Each year I set goals to help me focus on my priorities and grow as a person. I spend an hour or so each month looking back at what I’ve accomplished that past month and planning specific steps I can take to move forward during the next month.
2015 Goals
Professional
1. Add high school certification to my teaching license
-I’m so excited! After passing my PRAXIS test in February and submitting all of the necessary information to my state board of education, I am now certified in grades 6-12 English!
2. Develop a remediation curriculum for middle school English
-I taught a 6th grade English remediation class at my school last year. I also tutor after school and teach summer school. I hadn’t found a curriculum that I really liked for this group of kids, so I decided to make my own. It is working well so far!
3. Add 10 products to my Teachers Pay Teachers store
-I have now added 4 products. If you are a teacher or homeschooling parent, check out my post on selling on Teachers Pay Teachers! Honestly, I’ve put my Teachers Pay Teachers store on the back burner since I started this blog. I hope to add a few more products to it this fall, as I do enjoy the passive income gained from it.
Spiritual
4. Pray the Morning Prayers at least 4 times a week
-I am really excited at how much improvement we’ve made on this. I wrote about our new morning plan for including prayers here.
5. Read through the New Testament
-I am now finishing II Thessalonians
6. Read 3 spiritual books
-I have finished two: In the Heart of the Desert by Fr. John Chryssavgis and The Way of A Pilgrim translated by Olga Savin.
-Does anyone have any suggestions for my third book?
Family
7. Do one family outing a month
-In August we went to an event sponsored by our local Parks and Rec department. We enjoyed a picnic; the kids played in bouncy houses and participated in contests. A fun free evening!
8. Have one date night a month (in or out of house)
–My husband spoiled me on my birthday. He made my favorite cake (angel food), brought home some of my favorite wine (malbec), and we watched the final Hobbit movie. He knows me well!
9. Watch 12 movies on AFI Top 100 list
-We have watched 9 so far.
Personal
10. Complete the 30 Day Abs Challenge
-I am beginning to despair of ever accomplishing this one. I’ve started at least three different times but always get bogged down around Day 10. Has anyone else tried this?
11. Run a 5K
-This month I will register for a 5K in October. Yikes! That sounds scary just saying it!
12. Publish one piece of writing
-I submitted my first guest post to Money Saving Mom in February. Then I recently had another post in June. Check them out!
13. Read 100 books
-78 so far! I’m definitely on track to complete this goal this year. When I started this challenge I thought it might be too outrageous. Now I’m excited that it seems completely reachable!
I slowed down a bit on a few of my goals, but I still feel that I will be able to reach most of them by the end of the year. By looking at these yearly goals, I can figure out what I would like to focus on this month, and then break that into bite-sized pieces that can be accomplished each week.
For example, in order to meet my goal of running a 5K I will do a few things in September:
-register for a 5K
-run 3 days each week
These small steps will help me reach my larger goal.
What are your goals? How are you doing on reaching them?
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Having 100 books challenge is amazing 🙂 I should do the same, but so far I get no closer to that. I am more preparing for the fall now, because I enjoy reading more when it’s raining and cold outside.
I love reading when it is cold outside, too, Reelika. There’s just something about cuddling up with a blanket and a cup of tea that just begs for a good book!