Happy New Year and welcome to 2023. As you know, every year I make a master want to do list. I call it that because I know that I will not complete everything on the list. I am working on my 2023 list but, before we talk about goals and intentions for this year, we need to review 2022.
Later this month, we’ll review my goals and intentions for 2023.
HOME
These are what I had planned/wished/hoped to work on during 2022. Some completions and some non-starters but progress none the less!
Kitchen
Paint kitchen cabinets-move to 2023
Replace light switch in kitchen to a dimmer switch-move to 2023
Repair ceiling-move to 2023
This was definitely a wishful thinking project for 2022 so I definitely plan to work on this area in the new year.
Dining Room
Refresh dining room-NOPE
Clean out hutch-NOPE
Get rid of armoire-COMPLETED
Remove boxes and other stuff that doesn’t belong-In Progress
Re-arrange furniture?-NOPE
This area has done the heavy lifting this year as a holding area for other items. I definitely want to work on this area this year as I want to have people over and need the dining space!! Plus, I plan to host my annual Oscar party in March and I definitely will need this area for the party.
Miscellaneous Spaces
Clean out 3rd floor storage-In Progress-I have removed some boxes in order to go through them but I haven’t yet gone through them. These boxes are housed in my dining room right now!
Clean out garage storage-NOPE
CREATIVE
Continue with Project Life-COMPLETED
Monthly digital or traditional page-NOPE
Send cards to family and friends monthly-NOPE. I did this some but not every month as I’d hoped.
Participate in a monthly card challenge-NOPE
FITNESS/HEALTH
Set a monthly workout goal-YES
Set a monthly nutrition goal-YES
Set a monthly step goal-YES
While I did manage to meet this goal in 2022, I didn’t really meet the goal of living healthier. I’m going to focus this goal differently in 2023 which I’ll talk about in my master goals.
SPIRITUAL/PERSONAL
Daily gratitude journaling-YES
Read 1 personal growth/development book each quarter-NOPE
Engage in some form of self care weekly-Not tracked enough
FINANCIAL
Weekly Budget Review-made some progress but still needs work
Monthly Budget Review-NOPE
Participate in a savings challenge-YES
LESSONS FROM 2022–REFLECTIONS
PROJECTS VS HABIT FORMATION
It seems from this list that I did not get much done but I know that this is not true. For most of the year, I was very busy working on something! I need to add unplanned, completed projects that weren’t on my annual list to my completed list!
Something I learned this year is that I want to differentiate between goals, projects and habit formation. Doing home projects is primarily what I put in the goal area. Habit formation is an area I’m working on which will lead to a positive change in my life overall. The fitness/health section falls in this area.
I’m still trying to formulate how I want to track goals vs habits. This will definitely be a work in progress. What I’m thinking about for fitness/health is to have an overarching goal like lose 15 pounds and then my monthly fitness/health goals will be targeted toward the weight loss goal. It will likely include workout goals, water goals, step goals, nutrition goal toward the aim of losing 15 pounds. This makes more sense to me than just focusing on drinking enough water which can be a goal in and of itself but I feel like I need to tie improving habits to a larger goal so that when it gets hard I can remember my why which will be to lose weight.
Now this is an example. I haven’t yet decided on my large goal yet but I’m close!
SHEDULING TIME AND SMALL STEPS
The next lesson I learned or realization I made is that I have to (1) make time to actually do the projects I want to do, (2) I have to break them into much smaller pieces and (3) I have to schedule time for all of it. I’ll preface this by saying that I make an ambitious list on purpose knowing that I won’t get it all done. However, I could have gotten much more done if I had chopped up the project and scheduled time in my planner to work on the project.
For example, I definitely could have cleaned out the storage cabinet in the garage this year if I had scheduled the time and opted to work on it in batches. In my brain, I feel like once I start I have to finish instead of reminding myself that I can work on it for one hour a week and it will likely be done within a month or so.
FINANCES
This is the area that gives me fits every year. And while I make some progress, I am not happy with myself for what I haven’t done. It is always my goal to work on my monthly budget each month, track my spending and savings and just get a better handle on my finances in general.
I’m working on finding a system that works better for me and I may have. I ordered a budget workbook from Etsy that seems to meet my needs. Each month, my numbers will transfer as needed and I can change or add what I need to. The other thing that I think will work for me is that it is digital so I can work on it when the mood strikes. I can be away from home from my computer and enter information at will. Not being able to do this has been an inconvenience for me and would lead me to just giving up. I sometimes want to work on my budget when I’m out and about rather than when I get home.
The next challenge for me will be to develop a good system for tracking all spending whether I use my debit card, credit cards, cash or something else.
And finally, I’m trying to decide if this falls in the habit or goal area. It’s definitely a goal that will lead to a habit. I have to figure out what the larger goal is and then what steps need to be taken to meet this goal to develop this habit.
SPIRITUAL/PERSONAL
This is another area that I believe fits more in the habit arena. The things I do here are supposed to benefit my life overall.
I’ll be redeveloping this area to address my life needs overall so that I can develop good habits.
One of the things I’m thinking about is developing a morning and evening routine. This can be useful when attempting implement a good habit or break a bad habit. I don’t currently have a structured routine but one thing I try to do most nights is to make sure that the kitchen sink is clean before I go to bed. I always feel better in the morning when I walk in the kitchen and it’s clean. I feel like I eat better, make better food choices overall and I don’t feel rushed.
So that’s my review of last year. I believe that I learned some good lessons which will help me move forward in 2023;
What do you think? Do you have a morning or evening routine-structured or casual? Any thoughts on goals vs habits? Let me know in the comments.
