Monday, January 4, 2016

2016 Goals

Happy New Year, everyone!!    I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Years celebration.  We had a quiet celebration with friends.  I thoroughly enjoyed having a 3 day weekend!  If only those happened more often!

Monday feels like the right kind of day of the week to share my goals for the year.  Here's what I'm hoping to accomplish in 2016!   This year I split them up into categories.

1.  Health and Fitness

> PR at the YWCA women's triathlon.  I did my first triathlon last year and didn't have a challenging goal going into it since I didn't know what to expect. Now that I have one under my belt, I am ready to try even harder and see how much I can improve my time.

> Run a sub-4 hour marathon at Grandma's marathon.  Yes, this means I am doing another marathon. Going into the Twin Cities marathon, I really thought it would be my last, but my disappointment over not making my goal led me to register for Grandma's marathon, which is in June.  If I don't run a sub-4 there, I think I will just have to accept that it's not in the cards for me and move on, but I want one more shot!

2.  Personal growth

> Identify an organization to volunteer with and volunteer on a consistent basis.  I've done a good job of making financial contributions to charitable organizations, but this year I want to focus on also giving them my time. I think I have identified an organization to volunteer with as I am going to the Minnesota Literacy Council's volunteer information session later this month.  Through this organization, I could volunteer to work one-on-one with an adult or I could co-teach a class.  I clearly feel very passionate about reading and know how powerful the ability to read is, so hopefully this will be a good fit.

3.  Reading

> Finish all of the books on my nook.
Last year I treated myself to a new Kindle Paper White. I still had some books left on my Nook but I thought I'd get to them eventually.  Then I fell so in love with my Kindle that I didn't want to read things on my Nook.  But I don't want to waste the money I spent on those books so I am going to make a point to read them this year.  There are only 4 and I've already started to read the longest of the 4 (The Goldfinch).

> Read 12 physical books that I already own.
This was one of my goals last year and I am making it a goal again for this year as I still have many many many many unread books on my shelves!

> Complete the 2016 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge.
I had so much fun doing this challenge last year so I decided to do it again. I really like the categories they chose this year.  Many of the books I will read for this challenge are books that I already own or books I've been wanting to read for awhile.  I can't wait to get started!

4.  Mental health

> Have one "shouldless" day a month and blog about it.
Last month I talked about my desire to have more "shouldless" days so I decided to incorporate it into my goals for the year. My goal is to have one per month, usually on a Sunday, and then in order to hold myself accountable, I'll share what I did on my shouldless day on my blog.

So there you have it!  I love the excitement of having a new set of goals to work towards and am ready to attack this list with gusto!

Do you make goals or resolutions?  What would you like to achieve in 2016?

18 comments:

Marlys said...

I live the idea of volunteering your time, and your ideas sound great! Can't wait to hear what you actually do!
You are a very goal oriented person and I always admire that in you! I didn't make a list of specific goals but just a general one which would improve my life in many ways so hope to hold true to it!
I did a "shouldless" day on January 1st, and actually read a whole book that day - a rare occasion for me! Paul was out in the fish house, so I just took the quiet time to read and really enjoyed it!

Linda said...

I'm reading your blog backwards!


Love your goals.

So I broke up with 6 year relationship end of 2013 and in 2014 barely had any resolutions after making an average of 15 a year for years. Last year I had maybe 3 mental goals, take parents on a trip (check), read 50 books (check), pay down 5k of student loan (only made it to maybe 2 when I got laid off).

This year? I haven't even told my journal yet so this comment is the first time I'm writing it down!

Take my parents on a trip, read 50 books, figure out how to do budgetting/make a living with part time freelancing, go to Spain with Sugarface, a trip with the I Feel Better girls.


Raquelita said...

These are really wonderful goals, Lisa! I'm looking forward to watching you tackle them over the course of the year and hearing about your progress. I love the idea of a shouldless day for those of us, as you said, that are cut from the goal-setting, always on the go type of cloth.

Also I'm looking forward to your report on _The Goldfinch_. It's still on my list because when I checked it out from the library I was in the middle of another book and in the midst of revisions so I had to return it before I could read it. I've heard really good things.

Nora said...

Love all of these!

I split mine up into professional, spiritual, fitness, family and then "everything" else goals. I have set intentions on how much I'd like to sell at work this year; read 68 books; lose another 5 pounds (and if I get that done, then another five); print pictures and put them into photo albums; attend church at least 50% of the time. I have a few other things written down and tucked inside my planner so that I'm reminded of them often! Here's to a new year!

suki said...

I don't generally make goals... UNTIL THIS YEAR! I'm considering posting them on my blog, but I'm a little shy about it. I guess it's the fear of failure if I do post them and do not achieve them. :P Oh well! I'll give it a go anyway. I am breaking them down by month, hopefully to form habits. Otherwise, it won't last.

Love your goals! And yes to shouldless days!

Emilie said...

Another marathon, woo! I am debating doing one next year. My base is non-existent so I don't know that it would be smart to shoot for a fall full. Maybe in 2017. I am so excited to read about your shouldless days. Such an awesome and much needed concept.

My biggest goal for 2016 are to keep a workout log all year, clear out our yard, and get married.

Amber said...

I love all of these goals and I think you will rock all of them as per usual, including the marathon time. You are so so close and the Grandma's marathon is flat AND you will be training during cooler months. I think all of that will add up in your favour.

I am posting about my goals tomorrow! I actually didn't end up setting goals for 2015 so I'm excited to set a few for 2016. It was hard to reign myself in to only five goals but I knew I wanted to be able to achieve everything I wanted to do so didn't want to go overboard.

Kelly (She Wears a Red Sox Cap) said...

Love all your goals and second everything Amber said about how you will achieve them :) I can't wait to read about your shouldless days!

Elizabeth said...

I'm always so in awe of how much you can read and it's so motivating! It's so fun to read others goals this time of year and I love the categories you've created. I think you can make that sub-4 goal :) Also love the "should-less" days! My hiking days frequently are should-less days--there's always another email or something I should be doing...but hiking days are self-care days for me and joy days for the dogs. The should-less days are what allow us to keep going and in turn by giving ourselves space for us...we can give more to others....

Vanessa Meads said...

I love your goals! I'm keeping mine mostly private this year, but my top priorities are my health (both mental and physical) and starting work towards becoming a CPA.

"Shouldless" days are something I definitely need to try to have more of.

Carolina John said...

Yay! You're going to nail the sub-4 at grandma's and love volunteering. Great goals!

Kyria @ Travel Spot said...

I think your list is very well put together! My goals often lean toward running or reading or things I can count, rather than trying to organize myself to quantify more descriptive goals. However, mine this year include running and reading and learning. I have a few I am not putting on my posted list, such as ones for financials and work. I also am going to do the Book Riot challenge but am not posting it, as I will likely not do posts about it throughout the year (lets be realistic here). I also have travel goals but sometimes I feel that Goal posts tend to get a bit "braggy" so I am laying off on those as well! My post will be out next week!

Stephany said...

I will be cheering you on to get that sub-4 marathon. I know you have it in you!

I decided against doing a reading challenge this year, mostly because I want to read a lot of books in the style I am writing my novel in, so I guess that's my challenge this year! :)

My biggest goal for 2016 is to finally finish my novel, edit it, have some beta readers look at it, and start looking for an agent. It's scary to write all of that down because it's such a big goal of mine and it might not work out for me. But I can't not try, right?!

Other goals I'd really like to achieve are to lose 20 lbs, save $1,000, travel to a new state, and reread Harry Potter and watch all the movies.

Jenny said...

Great goals for the year! I'll be cheering you on for your sub-4 marathon for my corner of globe :) And volunteering is a great goal, especially when you can share your passion with others. I just blogged about my goals for the year and some of them are similar to yours. I'll be particularly interested in your shouldless days since one of mine is to find better balance in that area.

Good luck, I'm sure you'll do great with these.

Jolene - EverydayFoodie said...

I'm excited to hear what you do on your "shouldless days"!! I think I have quite a few of those a month, haha! I try not to over commit ... I'm pretty sure I burned myself out years ago by doing too much.

I totally need to read books that I have at home, as there are many that I haven't read.

Jeanie said...

That's an ambitious and impressive list, Lisa! I'm still fleshing out mine, but a big one is make more art. New art, new techniques. And to travel a bit more. To meet at least three bloggers I've never met. Three might be ambitious!

The Many Thoughts of a Reader said...

I only did reading goals because umm I can't keep a goal. ;)

San said...

I love all your goals and especially the idea of a "should-less" day :)