I haven’t done a monthly goals post in a while. Mostly because I sort of gave up on really “setting goals” as this year progressed. I mean, I’ve been doing stuff/ accomplishing stuff, but in terms of meeting specific GOALS each month- not really. Then I got very annoyed with myself for writing things down but not doing them… So, I kind of just stopped really worrying about it for the time being. Just hasn’t been a big focus in the last few months.
*Looking back on my 21 for 2021 List (not even going to link it, it was an epic fail), I have learned one thing about myself, at least:
Goals like “Make recipe 1x/ month” or “Exercise with the boys 1x/ week” do not work particularly well for me!
I had a bunch of this style of goal on my list, and this did not work. I think it was just too hard to remember (especially on the “1x/ month” things)? Or too hard to implement (for some reason)? Maybe it was an issue of trying to do too many different things?? I don’t know. Sounded good in theory and seems like I should have been able to schedule those items in….but I guess I didn’t.
December Goals
That being said, I felt motivated to finish out 2021 with some goals. Bonus points if I actually do them this time! 🤣
Self:
- Go to the gym 3x/ week! (ongoing since my birthday on 10/17). Overall, going well, minus a little hiatus before Thanksgiving week.
- Read at least 1 book! (Weak, but trying to be realistic! This is a busy time of year. I just picked up Emily Oster’s The Family Firm which was highly recommended to me by MANY different people. I feel like my kids are on the old side for the author’s target audience, but it still seems interesting! Big themes are parenting + data + decision making.)
- Finish 2019 Photo organization (currently done through…July 2019? Would like to at least round out that calendar year.)
- Do another 12 Days of Christmas challenge! (I did this last year and LOVED it, want to repeat!)
- Walk outside 5/7 days per week. My walking has fallen way off lately, and would like to prioritize that again. Even a short one counts.
Household/ Family:
- Finish all Christmas shopping no later than DECEMBER 10th! Including those little misc. loose ends that sometimes end up straggling along until the end….
- Go to a holiday lights display
- Practice/ “perfect” Christmas piano duets with both Ethan and Asher (in progress)
- Bake cookies with the boys
- Read a book with the boys! (We haven’t read together in a long time now. I know this is likely coming to an end soon….and if I’m not careful, it could easily be one of those things that just never happens again. But I think they’ll still be totally up for it! So I want to make this happen while I still can.) Any recs for a good family holiday book??
In my own reading life, I also picked this book up from the library the other day. I hesitated, because I read a few reviews that indicated the book was not super duper well-researched….as in, a few bits of the “history” in the book can be proved WRONG/ inaccurate. Hmm. So that turned me off, obviously. But I decided that: a) I won’t know the difference! lol b) this is not a life or death topic, and I probably won’t remember the little factoids/tidbits anyway long after I close the book (reality) c) an overwhelming majority of reviews were positive and it sounds like MOST of the stories are accurate and d) I really just wanted a light holiday read. 🎅
The stories about each Christmas carol are short- just a few pages- and there are actually 31 “chapters!” And….there are 31 days in December! Perfect. I will read about one carol per day. 🙂
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for scarves.
GRATEFUL KAE 
I’ve ordered that book! It looks like just what I need at the moment 😊
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“Goals like “Make recipe 1x/ month” or “Exercise with the boys 1x/ week” do not work particularly well for me!”
If you got your 21 for 2021 idea from Gretchen Rubin (like I did), I expect she would point to the above and say it’s a know yourself better! I’m trying harder to figure out what will work for me/what motivates me.
Laura Vanderkam suggests we consider something we do 3x/week a habit and I’ve really been enjoying this frequency. I can top or bottom load a week, but in general spread things out over the week. It feels like it is frequent enough to maintain momentum (I’ve been using this for my running habit, but I think I’ll do this with Bible reading too; while I WANT to be the sort of person who reads her Bible everyday, I’m just not there right now and I think 3x/week feels a lot more doable).
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I like this concept, too! I think I do better with something more frequent, actually, like the 3x/ week idea. I like that you can do it whenever it works for you- doesn’t have to be EVERY day, or even certain days. I like that flexibility. But the broader “1x/ month” thing I think is where I really got tripped up. Basically I feel like I just forgot about those goals. haha. Probably my fault, because trying to set multiple objectives like that is probably not the smartest. Too hard to keep straight! For me, anyway. And I think reading the Bible 3x week is a great goal and absolutely a-okay. 🙂 3x per week is a heck of a lot more often than most people read their Bibles! So that’s awesome.
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I’m reading The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street with my boys including a 6th and 7th grader. It’s nice because it is 24 chapters so perfect for Dec 1-24. We started early because there is no way we will do one a day. So far everyone likes it.
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I really enjoyed that book! I actually read it to myself first, but think my kids (7 & 10.5) would love it! Thanks for the reminder about this book.
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I actually haven’t heard of that book! I will definitely check that out! Those are my boys’ exact grades, so should be good! 🙂 I love that about doing 1 chapter per day up to Christmas Eve. Having a little goal like that probably also helps make sure you keep reading.
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A longtime blog lurker here, I just had to suggest- What about The Best Christmas Pageant Ever as a Christmas book to read together? It’s hilarious and heartfelt. (Or if you have a long drive, the audiobook version read by Elaine Stritch is absolutely delightful.)
The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me is a lovely short book that tells the story about the animals auditioning for the role of taking Mary to Bethlehem. It’s falls somewhere between a long picture book and a short novella.
Or A Christmas Carol is a classic.
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Well first of all, thanks for coming out of lurking land to leave a comment! 😉 And that book….I swear I own that book, but have never read it!!! I am excited to look for it now. I am 99% sure it is in a box of books that were old Christmas books from my house as a child that my mom brought…but I do not believe I have ever read it! I feel like I can picture the cover. Red, with an angel on it?? That sounds like a perfect one. I haven’t heard of the other, either, but it also sounds great. Thank you!
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I can’t wait to be at the stage where I can read longer books to our boys. Not that I want to wish time away! But I look forward to that. I bought some Christmas books to give every 3 days when he opens his advent drawer. Last night he opened The Polar Express. We read it right away and he did not like it! Maybe he is too young to appreciate it or something. I remember loving it as a kid, but probably when I was older than he is!
I did a 19 in 2019 list or 18 in 2018 list and then realized I don’t do great with those. I did have quarterly check-ins on my blog so that helped me keep on top of it, but those do something once a month goals can be tricky if you aren’t scheduling them in/reminding yourself to do them! I haven’t started to think of 2022 goals yet. I feel like I’m still coming out of the exhausting first year of a baby’s life and his sleep has not been great lately so I am not feeling particularly inspired! This year I went through photos in my google photos ap and deleted duplicates/blurry photos/etc. Going forward my routine will be to go through the prior month’s photos. In 2022 I think I will tackle videos from previous years and get rid of a bunch. I often took multiple videos in a row, trying to get Paul to do a certain thing so I need to delete the videos that didn’t turn out!
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