2013 Goals Review

I'd like to do something I haven't done on here since June....talk about my 2013 goals!  But first, little resolution inspiration for you:

And my personal favorite...

You know what really makes me crazy?  Excuses.  I don't like hearing them and I do my best to not give them.  But guess what I'm about to do...

This year was unprecedented.  We knew adding the new house was going to be hard and it really did test every ounce of grit and determination we had.  Without being too dramatic, we spent much of the summer in survival mode, where things like eating and sleeping were second thoughts.

The goals I'd set forth back in January, suddenly didn't translate to real life.

BUT....here are some things I did take from the experience of writing down goals.
1.  Its so true that if you aim for nothing you'll get it every time. 2. I liked the accountability of the blog...it feels like a commitment, and though I'm not answerable to you, the deadline of reporting every month was helpful in keeping track of where I was.

Here are my 2013 goals, as published one year ago, with final results added:

*Read Through the Bible in a Year.  I cannot remember the last time I read through the entire bible...it wasn't in my adulthood, and I would really like to check out everything that's in there.  I found a greatreading plan that is chronological.

I learned that I really like the chronological reading plan.  I did the bulk of the reading on my phone, on the go, most often while throwing the ball to the dumb dog after dropping the girls off.  I fell off mid-August, or soon after I hit the New Testament.  

*Memorize 24 scriptures this year, broken down to 2/month.  I did about 12.

*Declutter one room each month.  The older I get (the more kids I have?) the more I detest "stuff".  I was once ok with the charm of Victorian "clutter", now...I'm not.  Plus, there was talk of us maybe moving and the thought of packing up this house is downright frightening to me.

Packing up that big 'ole house is exactly what we did.  The decluttering I did in the early months of the year certainly proved to be helpful, especially when it became crunch time.

*Answer my family with a smile.  Too often I answer with the what-do-you-want-now look.  These are the most important people in the world to me and I don't like giving them the impression that they are bothering me.  Its not a perfect goal because its difficult to measure, but I'm leaving it in.

This was really good.  It was in my head often, and I think I made good strides in this area.  I guess you'd have to ask my family to know for sure.  :)

*Read Two Books Each Month.  I think its essential to growth in lots of areas, plus I love to read, plus its a great example to my kids.

Honestly, I don't even have a number.  I stopped logging them after June, when I was at 17.  I feel confident I read at least eight more (mostly because of my European vacation), but it'd take some work to track down the titles.


*Run a Half-Marathon and a Full-Marathon.  Along with this, is regular strength training so my knees stay healthy.  For me, this looks like 5-6 days a week at the gym.

I completed a half-marathon in March and a full-marathon in May.  I also did strength training and yoga and cross training during that training period.

And then I was sickened at the thought of running.  :)  

For the first time since I started exercising (that's what we used to call it) when I was 12-13 years old, I took weeks off at a time.  Workouts were hauling materials and debris up and down 3-4 floor flights of stairs, doing heavy yard work, cleaning construction areas, etc.  

I didn't enjoy not working out (that's what we call it now) but it was the right thing to do.

*Write 52 notes of encouragement, thanks, thinking of you.  Ideally this would be spaced out one per week.  I think God has given me a gift in this area and I need to be using it.

Again, I stopped keeping track after July and for no good reason didn't pick it back up in the fall.  At last count I was at 27, so half-way?
*Clear off my desk each evening.  This is an ongoing battle for me.  My office is a dumping ground for the whole family, and I'm the worst culprit.  I've found a clean desk doesn't attract as much "stuff" and it also makes me feel less frazzled.  And that's always a good thing.

This goal moved into the "ridiculous" category after our lives exploded.  A cleaned off desk??  How about just a mattress with sheets on it.


*Spend 15 minutes a day working on a project.  Among them: keyword photos, clean 3rd floor "storage", organize videos I've taken over the past seven years, complete online photography courses I've purchased, etc, etc!

I did pretty good on this, out of necessity, but did a poor job recording, so whatever "pretty good" means.  Most all the projects had to do with the move.

*At least two date nights/month.  Too often, "us" gets lost in the shuffle and its easy to make excuses.  I just want to make it happen. 

Broken record, didn't do a good job of keeping track of this.  Our relationship was stretched and strained and tested more than any other time, so I'm sure whatever time we did sneak in was a lifeline.

Phew....I was going to post my 2014 goals, but this has been long enough!  To be continued...