Simple Goals: Month Three

Time for a check in! How are you doing with your goals? Has the year gotten away from you? Are you falling back into old patterns and feeling discouraged? Sometimes the best laid plans can get waylaid by life and laziness. I've had several conversations about this with my eldest daughter recently, as she turns twenty this year and is trying to figure out adulthood, while I settle further into my forties and try to figure out middle-age. In many ways, we're not that different, even if we're miles apart in other aspects. 

Every season brings new challenges and changes. The real question is, how will we meet them? 

Beth MacDonald on Unsplash

As a quick reminder, these were some of the 24 #simplegoals I decided to work towards this year. Nothing earth shattering, but all things that I believed would add some value to my daily life and help me grow as a person (or shrink, in the case of trying to walk more and eat more fresh/less processed). 

Let's look at the failures first. 

By calling them "failures" I only mean that these are not things that I have chosen to prioritize. I recognize that I could be successful in all of these things if I had the self-discipline, willpower, or "want to" to make them happen. They are not, in and of themselves, things that are too difficult to achieve. They are, however, things that I have spent some time trying (or thinking about trying, in the case of the last item) in 2024, and have not successfully built a habit of doing on a regular basis...yet.

👎 Use the treadmill. I started strong. Twenty to thirty minutes, at least three days a week, usually over lunchtime. But then I had a week where I didn't feel good. And then a week where I just didn't feel like it. And then a week with another boatload of excuses. And the next thing I knew...it had been a month. This isn't something I'm giving up on, in fact, I started back again last week, 5 minutes here, 20 minutes there, but up until now it's not been something I've prioritized as I should.

👎 Create a repertoire of simple meals. I haven't honestly put a lot of effort into this. I've continued to make the same mix of meals that I've been making for months now. I've switched a few things up here and there, but, again, this is not something I have made a priority in my daily life.

👎 Use cash for certain expenditures. Much like the treadmill, I started out strong in January on this. I happened to have cash on hand, which made it easier to divvy up into envelops and when the envelopes were empty, that was it. This worked really well for eating out, until I ran out of money. I do like to use cash, but the fact of the matter is, I would rather use a card (that we pay off each month), because it's easier. I'm not giving up on this one, I'm just trying to figure out a good balance.

👎 Participate in teaching my newest driver how to drive. This is something that has crossed my mind, but there's never a good time. We're in a hurry, other kids are with us, she still needs to learn some of the basics (with the Hubs), it's raining, it's nighttime, we're in my car, etc. Let's be honest, as a recovering control enthusiast, I know this is something I should do (for my own practice), but it's definitely going to take some effort and planning (and more willingness on my part). 

And now let's take a look at some of the successes so far this year! 

These are goals that apparently hit a sweet spot. They just seemed to click, for whatever reason, and didn't really take that much work to turn into habits. It just took finding the "want to" as my husband likes to say.

👍 Read 48 books from my own shelves. This is probably the goal that I have made the most progress towards. Once I decided that it was something I wanted to be intentional about, it meant I was carrying a book with me everywhere. I read while waiting for the kids at their various activities, I read at night (rather than vegging out on YouTube), I read during the quiet moments of school - between questions. Because of that, I've read twenty books so far, and counting. 

👍 Save for a rainy day. Towards the end of January I made a digital checklist of things I wanted to do (e.g. read four books a month) or save for (e.g. a vacation). I broke down how much we needed to save each month to pay the taxes and insurance on our own home, a rental we own, our car insurance, our health insurance, plus savings for Christmas, vacation, and a "rainy day fund" for the unexpected. Once I broke that down, I separated our savings accounts into specific categories. Having a checklist (complete with cute emojis) has helped keep me on track with this. As soon as money comes in, it has a home to go to, and that helps keep the spending in check as well. 

👍 Eat the food we already have. This has been another big win. After the cash idea petered out, I fell back into old patterns of grabbing takeout when I didn't feel like cooking. This went on for a couple of weeks and I quickly realized this wasn't going to work, as takeout for six adds up quickly in 2024. With renewed focus (and building in allowed cheats - such as picking up Little Caesar's pizzas on Friday nights after all-day kid activities), I made a nice dent in our freezer and pantry stash, with plenty left to keep going, and hopefully encourage that creatively simple meal repertoire that has failed so far. 

👍 Put the phone down. I would call this one a work in progress. I have definitely become more mindful of the number of times a day I pick up my phone. It's not good. And I have set timers on my phone for social media apps, that I all too often switch up, when the time just isn't enough. I'd like to say I have more self discipline than my aforementioned nearly 20-year old when it comes to my phone, but it's just as easy an addiction for me as it is for her. However, I'm including it in the successes because it's something I'm constantly mindful of now (and wasn't before) and something I'm actively working on. 

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We're halfway through the third month of the year. If you've set goals and stalled, start again! It's never the wrong time to try something new, to do something differently, or to simply restart a habit you paused for a season. And don't be afraid to make an entirely new list if you so choose! There are no goal police who are going to come knocking on your door because you said you would train for a marathon only to realize that walking your neighborhood fulfills your goal of becoming less sedentary. And maybe next year you'll walk a 5k, and the next year you'll run a 5k, and five years from now you might find yourself signed up for your first marathon. The point is, break it down into smaller goals, and celebrate the successes along the way. Goals are personal, so get out there and find your sweet spot this month!