Hey friends! I know we are almost a month into the year and I’m a little behind on posting my new year’s goals, but it’s better late than never, am I right?

A quick update on my 2019 goals:

• Read 6 books – I read 23! I think my favorite book I read this year was The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.
• Exercise at least 1 hour a week – according to my apple watch yes, but I definitely slacked towards the end of the year about intentional workout time.
• Listen to more Christian music – yes, although it probably still wasn’t enough! My favorite album is Bethel’s Victory album
• Be more intentional with what I say yes to – I’m still working on this one, but reading The Best Yes certainly helped me filter what I should say yes and no to!
• Look for ways to bless my husband – while hard to quantify, I think I did grow in this area although it also still needs work.
• Pray scripture over my husband daily – I did! I made a list of 31 verses and would cycle through them every month
• Memorize one verse per week – I did and it was amazing how often the scriptures I’ve memorized would come to mind in different situations
• Publish 20 blog posts – I published 36! I way underestimated myself I guess 🙂
• Write in my prayer journal daily – for the most part, there were some days where I felt praying in other ways was needed
• Find a way to make another income – sort of, I did have a side job for part of the year

As I was goal planning for this year, I realized that my goals need to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based). Some of my goals last year were pretty vague, so it was hard to know if I accomplished them or not. So this year I’m trying to set myself up for success by clearly defining what achieving my goals actually looks like!

My 2020 goals

1. Listen to one new Christian album monthly – this is a SMART version of my goal from last year and also ensures that I keep searching out new music rather than listening to the same songs
2. Intentionally exercise twice weekly – I chose the word intentionally to avoid the copout of my apple watch telling me I exercised when I didn’t really try to, and to get me in the habit of exercising multiple times a week. I’ve already made progress on this by buying my first gym membership which I never thought I would do!
3. Review my life plan monthly – this is so that I make sure I’m prioritizing the right things and continuing to grow into the person I want to be.
4. Plan one date monthly – y’all know how important I think dates are, but it’s unfair to expect Matt to plan them all for me. Romance goes both ways! So I’m committing to planning at least one date a month so he can enjoy it as well.
5. Stay within budget at least 9 months – I think this might be the hardest one but something we really need to do.
6. Do an in-depth Bible study of a book or topic – I have read the Bible a few times through now and want to challenge myself to dig deeper into a certain book or topic and look at it in a way that I haven’t before.
7. Write 30 blog posts – this will be a bit more of a challenge for me with all the other activities I’m involved in, but I think it’s possible!
8. Work on one craft every month – to ensure I actually do something just for fun that rejuvenates me.
9. Drink 40 oz of water daily on average over the week – I am SO bad at drinking water, but I’m hoping with the help of my Camelbak, a water tracker app, and my new sodastream I can do it!
10. Read 10 nonfiction books – I love reading fictional books because they are entertaining and I can usually breeze through them pretty quickly. But nonfiction books are often better for teaching and helping you grow, and I want to make that a goal to ensure that I’m continuing to learn even after I graduate (which is right around the corner!)

In addition to these goals, I made a list of habits that I want to continue doing so that I don’t forget to build upon what I’ve already made a routine in the last year. I’ve found that writing down what goals I’ve made progress on every day, week, and month is helpful for making sure I stay on target.

I don’t know about how you motivate yourself to accomplish your goals, but for me there’s nothing like that feeling of accomplishment that comes from doing what I said I was going to do. The flip side of that is that I’m my own worst critic, and I need to remind myself to make room for a little grace in my goals, too. I love the verse that reminds me that “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning…” (Lamentations 3:22-23). Even if I mess up on my goals, each day is new and full of God’s mercy, offering a chance to begin again.

I would love to know what your goals for the new year are, so please let me know in the comments below!