There is something magical about new beginnings. I have always loved the opportunity for a fresh start and a clean slate. The New Year is one of my favorite times of the year for this very reason. Now…it is not Jan 1st any more, but that doesn’t mean if you haven’t set any goals for the year…or have already fallen off the wagon, that you can’t get back on and get started. 

“Every day is a new day without any mistakes in it yet.”

Anne of Green Gables

Anne has always been one of my favorite characters with her vivid imagination and grandiose dreams. I think she was pretty on point with this. It is never too late to get started! Today can be a new day, a new beginning, brimming with possibilities you haven’t even dared to imagine. 

This year I switched my mentality from the make it or break it “New Year’s Resolution” to setting big goals, with actionable steps that will give me motivation and a means to achieve them. New’s Years Resolutions, such as I will no longer include sugar in my diet, are certainly good, but tend towards failure, because if you give in, JUST ONCE, you will then feel guilty and not even bother trying to continue. The key to change and perseverance is to set POSITIVE goals, broken down into monthly, weekly and even daily steps. I am finding this way, even if I slip up on a daily goal I know that I can get right back up and try again tomorrow. As long as I get back up and take that new start available to me I can still accomplish that big goal I set for myself.

Sooo….what are my goals for this new year? Well, I have quite a few! This year I took some time before Jan 1st to really set my intentions for 2019 so that it didn’t catch me by surprise. The week leading up to new year I signed up for a mini email course from Ruth Soukup, called “The Best Year Ever”. It included daily emails with a video lesson and a workbook to fill out. If you have never checked out her blog, Living Well Spending Less, I highly recommend it!

Using the worksheet I split up my goals into four separate categories.

1. Family
2. Financial
3. Professional
4. Personal

I’ll dive into each of these with a little more detail.

I debated on sharing what my goals are with you…sometimes it can be a little daunting and overwhelming knowing everyone will see them. Those limiting beliefs start popping up. 

What will others think of these goals?

What will they say if I fail?

But, I decided to dive in and do it scared! This will help give me a little more motivation in the daily grind to get accomplished what I need to, to start reaching those goals and living my best life.

As I considered my goals for this year I took some time to take inventory of the past year and realized that I hadn’t accomplished as much or reached a lot of the goals that I had set for myself. 

Now, 2018 was a big year for me and my family! My husband and I welcomed our son, Caleb in May. This had a big effect on my goals…and my motivation to even try accomplishing them. Keeping an early rising morning routine isn’t exactly the best goal to have with a newborn!!! And…honestly, those first few months of motherhood were a real struggle for me. I am a creature of habit who likes structure and routine as well as an introvert who craves alone time…both of which disappear when caring for a newborn.

Also, before going into anything new I am a planner and research every aspect of a situation or event before it happens so there are no surprises and I feel confident with what I am doing…

There isn’t any possible way to plan or train to be a mom beforehand and I felt completely lost and clueless as to how to take care of this helpless babe.

It completely threw me off and I had a hard time enjoying the little moments.

BUT

God is GOOD and I have learned so much about myself and His love and strength. I have grown more spiritually this past year as I had to rely on His strength and wisdom. I learned more about His unconditional love for me as I loved Caleb. And, I learned to rest and have peace in the knowledge that He is in control and can take even better care of my children than I will ever be able to.

Now Caleb is 7 months and I can say that I have fully embraced motherhood and am finding joy even in the craziness of this new adventure. Embracing mom life and it’s craziness has helped me to set big, but realistic goals for 2019.

So, here they are

Family

• Date my husband. This past year was a test to our marriage…I think that is always the case when you add a baby into the mix. We are both flawed human beings who had to learn how to grow into our roles as parents, while growing in our role as spouse’s. I have loved seeing my husband become daddy….he is a natural at it! Last year date night’s or being romantic was sadly pushed to the back burner as we wrestled with sleep deprivation and poopy diapers. This year my goal is to grow the romance and make my husband feel more loved than ever!
• Spend more quality time with family. It’s so easy after a long day at work to come home and veg on the couch or mindlessly scroll through the Gram. I want to be intentional in the time I have with my family, put technology aside and be present with them.
• Open our home. I have always thought that family isn’t always about blood. I love my physical family greatly and am always so happy when we are together! However, I want to open our home to others, whether friends or acquaintances so that they can feel they are a part of our family as well. Mine and my husband’s goal is to have others over to our home at least twice a month (preferably more, but with a baby it can get a little tricky!).

Financial

• Pay off one of our cars. Thankfully, we do not have “too much debt” compared to the general population. We both have our car payments, my student loan, and then our car mortgage, but we are planning on beginning the “debt snowball” and start paying everything off early!
• Save to be able to take a family vacation (someplace tropical!) either this year or in 2020.
• Make and stick to a budget. I’m the queen of “oooh, it’s on sale…if I buy it I’ll be saving so much money”. When, in all reality true saving is not spending at all! Going to try to reign in my spending habit by keeping to our family budget.
• This will be mentioned below in professional goals, but I would really love to see my blog become a side hustle and by the end of the year be making $1,000/month. Anything is possible!

Professional

• Get promoted at my full-time job. I had “mini-goals” that I had set for myself to complete extra tasks and go above and beyond daily so that if a position were to open up at my company I would be considered for promotion. It’s only 10 days into the new year and this goal has already been met! God is so good and has allowed me to move up from Client Support to Quality Assurance Analyst. I have begun training this week for my new role and am loving it!
• Grow my blog so that I consider it a side hustle and not just a hobby. My dream is to be a stay at home mom one day, while still being able to contribute to our family finances. I have also always wanted to be a writer and blogging is a great step towards one day being the author of a book! There are a few specific and measurable goals I have to qualify my blog as a side hustle.
  1. 1,000 email subscribers
  2. 5,000 Instagram followers
  3. 1,000 Facebook Followers
  4. Create One Course or Product
  5. Bring in a monthly income of $1,000
• Become a Diamond Coach with Beachbody. My hubby and I are serious about our fitness goals for 2019 and have gotten off to a great start by using Beachbody workouts (such a lifesaver with a baby in the family!!!). My goal is to help others get healthy and gain more financial stability through coaching. I’m honestly in love with the program we are using and getting to work out with hubby is like a mini-date 🙂 I’ll have to dedicate a whole other blog post to this!

Personal 

• Read through the Bible in the year. Hubby and I will be using the YouVersion Bible app to be able to reach this goal. There are several Bible reading plans to choose from, but our church is focusing on becoming people of the Word and we decided it is important for us personally and as a couple to make sure we are getting our wisdom from God daily. Only 10 days in and I have been loving this plan! The daily readings include a passage from the New Testament, Old Testament and then a chapter from Psalms or Proverbs. In the app you can add participants to the plan, so Jose and I can see each other’s progress and help keep each other accountable. I highly recommend that you check it out! Becoming a person of the Word is always one of the best goals one could have!
• I have always loved reading, but as an adult with a lot more responsibility than I had when a was a young lass I have found that reading has fallen to the wayside. My goal is to read at least 12 books this year, whether fiction or personal development.  
• Of course, we can’t forget the fitness goals! I have yet to lose the “baby weight” and am no where near the weight I was in college, which is my end goal. This year my goal is to at least lose the baby weight, so then we can start thinking about the next baby 😉 Another fitness goal is to be able to run 3 miles (which also hasn’t happened since I was in college).

Setting my intentions and goals for this new year was an enlightening time for me as I dwelt on the past year and looked forward towards the future. I have set big goals for myslf, that make me a bit scared, but what’s the point of chasing a huge dream if it doesn’t even scare you a little bit! In case you need some help with reaching your own goals this year. Here are a few posts you might find helpful:

Simple Meal Planning For Busy Moms
Morning Routine for Working Moms
Organization and Time Management for Working Moms

I am so excited for this new year and all the adventure and promise it holds. Each phase of life is challenging and beautiful in its own way and I’m looking forward to walking through it with you!

I’d love to hear what your goals are for 2019! Drop them in the comments below or pop on over to my Instagram and comment on the pic from today!

Blessings!