I'm thinking about assigning 2017 a word and that word shall likely be "Adventure." I'm also dreaming about structuring my goals (haha, yes I just said "structuring" my goals... maybe had too much coffee already today)... sorry back to my point, I'm thinking about structuring my goals in a Gretchen Rubin type way (you know, The Happiness Project lady). Like, January will be about laughter. I'd set my course for an adventure in seeking laughter. I think that could make for a really fun first month of the year. Little Abe and I could try and find some really funny books at the library. We could watch a few funny movies, make a point to tell silly jokes and tickle every single day, really put our mind to finding ways to add laughter to life.
February is generally a really hard month for me. I start to get cabin fever really bad; seasonal effective disorder. The bitter cold temps combined with lack of sunshine take a super huge toll on me (says the person who dreams of living in Alaska). February should be an adventure in seeking new things; new places, new foods, maybe read a new genre, find some new music. New, new, new!
March could be for friends, relationships. April could be about gratitude. May should likely have everything to do with getting outdoors. I think that's how I want to approach next year. Maybe I'll even incorporate The Happiness Project a little and carry some of each month's adventure theme into the following months of the year. Honestly that sounds like too big of a task to me but I think it'd be worth while to at least give it a shot. Come May little Abe and I would be finding ways to laugh, looking for new experiences, focusing on friendships, gratitude, and getting outdoors. Gosh, that sounds like such a fun year.
It is in the compelling zest of high adventure and of victory, and in creative action, that man finds his supreme joys.
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Interesting to think about a focus a month-maybe easier to do, and build off momentum for month to month. I like February-Adventure.
ReplyDeleteI think it will be easier to keep on track with goals if I start fresh with a new focus each month. I do lose momentum so quickly after all.
DeleteI love it! That's a great approach to structuring your goals. And, you know I'm all about structured goals. ;-)
ReplyDeletethanks! I think a little structure always helps a thing.
DeleteAnd you are my goal hero
Ha! :-) One day, I want to be some sort of goal setting guru. That's a career, right? ;-)
DeletePersonally, if anyone could do it, I believe you could make a pretty lucrative income on just such a career. There are wedding planners, interior decorators, motivational speakers, and professional home organizers. There must be goal setting guru's... no?
DeleteBest wishes. Lovely thoughts in this post! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteA bit better than two posts back, huh
Delete:)
"I tend to only ever make it about half way to my mark but the way I see it, at least when I set a mark I make it half way there. That's better then never setting off in the first place, right?"
ReplyDeleteThat's brilliant, Rivulet! So easy to focus on failure but that is so much better. Thank you!
I've been blogging for several years now. One of the things I learned about myself at the beginning is that I'm horrid at completing things, and that goes especially for goals I've set. I used to get SOOOO disappointed and was really hard on myself for all the "failures" until I started to see a pattern in my blogging. Whenever I'd get really disappointed with myself and start beating myself up for whatever goal I hadn't fully reached (like the average daily spending for example) then I'd start to do really poorly, like almost worse then before at whatever it was I was trying to excel at.
DeleteIt took awhile but blogging has taught me that setting a goal and working towards something does move you closer to where you were hoping to be, to who you were hoping to be. Not meeting the goal isn't failure if you grew. I really believe that now and am SOOO much less hard on myself about shortcomings. I might take longer to get to the finish line then a lot of people but I'm on my way AND I'm trying to enjoy the journey.