Here’s what I’ve decided—while I love a lot about my 101 in 1001 list, I’ve decided that almost 3 years is a LONG time to spend on one list of goals, especially since it’s hard to predict what will be important to you that far out. While a part of me was seriously tempted to change some of my 101 goals yet again (like I did at the beginning of last year), I decided that maybe I just needed a new list with a different deadline to shake it up a bit.
Because that’s really what I need in my life right now is more goals, right?
In all seriousness though, this is probably one of the more doable lists of New Year’s resolutions that I’ve done, and most of all, it’s already accomplishing the most important thing—getting me fired up about ALL my goals again.
So, in addition to continuing to work on my 101 in 1001 list until that deadline in October, I’ll also be working on these:
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- List all Ebay items in office
- I’ve got three huge garbage bags full of vintage clothing from my brother sitting beside my computer right now. Time to list them on Ebay so we can finally free up some space on our office floor!
- Get back to pre-pregnancy weight
- I’ve been able to successfully return back to my pre-pregnancy weight after having my first two children, so hopefully that trend continues with the third! Since I’m FINALLY getting my back looked into and actually fixed this time (thanks to a chiropractor), I’m thinking I should be able to start exercising at 6 weeks postpartum, after having to take over a year off due to my back injury. I’m so excited for this it’s not even funny!
- For the record, I currently have 17 more pounds to go to reach this.
- Bump up retirement contributions
- As tempting as it is to set a high number (aka, setting a goal to max out Matt’s Roth this year or something), I’m going to be content if we can bump it up at all. Matt’s work doesn’t offer any retirement benefits so it’s a bit harder to do this, but it’s super important to us so we’re going to make it happen. We’re currently putting in just $150 a month.
- Get more chickens
- We currently have four chickens, only one of which is laying eggs for us this winter (although at one point, three of the four were regularly laying). To really get all the eggs our family needs, we’re looking into getting 4-6 more this year.
- Pick a cookbook a month and make 4 recipes from it
- I have LOVED my 101 in 1001 challenge to cook my way through an entire cookbook. In fact, it’s made me want to cook out of ALL of my cookbooks a lot more, but I’ve held back because I’ve felt like all new-recipe-energy should be going towards the challenge. However, this year I’m going to set a mini challenge of cooking 4 different recipes from a different cookbook each month, on top of continuing to work on making every recipe in The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner. I plan to do a post at some point detailing the 12 cookbooks I’ve chosen.
- Have 4 people/families over for dinner (that we haven’t before)
- Although we’ve been pretty good at inviting people over to our place that we’ve been friends with for a long time, we haven’t been as good at reaching out and making new friends or building up our relationships with our neighbors further. We love hosting people, so this should be a fun one!
- Go to Hawaii
- Yes, this will technically knock out a 101 in 1001 goal too (to visit the ocean), but we’re definitely making this happen this year.
- Publish 100 blog posts
- Last year I only published 76 posts, which is one of my lowest years ever. Since I have zero plans of being pregnant this year (which always messes a ton with my energy for working on this space), I’m hoping that I should be able to make this happen by blogging twice every week. So far I’m on track! 🙂
- Plant dahlias
- Since buying our house two and a half years ago, we’ve planted a TON of flowers around the yard, including a raised garden bed devoted exclusively to flowers for cutting and bringing inside. However, we have yet to plant one of my favorite types of flowers–dahlias–just because I’ve heard that they’re a lot of work and pretty high maintenance. But I figured that we might as well at least try, since those are always the flowers I drool over the most when I look at all the random flower farm feeds I follow on Instagram. My expectations aren’t too high, but I’m excited to at least make an attempt.
- Get my TBR list below 270 (starting at 292)
- Seeing as my Goodreads goal for the year is to read at least 60 books this year, this goal should seem like a shoe-in…except for the fact that in years past, my pace of ADDING books has far exceeded my pace of actually reading through the ones I’ve added. Let’s see if we can get that number down at all this year! (Note: You can add me as a friend on Goodreads here.)
- Do 3 read-alouds with Raven
- Raven will be 5 in April, and I think she’s finally at the age and maturity level that we can start reading aloud from longer books together. I got this beautiful edition of The Secret Garden for Christmas (complete with interactive pictures) that I think I might start out with. I’m totally new to the read-aloud business, so I would LOVE suggestions on good ones to read together at this age!
- Do a complete study of the Come Follow Me curriculum this year
- My church came out with a new study curriculum last year, but I only half-heartedly followed it because I was finishing up my own study plan. This year though, I fully plan on immersing myself in the new curriculum and participating in all the study challenges. The goal of the curriculum is to deepen conversion to Jesus Christ and His gospel, which is something I’m always working on. To check out the curriculum for yourself, you can click here.
Any tips for me on completing these? And what are YOU hoping to work on this year?
P. S. If time management is one of your resolutions for the New Year, there’s a free webinar being offered TONIGHT (1/6) by Ultimate Bundles! You can also check out the Ultimate Productivity Bundle currently available now (but only until Thursday). For a list of all the products that are a part of that, click here!
