end of the year when you realize you’ve done nothing to accomplish said goal.

So let’s take a look at a couple of the goals I’ve set for myself this year. Please, no judgement…this is a judgement-free zone!

1st Goal: READ MORE!

Yearly Goal: Read 12 books

Monthly Milestone: Read 1 book a month

Weekly Milestone: So for the month of January, I’ve started reading a new book I got for Christmas! Small Great Things, by Jodi Picoult. I’m a huge nerd & I’ve done the math, but in order for me to finish reading this book in 4 weeks, I have to read 114.5 pages a week, which boils down to 16.3 pages a day! I started reading the book last night & let me tell you…it’s a SERIOUS page turner. I shouldn’t have a problem finishing this bad boy in 4 weeks.

Each month, I’ll choose a new book, nerd out, do the math & figure out how many pages I need to read a day in order to meet my weekly, monthly & finally yearly goal. When I break it down into smaller more attainable goals, it makes my yearly goal of reading 12 books seem SO much more doable!

“A goal is a dream with its work boots on.” – Rachel Hollis, Start Today Journal

2nd Goal: BECOME MORE FINANCIALLY FREE!

Yearly Goal: Pay off our credit card, a total of $5,650.18

Monthly Milestone: I’ve set this one up a little differently. As long as we don’t add any more debt to the card, I’ve figured out how much money we’ll need to put towards our debt per month, based off how aggressive we want to get! (I did not account for interest – whoops!)

If we want to pay it off in 12 months – we’ll need to pay $470.84/month

If we want to pay it off in 10 months – we’ll need to pay $565.01/month

If we want to pay it off in 8 months – we’ll need to pay $706.27/month

If we want to pay it off in 6 months – we’ll need to pay $941.69/month

Weekly Milestone: Our weekly milestone is to take whatever money we have left over before we get paid again & put that towards our credit card debt, as well as meeting the monthly payment to get this sucker paid off in 10 months! Debt, specifically stupid freaking credit card debt, is something that just drags me down & I can’t tell you how excited I am to be FREE of it! I wasn’t sure I wanted to share this specific goal since it’s rather personal & embarrassing to admit that as 30-year olds, we’ve struggled to get rid of our credit card debt, but I figure if we struggle with it, there’s a really good chance there’s a lot of other people who do too…so maybe this system can help out someone else!

In my attempt to ACTUALLY accomplish my goals this year, I’ve narrowed them down, because just like good ol’ Rachel says, “It’s not that my goals were too big, it’s that there were too many.” – Rachel Hollis, Start Today Journal.

And now that I’ve shared some of my goals with you, I MUST be held accountable! So I’ll check in every so often to let you know how things are going if I’m failing miserably, or taking the baby steps needed in order to cross off two big things on my checklist.

Cheers to 2019 and making a difference rather than making empty promises to ourselves!