I started monthly goals (instead of quarterly or yearly) about 9 months ago, and it’s been working pretty well. I don’t have a perfect record of crossing everything off my lists, but setting goals with a shorter timeframe does seem to work a lot better for me than yearly resolutions so I plan to continue it in 2014!
Finish the draft narrative for my Master’s Project, plus 3 more posters. Onward! This is the semester I’m finally going to get the degree I started in 2005!
Read before bed. We always read to Emma, but I’m talking about me. Rather than set a goal of a specific number of books or amount of time or days per week, I’m just going to try to read on most evenings, because it’s something I enjoy.
Build a countertop in the laundry room. I want to try to tackle at least one home improvement project each month this year — whether large or small. This is January’s item, although “build” isn’t quite the right word because there’s actually very little building involved. I simply want to get a piece of wood or particle board, put some rubber feet on it, and sit it on top of our washer and dryer to make a seamless countertop that I can use for folding.
Crown molding in another version of our house
Get quote(s) for installing crown molding. Speaking of home improvement… There’s a house for sale down the block with the same floor plan as ours, and I was checking out the photos online. They have crown molding in the family room/kitchen and it looks really nice. I have zero interest in attempting to do it myself, but I have no idea what I should expect to pay for someone else to do it — and clearly the labor would be the big cost. It shouldn’t be hard to at least get a few quotes this month.
(If you have someone to recommend, speak up!)
Track calories every day. I was dutifully tracking from when I first started in November through the beginning of Christmas break, but being home has put me off my normal schedule, we’ve eaten out and snacked a lot, and my tracking fell by the wayside. I managed to maintain weight despite that, but this month I want to get back on track (pun intended). If I do, I should be at my pre-pregnancy weight by the end of the month!!
I completely understand on the reading before bed. I’ve always loved to read but now-days all of my reading is to my daughter. And when I do get a chance to lay in bed and read, I find I waste it surfing the Internet on my phone. Good luck with your goals.
We did the crown molding downstairs (an upgrade) and I am so glad we did. It really does “finish” it off nicely, and I knew that no matter how easy it could possibly be, it would rank right up there with upgrading sink faucets! My big goal is learning to put in ceramic tile. I just couldn’t fork-over the money the builder wanted to do our kitchen/dining/pantry/laundry areas. Pretty Handy Girl has a lot of great ideas: http://www.prettyhandygirl.com/ Good luck with your laundry room re-do! That’s something on my list too!