Personal
- Go clothes shopping once a month. Does this sound like a weird goal? Because I really hate clothes shopping. I have no problem spending money on books but for some reason it’s actually painful for me to part with my money for clothes. I don’t know why – maybe it’s because books last “forever” and clothes last a year or two? Whatever the reason, I need to just go do it because I’ve been neglecting my wardrobe for years and clothes in there are getting faded and falling apart. It’s bad.
- Decorate my house. I’ve lived in my new house for oh about a year now and I’ve hung like 3 pictures on the wall. I need to just take a Saturday and decorate and hang things. I have boxes and boxes in the basement of picture frames that I could hang up. I’ve been working really hard on making my house organized and it’s pretty good so now it’s time to make it pretty. First room I want to do is the office.
- Sort my basement with tubs and stack them. I’ve been putting this organizing project off because I had the excuse that I couldn’t organize my crap down there until I had shelves. And those are expensive. Then one day I realized I could just stack all the organized plastic bins until we can afford shelves. Curse me for having that thought. Now I have to sort all that junk. *cries*
Spiritual
- Read the Old Testament cover to cover. I’m doing the same thing I did with the Doctrine and Covenants – I’m reading it along with the Institute manual. I’ve read the majority of the Old Testament but I’ve always wanted to read it cover to cover. I have a feeling it will take me years and years but I’m excited to start!
- Write in my journal every other week. I have a good routine down of posting events and funny things my kids say on my personal Facebook account and then I can go back and remind myself what happened during the past weeks and write about them in more detail in my journal. I love journal writing and I don’t think this challenge will be too hard :)
- Pray first. Then read. I’ve been forgetting to pray until the very last minute every night and sometimes I fall asleep before I’m even done! I want to get into the habit of praying before I start my nightly reading ritual.
Physical
- Work out daily for 15 – 30 minutes. I have a gym membership and an elliptical machine in my bedroom. I really really hate having workout equipment in my bedroom, but it is handy and it helps me get a workout in every day. Last years resolution was to work out twice a week which I did pretty regularly. I’m ready for daily workouts! Yay!
Reading
- Listen to audiobooks. I signed up for the Audiobook reading challenge to listen to at least 2 audiobooks. I’ve started listening to podcasts on a regular basis while I do chores and I feel a lot happier about housework. :) I’ve also retained what I listened to better than I thought I would. I think from here it’s going to be an easy transition to listen to audiobooks. I can’t decide if I should be reading one book and listening to another? I am a one-book-at-a-time girl and I don’t know how I feel about having two books going at once.
- Read 50 books this year. This might be hard for me to reach this year. It’s going to get crazy busy but I’ve read 50 books each year since 2011 and I don’t want to break my streak. I might just count picture books at the end to bump up my number if I need to :)
- Read a 1000 page book. I’ve done this for 4 out of the 6 years I’ve been on Goodreads. I have a ton of books to pick from and I think I might try Bleak House or Count of Monte Cristo.
- Read a classic every month. Before I started blogging I read a ton of classics. I define classic as books that have stuck around for over 50 years or have been influential to modern literature. I read tons and tons of new books now that I blog but I miss reading the classics! So I’m going to make it a goal to read one every month. I might even make a number list in a post and go random.org on that thing to make it easier to pick.
Blogging
- Fix featured image on related posts. One bad thing about changing to my new awesome wordpress theme was that I hadn’t used featured images in my old theme and a lot of my posts in the new theme look really strange without them. Plus I need a featured image for my related posts widget to work. I’ve slowly gone through and added some featured images to my meme posts (like Top Ten Tuesday) but for the rest of my posts I just want a generic image and it’s not working for some reason. It’s literally the last thing on my blog that I need to do.
- Fix links page. I used to have cool tables to organize all my links on that page, but I removed the plugin that did that shortcode and now the whole page looks like a mess. My Ultimate Book Blogger Plugin has a blogroll widget but I don’t like long lists of links and I don’t like the scrolling pictures either. So I don’t know what to do to fix it :(
- Post some more writing this year. When I first started this blog, I would post writing once a week and I haven’t done that in years. I have a few stories that I’ve written that I want to polish and publish so I can practice my writing skills.
- Comment on 5 blogs a day. I have been awful at commenting on blogs. I think it’s because I’ve been overwhelmed. I have over 100 blogs in my feedly and it’s just too many to keep up with. I need to narrow that down to at least half and use my links page or Facebook to keep track of blog URLs that I want to find quickly.
What are your New Year’s Resolutions this year?
Kellie Tan says
Love your thoroughness and thoughtfulness in putting down your goals. There are so many, but I’m very sure you’ll attain each one. I used to put all that stuff in my bedroom too, so it would be right handy, but you do have room in your basement, or perhaps your office. I am finding that the bedroom, for my peace of mind, must be a glorious boudoir rather than a garage sale storage suite, or even a gym! Just sayin’ I’ve been there, and am still recovering from having put EVERYTHING in my bedroom for ease of access! Now it doesn’t take me too long to walk the 14 stairs down to my office for things I need! Great going on your goals, with much love, Aunt Kellie.
Angie says
I loved reading your goals! Especially your personal goals. Organizing and decorating can be tough. I mean… first you have to be motivated… that’s where I lose. I love you wanting to pray. I usually get in the habit of praying before I go to sleep.. and then get out of the habit and back in the habit. Sometimes I think of maybe hanging a piece of paper above my bed to remind me.
The Count of Monte Cristo is AMAZING! I recommend that to you for sure. It took me about a week to read it I think… but it was worth it. I love that book so much. Good luck with all your goals. The beginning of the year is so fun for a fresh start.
Angie
Pamela D says
Great goals. I need to start exercising this year. I like your small goal of 15-30 minutes. I need to start like that.
Bluerose says
I could copy and paste quite a few of your goals as my own! ;) I’m with you on the clothes. I’ve always found it easier to buy books than clothes. I’m working on that, too!
Tien says
Somewhat similar goals! Best of luck for 2014 :)
Btw, if you want to challenge yourself with classics, you may be interested in The Classics Club: http://theclassicsclubblog.wordpress.com/
Alison Flores says
HaHa! I can so relate to your clothing resolution! I’m right there with ya! I’m also with you on commenting on other bloggers’ posts! Can’t make connections if I don’t reach out myself. I also love your one classic a month goal! Some of my all time faves are classics, and there are still so many that I haven’t read and want to! Good luck!!