January Reset

I am so happy to have said goodbye to 2019. Last year was rough physically, emotionally, and mentally. But now that we have officially started 2020, I also realize I am in no way prepared to start a new year, let alone a new decade.

I don't know how anyone had the time to complete a postmortem of the last year. With Christmas being so soon after Thanksgiving, all the holiday parties and activities and for my family, birthdays. So much happened in my life the last few months, while they went quickly, they also felt like a year all on their own. Before I can commit to new goals and a fresh start to the new year, I have to take some time to sit with all that's happened these last twelve months: the struggles, the lessons, and the achievements. So, this year I'm taking a fiscal year approach to 2020, and my fiscal year isn't going to start until February 1st! I'm going to use the 31 days in January to hash out my feelings about 2019 and set my goals for 2020.

A January Reset

I've drafted a rough plan for January's "reset." I want to start by journaling, something I've let slide in the last few months, about the lessons I've learned, the events which made me stronger, and the accomplishments I've achieved. I also want to examine my habits and routines and evaluate what worked and what didn't work.

Once I have my thoughts on paper, I plan to update my Life Pyramid document. I first read about creating a Life Pyramid on The Simple Dollar blog. I built mine three or four years ago, so it will be interesting to go back and read through my Purpose/Principles, my Vision for the next twenty years, and the Projects and Goals I set for myself to reach that vision. Once I've updated my Life Pyramid, I'll know what areas to focus on in 2020 and can create a Vision Board for 2020. I'm not trying to rush this process, but I'm hoping to have these activities completed by mid-January.

Finally, I'll focus my attention to solidifying my 2020 goals and writing out my action steps. I haven't decided if I'll break down my goals into quarterly chunks or get more granular and create monthly milestones. And I'll have to spend some time thinking about what will work for me when it comes to reviewing my progress. I've been great about setting goals in the past, but not so great when it came to keeping a date with myself to review my goal progress and course correct. No one likes to hear where they're falling short, even if you are only talking to yourself.

I hope to document my progress on Instagram throughout January, but I haven't been the best at posting on IG, so.... we'll see. Who knows, if this experiment works for me in 2020, I might make this January "reset" an ongoing practice.

Have you already set your 2020 goals? What is your process for setting new year goals?

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.