2020 Goals | July Goals and June Recap

June took quite a turn for me, and not really in a way that I enjoyed. Most of my goals had to take an extreme backseat to “real” life. Sometimes when that happens it makes me feel sad and angry, if I’m being honest. But Now it’s July, so we must move on. One of the reasons to make monthly goals is to have a new chance each month to improve systems, habits, and productivity.

Here’s how we did in June: Not great.

Inbox to zero, but really this time
Cluttered inbox, cluttered mind, am I right?
I worked on this goal a bit this month. But I would love to get it done.

Make 1 comic
Something I’ve been missing.
Nope.

Make 1 video
Something I want to get better at.
Nope.

Make more concrete goals from the things you like about isolation
Something for the long term.
I did also work on this goal in June.

Stretch
Something for the very long term.
A little work got done on this as well.

For July, I think I have to do the same goals again. But add a few more in!

Inbox to zero, but really this time
Sometimes when I look at my inbox I just feel dread.

Make 1 comic
I’d really like to find a way to cronicle my experinces.

Make 1 video
I’ve made a few in the past, but I would like to get better at it.

Stretch
I’m not sure why I can’t get this into my routine.

Restart sourdough
June was rough and I was not able to keep up with it but I really like having starter for breads, pancakes and cookies.

Work on Decluttering
I’n not going to fool myself that I can declutter everything in one month, but I have been trying to get some progress made on this goal.

What are your July goals? What do you do to re-motivate yourself if you have an unproductive month?

2020 Monthly Goals | May Recap and June Goals

My goals for may were a little more amorphous than some months. I did so so on them, not terrible.

Do not over work/take your days-off off.
Having not to go to work for six weeks, was some of the most relaxing and rewarding time of my adult life. I want to make sure I carry some of that feeling over while my work schedule is still sparse.
I think I made good effort in this department, but I must say that the days blur together. There were many weeks and many days that I didn’t know when we were, where we were.

Remember all your goals/the things you liked about lockdown/isolation.
I really want to make sure that I keep up with habits and routines I had over those six weeks. It was a good lesson in what’s important and what needs to remain priority.
This was harder, but I also think counts as a partial check off. It’s more nebulous and therefore harder to quantify, but it is something that I must keep trying for.

Keep sourdough starter alive.
I’m doing so far so good on a once daily feeding.
While it is true, my sourdough is still alive, I could have done better at this goal.

Walk every day.
Gotta keep it up.
I did well here, not always walking 10K steps, but rarely walking none.

Tackle one big project.
In the beginning of April I had high hopes to get some projects done. This month, I want to make sure to do at least one of them.
This might’ve been the biggest fail, but as it turns out on the first day of June, this was completed.

On to June. Summer months are always tough for goals. Partly bc it’s the busiest time at my work, partly bc summer should be for fun, not necessarily for productivity. With both those things in mind, I have created some goals that fulfill both aspects.

Inbox to zero, but really this time
Cluttered inbox, cluttered mind, am I right?

Make 1 comic
Something I’ve been missing.

Make 1 video
Something I want to get better at.

Make more concrete goals from the things you like about isolation
Something for the long term.

Stretch
Something for the very long term.

Did you accomplish your goals in May? What are your goals for June?

2020 Goals | April Recap and May Goals

I would have thought that an entire month of quaretining would have gone by slowly. Not because there was nothing to do (I’m a firm believer that people who are boared are not paying attention), but bc I finally got to live the slow life style I’ve been craving. But April flew by and left me only wanting more time and more of the same. Although this month I thought I would have plenty of time to achieve all the monthly goals I set, the month still got a way from me in that department.

Learn some and do some yoga
I’ve been putting this off, but now’s the perfect time to make some progress.
This was my most ambicious goal and the one I totally failed. I should have known.

Finish some art and illustration
I’ve been enjoying @carsonellis ‘s daily quarantine art prompts and #transmundanetuesdays but haven’t actually done any yet. I want to finish my cross stitch. Many more projects I can think of!
I did do some art this month, not a ton, and I didn’t completely finish some of the things I wanted to, but progress was made. I’ll call this a partial win.

Read 3 books
I’m really trying to get off the computer and the phone and do more of the things I love.
Totally nailed this one.

Be mindful of the garden
I’m not a stellar gardener. I’d like to learn to be better at it.
I’d say I did ok with this goal.

Continue to improve my health
Eating well, cooking, finding new low waste alternatives, and home remedies are key at this time and I want to continue this journey in a purposeful way.
Eh, not much was done on this goal, but I was more mindful of it.

On to May:

Do not over work/take your days-off off.
Having not to go to work for six weeks, was some of the most relaxing and rewarding time of my adult life. I want to make sure I carry some of that feeling over while my work schedule is still sparse.

Remember all your goals/the things you liked about lockdown/isolation.
I really want to make sure that I keep up with habits and routines I had over those six weeks. It was a good lesson in what’s important and what needs to remain priority.

Keep sourdough starter alive.
I’m doing so far so good on a once daily feeding.

Walk every day.
Gotta keep it up.

Tackle one big project.
In the beginning of April I had high hopes to get some projects done. This month, I want to make sure to do at least one of them.

What are your May goals?

2020 Monthly Goals | March Recap and April Goals

The world changed a lot from the beginning of March to the end of March. I mostly have remained unphased, besides being suddenly unemployed, and having a completely different and new routine. Many of my plans for March were no longer possible. Here were my goals and how I did.

Eat vegan once a week
I’ve tried this one before, but it’s something I have to more purposefully move towards.
So, I wasn’t able to eat one full day each week as vegan, but I have been eating a lot more purely vegan meals. There are days where the only non vegan thing I eat is a bit of butter. I count this as a partial check for goals completed.

Schedule two docs
I have to take my health more seriously and I need to do those things that I really don’t want to do and continually put off. Baby steps.
Wellllll, here’s where the world started to get in my way as far as my March goals go. I had wanted to find a therapist, a dentist, visit my doc, etc…. I didn’t get any of those goals going. BUT I was able to get an appointment for Tom for a new oncologyst. So I’m counting this as a partial check off.

Schedule two trips
This balances out the above, but If I don’t plan to schedule trips, I don’t take them. I have a lot of ideas where I want to go and have narrow it down and book them up. My short list includes NOLA, Cleveland, Pittsburg, Bermuda, Beacon NY…
And this was a no.

Go to Brooklyn
I’ve been saying I would go back for a visit since November 2019, it’s time to actually go.
Also, NO.

Write two letters
As soon as I thought of this goal, I received a letter in the mail and I knew I had made a good choice.
I wrote 1 letter!

Things are looking a lot different in April than I thought they would at the beginning of March. Keeping that in mind, here are my goals for April:

Learn some and do some yoga
I’ve been putting this off, but now’s the perfect time to make some progress.

Finish some art and illustration
I’ve been enjoying @carsonellis ‘s daily quarantine art prompts and #transmundanetuesdays but haven’t actually done any yet. I want to finish my cross stitch. Many more projects I can think of!

Read 3 books
I’m really trying to get off the computer and the phone and do more of the things I love.

Be mindful of the garden
I’m not a stellar gardener. I’d like to learn to be better at it.

Continue to improve my health
Eating well, cooking, finding new low waste alternatives, and home remedies are key at this time and I want to continue this journey in a purposeful way.

This seems like a goals list that fits with my priorities and mindset for this month.

What are your goals for April?

2020 Monthly Goals | February Recap and March Goals

I feel that I did extremely well in March; Only not accomplishing one goal, which was the hardest one for me.

Beach at least four times
We ended January at the beach, I’d like to make sure I get there in Feb, too.
We made it to the beach exactly four times this month. I want to keep this as one of my monthly goals, keep it in my routines.

Take a yoga class
I’ve never taken one before and it seems intimidating as hell.
This was the goal I couldn’t finish. It’s too scary still. We will see if this goal makes it’s way back around for me.

Watercolor
I’ve been thinking about painting a lot lately. It’s a good month to stop thinking and start doing.
I certainly didn’t paint every day, but I did manage to paint a bit and that’s a start.

Dance more
February always puts me in the mood for dancing. I’d like to dance more at home, listen to more music, play more records, and I’d like to get out to dance once this month.
I did listen to more records this month with this goal in mind and I did dance more. I Would like to make this more of a routine, as well. I also discovered, at a friends encouragement, podcasts this month and I have been mildly obsessed.

Stay warm - stay slow
In January, I tried to have a slow mindset. I want to make sure that I continue this practice. I also want to stay warm, both in body and spirit.
I think I did achieve this goal in Feb. It is one of the hardest months of the year for me, but I tried to keep a balance between warmth and depression. Some moments depression won out, but in those moments, I tried to remember to slow down, and reach out for help.

Now on to March. I feel that in many ways, March is time to get down to business. I want to carry over a few routines from the previous months: I want to stay slow and make sure to be mindful, read everyday, see at least two friends, dance more, and go to the beach at least four times in the month. And here are the big goals to accomplish this March.

Eat vegan once a week
I’ve tried this one before, but it’s something I have to more purposefully move towards.

Schedule two docs
I have to take my health more seriously and I need to do those things that I really don’t want to do and continually put off. Baby steps.

Schedule two trips
This balances out the above, but If I don’t plan to schedule trips, I don’t take them. I have a lot of ideas where I want to go and have narrow it down and book them up. My short list includes NOLA, Cleveland, Pittsburg, Bermuda, Beacon NY…

Go to Brooklyn
I’ve been saying I would go back for a visit since November 2019, it’s time to actually go.

Write two letters
As soon as I thought of this goal, I received a letter in the mail and I knew I had made a good choice.

How did you do on your February goals? Did you move any that were not completed to March?

2020 Monthly Goals | January Recap and February Goals

January is over, we are 1/12th of the way into the year. We had a great month, there was a lot of joy and progress although there was also loss. If this is any indication of how 2020 will go, we are in for one heck of a year.

Think slower - act slower
For my 2020 monthly goals, I want to incorporate more mental and health goals. These might be more vague and not as easy to quantify at the end of the month. For Jan I want to take more time to be slow. Act slow by stretching, reading, working, and thinking with more mindful purpose.
I feel like I did try to think about this goal and incorporate it this month. I’m not sure I totally succeeded. Looking back at the month, much of it seems like a blur, which I feel makes it clear that I was not overly mindful. But I was able to take some time to rest, relax, act slowly, and reflect.

Create
I want to make sure to write, draw and sew this month.
The month started off very strong for this goal. We did some sewing and drawing but we petered off pretty quickly.

Read every day
I’ve found that for many of my goals for 2020, a little goes a long way. Even if it’s only 1-2 pages per day, I want to make sure that I read.
I have been really good about reading a little bit everyday! I want to keep this up for the rest of the year! In future lists, I want to keep a running tab of goals such as this.

See two friends
I really go back and forth between wanting to be alone with my family, and wanting to spend quality time with my extended family, my friends. Setting some goals to make sure I balance this this year will be key.
I’m keeping this for future lists as well. This needs to be a mindfulness practice I keep up this year.

Enjoy our anniversary
Feb 1st marks 7 years married. One thing we’ve been trying to do it mark special occasions and make sure we are taking time to celebrate.
Seven years is a long time! We were able to visit some of our favorite places, see new sights and something even more rare; I was able able to almost fully relax for 4 days. Being with my husband, both not working, for that long is especially rare and it made going back to normal especially hard.

On my list of monthly goals, inspired by @tinywhitelights, I added a few highlights of the month. I’m not sure where I’m going with this method of goal setting, but I’m interested to find out.

Here is my list for February. I’m still trying to keep it simple, physical and mental health goals I can achieve and feel good about. February is always a short month, but always packed. Here are some things I want to do.

Beach at least four times
We ended January at the beach, I’d like to make sure I get there in Feb, too.

Take a yoga class
I’ve never taken one before and it seems intimidating as hell.

Watercolor
I’ve been thinking about painting a lot lately. It’s a good month to stop thinking and start doing.

Dance more
February always puts me in the mood for dancing. I’d like to dance more at home, listen to more music, play more records, and I’d like to get out to dance once this month.

Stay warm - stay slow
In January, I tried to have a slow mindset. I want to make sure that I continue this practice. I also want to stay warm, both in body and spirit.

Sometimes February feels like a “why bother?” month. It’s cold, it’s short, it’s not the first month of the year, or the best, but I feel motivated in Feb. This month can be the done messing around month. What are your goals for February?

2020 Monthly Goals | January

I finally got around to making me January Goals. I wanted to draw my lists this year. My inspiration is @tinywhitelights who writes her monthly goals list and they are always so pretty. We’ll see if I can keep it up, but might as well try. Here are my Jan goals.

Think slower - act slower
For my 2020 monthly goals, I want to incorporate more mental and health goals. These might be more vague and not as easy to quantify at the end of the month. For Jan I want to take more time to be slow. Act slow by stretching, reading, working, and thinking with more mindful purpose.

Create
I want to make sure to write, draw and sew this month.

Read every day
I’ve found that for many of my goals for 2020, a little goes a long way. Even if it’s only 1-2 pages per day, I want to make sure that I read.

See two friends
I really go back and forth between wanting to be alone with my family, and wanting to spend quality time with my extended family, my friends. Setting some goals to make sure I balance this this year will be key.

Enjoy our anniversary
Feb 1st marks 7 years married. One thing we’ve been trying to do it mark special occasions and make sure we are taking time to celebrate.

What are your goals for the first month of the year? Now that we are half way thru Jan, how are you feeling about them?

2019 Goals | December Goals Review

With all the thoughts and ruminations on goals, it’s taken me a little while to get to my December 2019 goals review. Looking back on these, I didn’t fulfill any of them totally, but setting and referring to them made me more mindful of some things that I wanted to achieve at the end of the year..

Make 10k steps every day!
Walking is something that I know helps me improve my depression, maintain my weight, and keeps me active and limber especially in cold weather.
Definitely didn’t happen, but having this goal let me strive for it.

Post to insta every day (hopefully twice a day!)
I only posted 12 times in November - sad! I like to be able to look back and see more of each month.
I think I did better with instagram this month but it was not an every day activity.

Create an image every day
This a challenge that my husband set for us. Let’s see if this can kickstart some creativity in our house.
This might be my worst failing goal.

10 min meditate, stretch, exercise
I know even only 10 minute a day of these routines will help me a lot this month.
I think I only did this two or three times, but it is something I would like to continue towards.

Be mindful and plan for the coming year
I want to use this month to reflect on 2019, and plan for 2020.
This goal didn’t really set uin until after 2019. I thought about my 2020 goals and plans in December, but couldn’t come up with anything that really inspired me. I think it’s been easy for me, in the past years, to reset old goals, but for 2020 (maybe the decade change has something to do with it?) rehashing old goals just doesn’t seem right. There will be some that carry over, I’m sure. but this year feel different, more momentous somehow. I’m looking forward to sharing a new year of goals and plans.

How did your goals get wrapped up in 2019? Do you feel satisfied with them?

2019 Monthly Goals in Review

In 2019, I tried to set a few goals each month and record them on the blog. These were mainly in support of my larger over all goals. I used each month of goals to create lasting habits, sometimes it worked, sometimes it did not. Since I like to look back at the end of the year and see how I did on my goals for the year, I thought it would be interesting to check the monthly goals as well.

January
Inbox to 0
Find 2 Japanese resources
Blog at least 4 days every week
Photograph 6 items per day for mad cat market
Add 12 listings per week to mad cat market
Add tags to 100 blog posts

February
Inbox to 0 - I kept trying this goal for a while and it never really happened. In 2020, I would like to make strides to declutter my online life.
Have 1 life admin day
Study Japanese 2 days a week - I gave up on learning japanese pretty quickly this year. I needed to set these goals to realize that this was not a priority in my life. Maybe some day.
Morning Walk 3 days a week
Blog 4 times a week
Add tags to 40 blog posts

March
Schedule 1 life admin day
Plan my next 2 trips
Morning walk 3 days a week
Get out into the yard 3-4 times
Blog 4 times per week
Move my 50+ plants
Inbox to 500 and maintain

April
Make and post 1 youtube video
Plan our next 2 trips
Get out into the yard 3-4 times
Get back to blogging 4-5 times per week
Better health 15 days of the month
Move my 50+ plants
Inbox to 500 and maintain

May
Make and post 1 youtube video
Plan our next 2 trips
Plant 6 or more garden beds.
Better health 15 days of the month
Inbox to 1000 and and decrease.
Blog as many times as I can for the month.

June
Blog as many times as I can for the month.
10,000 steps 4 times per week
Beach or swim 3 times per week.
Eat well and vegan 1 day per week.
Make 1 youtube video

July
2 days for social media clean out
Eat cleaner and vegan 3 day per week. - I really wanted to incorporate a more vegan diet in 2019 and this is a goal I’d like to work more on in the coming year.
4 days for email clean out
Beach or swim 12 times this month.
31 days of Plastic Free July

August
Plan our next 2 trips
3 days a week for the yard and garden
4 days for email clean out
Beach or swim 12 times this month.
31 days to move in day

September
Plan 1 more trip for 2019.
15 days to move in day
25 days to enjoy Local Summer
30 days to quit nail biting
Move 45 plus plants

October
Finish 1 house project
Read 2 books
Eat out 8 times only
Move 45+ plants
Inbox to 500

November - This is the month I stopped using a number in each goal. I had started that bc a) it made sense, but also b) I thought it would be a cute theme. I’m not sure it really came off to any degree, but looking back it is cute.
Reach out to friends
Be direct
Give calendar blocking another try
Cook at home -A LOT. Eat out LESS.
Creative challenges

December
Make 10k steps every day!
Post to insta every day (hopefully twice a day!)
Create an image every day
10 min meditate, stretch, exercise
Be mindful and plan for the coming year

I’ve added a few remarks for the notable goals in italics.
I think setting goals each month was a really great way to break down larger goals into achievable bites. It was easy to focus on things that I wanted to get done and habits I wanted to create in this way. I definitely plan to continue monthly goal setting in 2020.

Did you set monthly or quarterly goals in 2019?