If you read my end of the year reflections post, you know that there are several areas that I didn’t make much progress on in 2017. For review, these areas are:
Decluttering
Home Projects
Personal & Spiritual Growth-including self-care
Health and Fitness
For this year, I will develop a much better plan to work on these areas. Part of the issue for 2017 is that I didn’t really have a plan. I just kind of said that I want to do it but didn’t really figure out how.
Having this blog is actually one way I plan to hold myself accountable. Writing down what’s happening has been a way to not just document my progress but also talk about my challenges, frustrations and fears. Doing so seems to help lessen the overwhelm and keep me moving forward. The other way it’s helped is by acknowledging that my time frame has to be kept realistic for someone who has a full-time job, is learning on the go and 99% of the time doing tasks on my own. Heck, sometimes I don’t even have the right tools to get a job done!
Moving forward here are my goals for 2018:
HOME PROJECTS
Declutter my entire home-every closet, every drawer, every surface! I need a systematic and structured way to do this that focuses on one area at a time instead of the scatter shot way I’ve been doing it. I’ll research some ways others have taken on this task and been successful. Suggestions are more than welcome.
Finish the hallway refresh which includes painting, shampooing the carpet, completing the gallery wall by choosing the photos for the frames
Refresh the master bathroom-I’ve had paint swatches on the wall for 4+ years! Time to get it done. This includes painting the wall, painting the cabinets, changing out the floor, change out the faucets and likely the water lines and putting up shelves over the toilet. There is also an opening in the ceiling that needs repair. There was a leak from the condo on the 2nd floor above me. The leak was dealt with long ago and now it’s time for the ceiling to be. Changing out the light is on the maybe list. The reality is that I really want to but electricity scares me. I may require either more courage (along with research) or hiring if it can be done inexpensively. I really like learning about my home and how to care for it but I also really cannot afford to hire out jobs. So, we’ll see where this one goes.
PERSONAL AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH
I want to focus on the positive, work on not allowing my fear to stop me, and work on having an “attitude of gratitude”. It’s so easy to get caught up in everything that is wrong or not going the way we want it to that we fail to recognize all of the good around us. I want to start breaking patterns that are not good for me or no longer serve me.
HEALTH & FITNESS
I had a several year period where I was training for half and full marathons and was working out regularly. I had an injury (plantar fascitis) that took a really long time to heal and have gotten out of the habit. While I’m not interested in training for races anymore, I am interested in becoming a person who works out more days than not. I worked on and was fairly successful in meal planning and prep which I will continue to do in 2018. Making my own meals at home and taking my lunch to work helped me to eat much better as well as maintain my weight (though I’d like to lose weight).
Healthwise, I really need to make sure I get enough sleep. Some of my goals become very difficult to manage when I’m going on not enough sleep.
FINANCIAL
I want to seriously pay down my debt and work on developing a workable, livable budget. I have been careless and neglectful with my finances and am looking to develop a new and more positive relationship with money.
CREATIVITY/CRAFT
- Project Life-I have been completing a PL album annually since 2010 and this year I am changing up from the traditional 12×12 album and am going to try my hand at using a planner along with the HP Sprocket printer. My goal will be to print photos weekly and do the embellishing and journaling at that time. I have purchased the Big Happy Planner as the photos from the sprocket fit the vertical boxes. There are two other boxes available each day to journal and add decorations and embellishments.
- Card making-For several years now, I have enjoyed making cards for family and friends. Last June, I opened up an Etsy shop to sell my cards. While the shop is presently on hiatus, my goal is to continue to make cards in my personal life and for my shop.
- Scrapbook layouts-with the introduction of Project Life, I have not made a traditional layout in a couple of years now. However, I miss that sort of creativity and want to find ways and time to add making traditional scrapbook layouts into my routine.
- Photography-I’m really looking to up my photography game mostly with my “fancy” camera but also with my iPhone. I purchased a light kit to shoot photos indoors but I get very little natural light and will shoot most of my pictures in the evenings. Purchasing the light kit was definitely a positive but keeping it in the box for several months was not. I haven’t yet figured out how I’m going to achieve this one other than I know I will use some sort of training. The question will be whether it’s something I do live or online.
TIME MANAGEMENT
This is an area where I will really need to focus on this year. I’m not terrible with time management but I can get distracted or be rather squirrel-like-my attention shifts easily. I’ve practiced some during 2017 on setting a timer for 15-30 and just focusing on one task. It worked well and I will continue to try and find my sweet spot. Sometimes, after working all day I am just wiped out when I get home. However, I’m hoping that by psyching myself out with the idea that I just have to do something for 15 minutes that it will be the motivation I need to continue.
I realize these are some big goals that need to be broken down into smaller steps. My plan is that I will check in each month and let you know where I am in terms of the smaller steps and how I’m doing with them.
Wish me luck and feel free to offer some guidance in the comments!
Please share your 2018 goals and plans in the comments.
