Hello and welcome to 2022! You may have noticed that I took a bit of a break during the last quarter of the year. I had a hard time getting back into a life rhythm after returning from my vacation so I decided to just let it ride.
Here we are with a new year, a built in time to re-start and I am ready to do it!
At the beginning of 2021, I set goals for different areas of my life and now it’s time to see how things worked out.
Progress not perfection is always the theme so no matter what did or did not get done, I know that I did more than if I didn’t set any goals. More than anything, this is a way for me to keep a record of my life.
Why Goal Setting is Important for Me:
I find that setting goals and then tracking if I meet them or not, I learn a lot about myself. From past projects and goals, I have learned that I can’t do 2 really large projects back to back because I get too overwhelmed. I also learned that my projects always expand as I work on them and I’m (mostly) okay with that. I often get creative ideas while I’m working on things which I find really inspiring and fun. It does tend to slow things up though which stretches the project out. Because I’m not interrupting another person’s space, it’s usually okay.
However, in 2021 I did find with doing the craft area and living room refresh, I reached a limit where I was feeling weighed down from all of the items that needed to be removed from home either through donation or garbage. I really wanted to get my space back and not have my home be a constant work in progress.
Areas to focus/learn more about:
I would like to get better at project planning. By this I mean that I want to learn how to sketch out/plan a project with all of the details and steps needed and then figure out the best way to do things. At times, I feel like I piecemeal tasks which can make projects take longer than necessary. Piecemealing things also tends to lead to lots of materials being spread out and nothing being put away because it’s all in flux!
I also want to work on better time management for projects. It may be better if I do a little something every day for a certain amount of time vs. killing myself on the weekends! Being more intentional about the planning aspect will likely have a positive impact in this area.
2021 Want To Do List Review
I’ve said this before but I think it’s important to remind you and myself-I call this list a “want to do” list on purpose. Nothing on this list is a requirement or even a need. I am choosing these projects and goals of my free will and want to see them as gifts and not burdens. I can stop anytime I want or hire some things out. The name is a reminder to me that it is a gift to be able to work on home projects or attempt to improve my mental, physical health and financial health in a way that I choose.
And now, let’s review!
HOME
Finish office refresh-(DONE)
Living Room refresh-IN PROGRESS-about 75% done
Kitchen refresh-DID NOT START-I did change out the lighting but that was an unplanned event.
Dining Room Refresh-DID NOT START
Clean out garage storage-DID NOT START
Clean out 3rd floor storage-Partial Progress-I have pulled out a few boxes and have gone through them.
FITNESS/HEALTH
Set monthly goals-DONE
Set monthly nutrition goals-PARTIAL PROGRESS-I did this a few months and then I forgot about it.
CREATIVE
Clean off craft table and supplies-DONE
Do monthly Project Life-DONE
Send monthly cards to family and friends-PARTIAL-I started off strong but then lost my creative mojo for a big part of the year.
SPIRITUAL
Read at least 3 personal development books-ATTEMPTED-I made several attempts to read Atomic Habits but was not successful.
FINANCIAL
Create monthly budget-PARTIAL-Some months I did the budget but other months, I did not.
Weekly budget review-PARTIAL-Again, some months I was really good.
2 No spend months-DID NOT START-I actually forgot about this one.
Participate in annual savings challenge-DONE-I did the weekly transfers as scheduled.
WORD OF THE YEAR
My word for 2021 year was PRESENT.
My goal was to be present focused. Not future focused which causes me anxiety thinking of everything ahead of me and what I want to accomplish. Also, not dwelling on the past ruminating over what went wrong, what I didn’t do, etc…
This is a work in progress for me but by my own assessment I did okay with this one. There were times during the year where I acknowledged that I had things to do but allowed myself not to do them. This was very true after my vacation where I could not find my rhythm and opted to just go with the flow and not fight it. There were also times prior to my vacation where I was not so “present” focused. I heard myself saying with regularity, “I’ll take care of that after I get back”! Sometimes it was justified and sometimes it was just procrastination. Overall, though I feel good about staying most present focus. Even though, it’s not my word for 2022, I will stay work on this area.
CONCLUSION
Overall, I accomplished a lot including smaller things that didn’t make the list. I expect to get some of the holdover projects from 2021 done in 2022.. How well I do with this will depend on how well I do with project planning and time management.
Any ideas on how I can improve in these areas? Also, how did your 2021 work out? Share in the comments.
