I skipped last week’s goals post as I knew that, with all the Thanksgiving and Black Friday craziness, I’d probably just be doing good to survive, keep everyone dressed and fed, keep the house in pretty organized order, and to get decent sleep at night.
It was a good thing I didn’t set goals because, well, I pretty much lived the whole week in survival mode. We made it through, I kept on top of the laundry, the house stayed pretty clean, I got decent sleep, but mostly all the non-essentials didn’t happen.
And that’s okay. Sometimes, the goal-setting and to-do lists just need to get set aside so we can spend extra time with family and friends–which is exactly what happened last week.
But this week? It’s back to setting goals and tackling to-do lists.
Here are my goals from two weeks ago:
Family/Mothering Goals
1. Finish reading Little Town On the Prairie aloud to the children.
2. Do some Thanksgiving crafts together.
3. Wrap and drop off Operation Christmas Child boxes.Personal Goals
4. Finish reading EntreLeadership,
He Heard Hannah, Kisses from Katie, Getting Things Done, andBecoming a Woman of Influence.(I’m really and truly going to try and finish at least a few of these books this week!)
5. Go to bed early and get up early, as part of my 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life Challenge.
6. Run 6 miles.
Home Management Goals
7. Do at least one load of laundry from start to finish every week day.
8. Plan out all my freezer cooking for the holidays.Business Goals
9. Run a special promotion/freebie offer for my book.
10. Write daily posts for the 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life series.
Family/Mothering Goals
1. Finish reading The Boxcar Children.
2. Do some fun Christmas crafts/activities with the children (I’ll be posting about some of these!)
3. Check out Christmas books from the library, wrap them up, and let the children unwrap them and read them together.
Personal Goals
4. Finish reading EntreLeadership, Kisses from Katie, and Getting Things Done.
5. Go to bed early and get up early, as part of my 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life Challenge.
6. Run 6.5 miles.
Home Management Goals
7. Do at least one load of laundry from start to finish every week day.
8. Make Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day (yes, finally, I’m going to try this recipe and post about how it goes!)
Business Goals
9. Finish three articles for publications/sites (they are all due at the end of this week, but maybe I’ll actually get them finished early?)
10. Finish the 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life series. Start 21 Days to a More Organized Christmas series.
How did you do on last week’s goals? What are your goals for this week? I’d love to have you share your progress on last week’s goals and your goals for this coming week in the comments. Of, if you’ve blogged about it, leave your direct link below. Let’s cheer each other on to live purposeful and productive lives!
You can download a free customizable weekly goal-planning sheet here.
Koree says
Oh and read Debt Free U per Crystal’s suggestion.
Koree says
My main goal was to get through my last week of the first semester of Graduate School. (only one final left and I’m done for a bit)! Now I plan to catch up on some basic housekeeping: do dishes, laundry, vacuum, go through old magazines/papers for recycling, Christmas shop!! 4 months of being a FT student with 2 jobs makes for some serious back-pedaling time.
Kelly Welch says
Oh, hey I tried the Artisan Bread In 5 Minutes—-it was freaky to not add any sugar to “feed” the yeast. I thought it turned out pretty good, but it was a little salty. I tried making bagels with it just for fun, and they might actually turn out well with a little more practice!!!!
Becky Williams says
I just started making a goal list (because i saw it on your blog)- last week I accomplished 6 of 11- not too bad. I added the 5 goals to my current list, making it 15 for the week. Its only Tuesday but i have crossed off 4 of them! So excited. Love the motivation behind going to the fridge to cross another one off! My husband even reminds me of the goals so I can get things accomplished. I am hoping he is motivated to start a goal list himself.
Liz @ Wonder Woman I'm Not says
I absolutely love the Boxcar Children books. They were a favorite of mine when I was small and I enjoyed introducing my own children to them. Trixie Belden was another favorite of mine when I was young, I saved all my books and gave them to my daughter when she was old enough to read them. At 15 she’s outgrown them, but I still see her re-reading one periodically. I had just as much fun re-reading them too.
Elizabeth Crawley says
I love your website, you have such great ideas. Especially love the goal setting posts, so much that I have started it on my blog. Keep up the great work!
Anna says
I am tired this week from holiday activities and travel. I am reading a book on how to simplify life so I thought I would simplify goals at least this week.
Goals
1. Drink more water (versus coffee, tea or soda).
2. Walk 20 minutes a day.
3. Clean out one drawer, cabinet, or closet.
4. Save $2/day (i.e. take lunch to work, count pennies).
Koree says
I like this it seems simple and not too intense!!
Anna Hettick says
Love love love you goal setting. Keeps me inspired to write my own goals each week.
Crystal says
Thanks so much for your kind encouragement! And keep up with your goal-setting; it makes such a difference!
Martha Artyomenko says
I have been so impressed with myself reading more out loud to my boys and I am now so far this school year through 2 chapter books and started on our third as well as many other small books and working through history books too! We are reading Treasures of the Snow now!
Laura says
Hi Crystal,
Just curious here, where exactly do you write your goals? I have my Franklin Covey which I can not live without, and it seems that is more practical for everyday stuff, like to do’s, but I wouldn’t mind also incorporating something like a weekly goal, even maybe monthly, or yearly goals. Do you simply write up your goals and check them off as you go?
Its so refreshing to see the things that need to get done on paper, although I have to admit, since my husband is back from deployment its been a little tough to adjust. I can’t imagine how you do it, and I try not to feel bad when I look around and sometimes I even forget I have things that need to get done, but I tell myself, baby steps is the key. I also have a different type of lifestyle, and thats okay. As long as I try to be a better mother, wife, and person in society, thats whats important.
but seriously , how do you do everything…??
Amy Reynolds says
Thank you for your sacrifice. I’m glad your husband is home for the holidays. Please thank him and your children for me. Our lives would be much different if it were not for families like yours.
Gwen says
I use a program called opus domini. The free version lets you write up to seven to do lists a day. I loved it so much I spent $9 to buy the full application. (It’s a mac product from the apple store.)
There is a compass section, Master Task, Goals list. Those sections let you break everything down and then those goals show up in the daily task list. It allows you to schedule those tasks into your daily day. It coordinates with iCal too. And no, I don’t work for them at all. I just found it incredible for my daily planning, particularly with the iCal integration where I keep my husband’s schedules, etc.
Heather W says
Good luck with the goals! 🙂 I thought I would have been on top of things since I cleaned the house BEFORE leaving town for Thanksgiving… Um, no. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!
Steph says
I love the idea of using library books! I read somewhere else about giving the kids a book a day to count down till Christmas and while I thought the book idea was great I thought “holy cow that would be expensive!” I definitely need to learn how to think outside of the box!
Jenni says
Just curious, Crystal, are you now running 6 or 6.5 miles at once? I am trying to work up to 12 miles in a week and am at 11 with 4 miles at once being my longest so far. Thanks for inspiring me! And I am also reading The Boxcar Children with my kids!
Kelly says
I miss doing the Christmas book countdown. We did that for 12 years & last year was the 1st without them. But my youngest is 13 and they’ve all outgrown our Christmas books & lost interest in them. 🙁 However, I’ve been able to introduce them to books like Miracle on 34th Street and Skipping Christmas. Hoping to find a few other *grown up* Christmas titles.
Victoria says
The Boxcar Children: book 1 is my favorite. book. ever. I still have to read “milk” as “melk” when I re-read it because that’s how my 2nd grade teacher pronounced it when she read it aloud. Memories!!
Lucky says
I used to love the Boxcar Children books. I had forgotten about those!
Tammy Skipper (@Tammy_Skipper) says
I have been exercising more which was my main goal, but it still doesn’t happen every day like it needs to happen. {Not being extreme, I have physical therapy exercises I really am supposed to be doing every day!} I have blogged every day so far this month which was my other main goal in consistency. I have loved this series. I used to set goals every week and this has reminded me how much I miss it. I finished EntreLeadership last night. Great book, just feel like there is so much to digest that I could read it every quarter and find things to apply to my life.
Jenny says
Good luck with your goals this week, everyone.
Jimi says
A question for you Crystal- how do you differentiate between your goals for the week and your to do list?
Also love the idea of wrapping books and will be passing it on to my friends. My son is a little old. We still read aloud but much longer books. 🙂
Crystal says
My daily to-do lists are based upon my weekly goal list, but they are more detailed, and have additional projects and to-dos on them that come up throughout the week (or that I forgot to put on my weekly goal list!).
katie t says
you continue to inspire me and many more people im sure. Im pregnant with my first child and definitly find myself comparing myself sometimes to you, my friends and family, but reality kicks in and i realize that everyone is their own person and i have to stick to what i know and can do on a daily basis, being pregnant has also brought it to my attention that i have to let go of perfectionism and realize i cant do it all without making some sort of sacrifice and in the past its been friends or family who fell into that catagory. that being said, my baby is a blessing! because what a better investment then to invest in your family and friends! i quit my job right around the time we found i was pregnant {the job was stressful, basically ruining me from the inside out} and made the decision with my fiance that quiting would be best, then we found out we were expecting! and god seems to have a plan for us so things are working out. that being said……i love your site and check it often, i recently customized my weekly and monthly cleaning list from your site and have to say it makes life sooo much easier! i put mine on a clip board though and it works for me…thanks again for continueing to extend your ideas, trials and triumphs to all us ladies {and gents}…out here surviving the real world! 🙂 katie
Jessica Davidson says
I love the Boxcar Children books I have thought about reading again just for myself.
Tina says
Artisan bread – We love making this bread. Make sure you don’t use a glass pan in the oven, I just heard about a friend who used glass and it shatters!
Crystal says
I didn’t do too bad last week considering two of us were sick and we had the holidays. I am going to try to do more for my Etsy store if possible. You can read more of my goals on my blog!
http://ncsufrog.blogspot.com/2011/11/weekly-goals_28.html
Lea Stormhammer says
Oh my goodness – LOVE The Boxcar Children! If I remember right, the school librarian had to ‘ban’ me from checking these out at one point because I would keep cycling through the whole series!
Fabulous idea…
Lea
Willa@ArmstrongFamilyFare says
LOVE the wrapping books idea! My son would really enjoy that! We just brought home a lot of Christmas books this past weekend! I have a few more waiting on hold. Excited to start reading them.
I think you’ll enjoy the artisan bread! It’s pretty simple and tastes great! We were making it every week, although in the past month haven’t made it quite as much. Enjoy it!
Wanchai says
I like your weekly goals make sense and seems easier to do weekly.
I am still far from setting any goals but I need to put on my new year resolution for 2012 :),
Leighann says
A little off topic, but I wanted to thank you for your wonderful blog!
I check out several “couponing” types of blogs, and this last week they have all gone crazy posting deals and trying to sell things. Some of the deals aren’t even very good, but they’re trying to get the commission off the sales and they’ll post anything up.
Everything you’ve posted up has been a good deal. It’s all been good, and even though I know you’re getting commission from the sales, it doesn’t bother me *at all* because you’re not going crazy posting stuff, and I know I can trust that what you’re posting is _actually_ a deal or a bargain. If I decide to buy something, I go to your site first to see if I can get you a little bit extra from referring me. 🙂
I appreciate your hard work and your wonderful blog. Thank you so much 🙂
Anne @ Modern Mrs Darcy says
This year we’re counting down with Christmas books, too! We have quite a few, but I picked up 5 from the library to supplement. If we love them, maybe we’ll add them to our collection.
I’m working hard on getting ahead before the calendar officially rolls over to December. Thanks for the encouragement!
Jessica Lynette says
I spent this past year collecting Christmas books at the thrift store – and I am SO glad I did as I just stopped by the library today to pick up some Christmas stories and all but THREE Christmas themed books were checked out!
I have all our books in a basket by our fireplace for their browsing leisure and to read aloud throughout the day.
Have you seen tin foil stained glass ornaments? They are so easy to make with kids and I really like them hanging on our tree… so much nicer than the pasta ornaments I made for my poor mom 😉
Rachel says
I LOVED the Box Car Children growing up, good choice! 🙂
CJ says
One of my favorites as a child as well! Definitely an excellent choice! 🙂
Jacquelyn says
Can’t wait to see your Christmas activities for kids! I want to do a holiday activity with the kids each day in December!
Elise says
I did pretty well accomplishing my goals over the past week…. but the, all my goals were geared toward getting ready for Thanksgiving, so that’s no surprise.
On a side note, The Boxcar Children? I remember mom reading those books to my brother ad I when we were little. We thought they were the coolest books ever! Makes me want to read them again for ol times sake 😉
Johnlyn says
I own that book! My kids didn’t ever like the book, but I still do LOL!
Kellie says
My mom read the boxcar children to us when we were younger and I still remember it as one of my favorites. Hope you all enjoy it!
Carrie says
I posted my goals on my family blog this week instead of my frugal blog. Writing it all down instead of having it swirling in my head helped a little … I think.
heather says
LOVE the idea with the library books!!!! Thank you for sharing… just might have to nab this one to do with my boys!! 🙂
Marie says
I love your idea to check out books from the library and wrap them up! Is this something you’ve done before, like a tradition? Also, your sight has been so helpful with me adding to my children’s reading books i wondered if you could share some of the books you like from the library for Christmas.
Thanks
Crystal says
We’ve not done it before, but today was our first day to unwrap books and it was a HUGE hit! I’ll be sharing some of our favorite books in the next few weeks, too. We’re reading a lot of new ones this year and I’ll let you know our favorites!
Andrea says
Good idea! I saw a post on Pinterest suggesting that you wrap up 24 holiday books “that you already own” and unwrap one a day to countdown until Christmas. We don’t own that many holiday books (not even close), so the library idea is awesome. Thanks.
Angie D says
Great idea! My sister and I were just talking about doing this with our current Christmas book selection and introducing them one by one, but this takes it to the next level. Now, I just need to get to the library without the kids!