Goals & Habits

I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions because I think they are inherently doomed to failure. January is a depressing month (for me at least) and despite any good intentions, beginning something new just because the calendar got turned over really doesn't work. It's a false starting point for most goals. I'd rather start something as soon as I see it needs to be done instead of waiting for a certain date - or making something up just because it is a new year and you need a resolution for when anyone asks what yours is this year.

I've been trying to change some bad habits and start some new good ones lately. I've got a cool little Moleskine mini-book to help me out since the goals are pretty numerous (perhaps I need to add "break the addiction to cute/miniature office supplies"). I'm trying not to overwhelm myself with too much at once but since I think they are all worthwhile I thought that using the ol' blog again to keep track of progress and force myself to be accountable would be helpful. I don't even care if no one reads this, I just need a place to brain dump and I hate diaries/journals.

I'll keep a running record of the goals on the sidebar and then try to update a little every now and then. Ideally I'd like to say I'll do it every day, but that's a pretty unrealistic expectation and I'd like to avoid those if possible.

A little explanation about the goals first. I've broken them down into 3 categories: personal - things for just me to work on; kids - things I'd like to work on with the kids; and house - projects around the house, mainly related to decluttering. I also tried to keep the goals specific. For instance, at first I had "walk more" but changed it to the end goal of "walk 10,000 steps daily." Specific goals help in deciding how to accomplish the goal.

In keeping with the spirit of simplicity, that's it for today. I'll use the next couple of days to expand on the individual goals. Mostly so I remember why I have that as a goal but also in case anyone else cares or wonders.

In closing, this is one of my favorite posts from Ann Voskamp. It's about habits. I particularly like the part about a habit being something that is worn. Check it out - it's worth a couple minutes' read.