It's almost the end of February and I'm just now making my goals for this year. Most people have already tried and failed at their goals/resolutions and I'm just starting. It's not that I procrastinated. I actually spent the past month and a half reading blogs and articles about goals. What were other woman/mothers setting as goals for this year? What steps were they trying to take to accomplish their goals? What did I want to change about myself this year as compared to past years?
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I spent a lot of time thinking about this. Probably too much, I tend to over analyze things. I am always trying to improve myself and my family life. I love my life and my family, but I can see so many things about myself and my family that could be better. I broke my goals down to four groups- home, marriage,family, and personal. Then I wrote a list under each group of the things I want to improve upon. I tried not to make to detailed or long of a list as I knew it would be too overwhelming. I want to make changes that stick. I don't want to burn myself out or make things so difficult that I give up.
Here is what I've come up with:
Home:
-declutter and organize
-return to meal planning
-develop a simple and achievable
cleaning schedule
-develop a simple and achievable laundry
schedule
-complete unfinished home projects
-decorate
Marriage:
-date again
-create and work on goals together
-stop expecting him to read my mind
Family:
-spend more time together
-attend church more consistently
-eat healthy dinners/snacks
Personal:
-read Bible
-exercise again
-eat healthy
-work on my patience,attitude, and tone
It's a lot. I don't expect to work on all these goals at the same time or I think I will definitely fail.
What I have already done is to pick one or two goals to focus on at a time. For example, in January, I began a Bible reading program. So far I've done very good at keeping on schedule with the plan. It's beginning to become a habit for me to read my Bible right before I go to sleep.
I also experimented with a laundry schedule. The school year is especially trying when it comes to laundry as my kids wear uniforms and the winter brings out heavy sweatshirts and sweatpants. I have tons of laundry to do each week. I used to save most of it for the weekend, but really hated spending so much of the day doing laundry. Now, I commit to doing 2 loads a day/evening during the week. It's easy and quick and there are less late night "I need my _________ shirt/pants/etc for tomorrow" surprises.
Some goals are more important to me than others and so I will probably work harder on those. I don't expect to change overnight and I am also quite certain I will slip up. It's not a contest. I'm not competing with anyone else. I'm not going to beat myself up over this either. If I decide to spend all day Saturday watching tv or wasting time reading blogs/magazines, so be it. Who cares? Do I want to do that every day? NO. It's not what I want for myself or my family, but sometimes it's ok to take a break. I think that's where I've gone wrong. Thinking that I've failed because I wasn't always working on my goals.
Last Wednesday also began the Lenten season. I've always used Lent as a time for personal growth and working on my goals, especially reading the Bible and church, and so it's fitting that I am starting so late this year.
I guess this year my overall goal is to have a smoother running household and better family time.
I've written out my goals and now I've got to work on my game plan.
Wish me luck!
