Hello, everyone! I hope you had a great holiday season - I sure did! I spent plenty of time with family and friends, decorated my heart out, watched plenty of Christmas movies and specials, and constantly sang and danced to my favorite holiday music.
Source: imgfave.com via Kelly on Pinterest
If you are a longtime reader of this blog, you may remember last year I began a challenge called New Year's, All Year. You may also remember, after a crazy first half of the year, I ended up scaling back my challenge.
I'm the type of person who is always making goals. This year I also want to the be person who is always achieving them. I'm not making a ton of super specific goals in a year-long format and then pulling them back throughout the year due to unexpected challenges. Instead, I'm approaching this year step by step.
First, I recognized the major areas of my life: health, finances, relationships, career, wedding planning, and self-enrichment. Second, I made "endpoint" goals for each of these areas - basically, how I would like to end the year in regards to each area. From there, at the beginning of every month, I will make one or two goals in each area that, when reached, will bring me closer to my endpoint goals. Since I am making these monthly goals throughout the year, I will be able to take into account any new obstacles and then set realistic, measurable objectives (while I will always write out my objectives in a detailed manner, I may not always share all the specifics on this blog, for privacy reasons). The one aspect of last year's New Year's, All Year Challenge that I would like to keep is sharing my journey with YOU!
Source: marcypenner.tumblr.com via Kelly on Pinterest
My 2012 endpoint goals are:
- Health: live an overall healthier lifestyle
- Finances: be more organized, balanced, and responsible
- Relationships: maintain mutually supportive relationships that are in balance with one another
- Wedding: have location and date set and all major vendors booked
- Career: aggressively pursue full-time teaching position; develop my coaching skills and knowledge while also developing the school's swimming program further
- Self-enrichment: allow "me" time without overindulging; actively participate in passions, hobbies, interests, etc. further
My January goals are:
- Health: track food daily; workout three times a week
- Finances: save specific percentage of all paychecks
- Relationships: e-mail out-of-town friends; prepare for Dan and I's three year anniversary
- Wedding: research vendors in the two locations where Dan and I are interested in holding our wedding
- Career: prepare for the end of swim season and substitute frequently
- Self-enrichment: blog much more often
I feel like in 2011, among all the fun, love, and laughter, and despite the stress, self-doubt, and hardships, I learned a great deal about living life in a balanced and positive way. I am very excited to put those lessons to use this year, and to share my experiences with you. If any of you would like to join me in the new and improved New Year's, All Year Challenge, leave a comment and let me know! 2012 is definitely going to be a wonderful year : )
Source: capecodcollegiate.tumblr.com via Kelly on Pinterest
