October Goal Setting and Progress So Far

Recalibrating your yearly goals in October seems to be a trend recently. When my Instagram feed started blowing up with posts about "the last 90 days" of 2019, I had to pause, where the hell did the last nine months go? I am sure all of you have had similar discussions or revelations about the year flying by.

I wanted to jump on the goal-setting/goal recalibrating bandwagon. But I had already missed out on most of October. Was it too late for me to set some new goals for the last 60 days? I decided it was worth the effort to start a few weeks late.

I reviewed the list of goals I wrote back in January. As I considered that list, I realized half of the items didn't apply now, and the other half didn't excite me anymore. So I started this process by making a list of all the accomplishments I've achieved thus far. I wanted to see where I should put more effort. Also, I was hoping looking back at my recent accomplishments would give me a boost of motivation.

My "Wins"

• I volunteer each month at my pap 's nursing home.

Volunteering has been a huge accomplishment for me. Older people make me uncomfortable, and that fear was stopping me from visiting my pap. With my grandma passing earlier this year in February, it has been even more important to spend as much time with my pap as possible.

• I completed two Whole30s.

While I would love to complete three this year, I don't see that happening. And 60 days of eating clean, unprocessed foods is way better than NOT eating clean for 60 days.

• I have read 16 books so far.

• We updated the flooring in our living room, hallway, and bedrooms from carpet to engineered hardwood.

• We reached our emergency savings goal.

• I worked with a life coach.

Working with a life coach was both a financial investment and an act of courage, but this accomplishment led me to the biggest win of my year so far.

• I launched my blog.

An not only did I start a blog, but I fought back many fears of imperfection, judgment, and "not being good enough." I took the time to plan out the steps it would take to launch this blog the right way. I even pushed back my initial launch date by a few weeks. And I have continued to publish weekly posts.

That's quite a list! I was surprised at how much I accomplished so far.

Time for Some Year End Goals

Now that I had my wins laid out in front of me, I took some time to think about how I wanted to end the year. And the overall theme was to be healthier. For me, that meant getting back to my healthy habits, giving myself time in the morning, working out consistently, and eating a mostly whole foods diet. I also decided to give my brain a break and stick to reading only fun, fictional books. I was going to stop there, but I knew I needed to keep the momentum going with the blog, so I added a goal for the blog as well.

When all was said and done, I had five goals to focus on for the last two-ish months of the year.

• Wake up at 6 am every weekday.

• Work out 4-5 times every week.

• Plan out the next seven days of meals every Tuesday.

• Read only fictional books until 2020.

• Continue to publish one blog post every Wednesday.
  

Progress so far...

I decided on these goals a few weeks ago, so I am currently in week three.

• Wake up at 6 am every weekday.

I woke up twice at 6am the first week and twice the second week. This week it's bed = 3 and Kim = 0. In my defense, we are currently renovating the only bathroom in our house and took off work Monday and Tuesday to work on the bathroom. Since our bathroom is not yet complete, we are staying at the in-laws' house in the interim, so my routine has gone out the window with this goal. I'll try again once we are fully back in our home.

• Work out 4-5 times every week.

I completed four workouts the first week, along with 30 minutes of walking on my lunch break all five days. The second week I finished three workouts along with four days of walking on my lunch break. This week so far, I have worked out twice with a lunchtime walk today. I don't foresee any additional workouts happening until Saturday. But walking up and down my steps at home gathering tools for my husband counts as exercise, right?

• Plan out the next seven days of meals every Tuesday.

Yeah, this hasn't happened at all. I don't have any excuses either. I just didn't do it (shrug).

• Read only fictional books until 2020.

I was kicking ass on this goal. I read two fiction books since I set this goal. Unfortunately, I'm waiting on the library for the next fiction book on my list. So until it's ready for me, I picked up a non-fiction book I had in my "To Be Read" pile. Readers gonna read.

• Continue to publish a blog post every Wednesday.

Well, here you are reading my most recent blog post published on a Wednesday. I'm at least at 100% for this goal!

While thinking about all my accomplishments, my end of year goals and my progress thus far, I'm deciding to add a sixth goal to my list. And that goal is to be easier on myself when I don't hit my targets. Shit happens, bathroom renovations take longer (way longer) than anticipated. But as long as I am reaching for my goals most days, I'm considering that a win.

In a few weeks, I'll post an update, and maybe I'll be back on track. Or...maybe I won't.

Have you set end of year goals for yourself? Is one of those goals to be kinder to yourself for not hitting your targets? If not, it should be.

Let me know in the comments.