Jesse and I spent time really discussing what my focuses should be for 2014 and we nailed down four areas that are my priorities for this year:
- Marriage: to continue to invest time and energy to strengthen and nurture our marriage and make it one of the greatest priorities
- Mothering: to continue to invest in our children with the goal of teaching them character, life skills, and raising them to be responsible adults
- Myself: to make my health a priority and to invest in my personal growth as a Christian, business owner, writer, speaker, and leader
- MoneySavingMom.com: to invest time into blogging — not just overseeing the business and my team, but making writing content pieces one of my top blogging priorities
Having these specific areas determined at the beginning of the year is really helping me to prioritize and giving me much clearer direction on when, where, and what to say no to this year.
Here’s my progress for my 12 goals for 2014:
Marriage Goals
1. Read 6 marriage books.
2. Write 50 love notes to Jesse. (I’ve written 4 love notes so far.)
Mothering Goals
3. Read 40 books aloud to the kids. (We’ve finished one book so far and are almost finished with another.)
4. Finish memorizing Romans 1 together. (We’ve been working on this!)
5. Go through a cooking course with the kids.
Personal Goals
6. Read through the Bible. (I’m on track with this.)
7. Memorize Romans 2.
8. Run a 5K race and go through P90X again. (I’m working through P90X right now.)
9. Read 150 books/ebooks. (I’ve read 13 books so far this year.)
Blogging Goals
10. Write 150 substantive content pieces for the blog. (I wrote 18 substantive content pieces in January.)
11. Write 50 DIY/Recipe posts for the blog. (I’ve written two DIY/Recipe post so far.)
12. Blog about/participate in the 12 Months to a Healthier You Challenge (I finished January’s challenge.)
Did you set goals for 2014 yet?
If you’ve posted an update on how you’re doing on your goals for 2014, I’d love for you to share your link in the comments. Or, if you don’t have a blog, feel free to just leave a comment with an update on how you’re doing on your goals. Let’s encourage one another to live lives of intention and purpose!
If you’re brand-new to goal-setting, be sure to read my post on How to Change Your Life By Setting Goals.
Christa @ BrownSugarToast says
I divided my goals up into monthly ‘segments’ this year. Am encouraged by my progress with some & a leeeeetle discouraged by others. Oh well – here’s a new month to start over!!! 🙂
Casey R. says
I love this! It is so great to see other people’s goals for their lives and how they are doing. I feel like I slacked a lot in January, but I am catching up a lot already! Thanks for the post! – CR
Janelle S says
Stopping by and I posted my February challenge that you inspired me to do after reading your book.
Thank you!
JanelleS
Pat Cobb says
Thanks for the link-up and inspiration, Crystal. I did better on some of my goals than others but am not discouraged because I know that I’ll be successful.
Tanya @ Mom's Small Victories says
Thanks for having this link up. You really inspired me to get moving on my goals. I love that you want to take a cooking course with your kids and the love notes is a wonderful idea, I am going to have to steal that one! My elementary school son might have to start getting some lunchbox love notes too, I might embarass my middle school son if I do that. I added my january update to the linky and hope I am as successful with my feb goals. Thanks for the inspiration!
Lety says
I’m happy to read how well everyone is doing. I feel really well about my progress in January. I dragged a bit on some areas, but got in gear and touched at least a bit on almost all of them before the end of the month. I am especially happy because I did not get discouraged when setbacks with my chairs kept me immobile for a week. Instead, I looked for what I could do to keep me active and on track with my goals even though I couldn’t get out of bed. Wishing everyone the best with February’s goals.
Crystal Paine says
You’re such an inspiration, Lety!
Lety @ On A Roll to Better Living says
Thank you, Crystal, for your kind encouragement. : )
Mollie says
I didn’t start adding in mothering and marriage goals until 3 years ago. It has definitely created a positive shift in my family life and how I navigate life! Thank you for consistently posting your goals; it kicks me in the tail to keep on track. 🙂
annie says
I appreciate seeing a real life example of how to apply the ideas of your book. Thank you for writing out and breaking down your goals. It helps me see how my personal goals will fall into place on paper just by seeing how you did yours. thanks again!
Brandy says
I feel great about my goals so far this year! 1. Lose 20 lbs with weight watchers including tracking food throughout the day, meal planning, and completing Made to Crave Biblestudy. I’ve lost 4lbs so far. 2. Complete Financial Peace University & begin working through the steps. So far we have $1000 for an emergency fund & will pay off $13000 worth of debt (car & CC) with our tax return leaving just $500 debt for a student loan. What a relief! 3. Read 10 books this year. So far have read one & I’m part way through 5 others. 4. Follow a house cleaning guideline. Working on this but having trouble accomplishing everything in the amount of time allotted. It is cleaner than before though so that’s progress! 😉 Thanks for all your encouragement!
Crystal Paine says
Way to go!!! You’re doing a FANTASTIC job!
Sandy says
Wow Brandy! Your goals are similar to mine. My goal is to lose 30 lbs by 4/1 but January hasn’t been that great. I’m making progress mentally but need to put the healthy eating & exercise together! Menu planning is huge and I’m working on that too. We did FPU in October so we are implementing the system. I also created a house cleaning system but it’s not working great for us. Lots of tweaking. It’s amazing how you have to find your own household rhythm. It’s all really rocket science, I tell ya! Lol! Good luck!!! 🙂
Brandy says
Sandy, it does sound like our goals are similar. 🙂 I lost 15lbs from May- Dec last year. I got stuck for a few months though. Losing a couple pounds & gaining it back. I was trying but my focus was elsewhere & this area slipped. That’s why my goal is only 20 instead of 40 which is the total I’d like to lose. Giving myself some grace so I don’t feel defeated & give up. The meal planning is new for me & helps so much with my diet as well as my checkbook. 🙂 I’m trying to follow Flylady for cleaning but I think I need 2 wks for every week she does. 😉 But, I figure it’s my plan for my life so I can adjust it as needed. I didn’t pick a “word” for 2014 like some people do but as January came to a close I’m feeling like “Discipline” or “Determination” sum it up pretty well. Good luck to you!
Kay says
I know this probably doesn’t match with the type of goals you are setting in this post, but do you still list your yearly financial goals? Maybe they are too personal for you to put online now, but I always enjoyed seeing them and don’t remember seeing it posted recently. We set some big financial ones this year (funding a Roth IRA, saving up enough cash for a huge family trip to Florida, and funding our daughter’s ESA), and actually achieved them! 🙂 Feel free to delete this question/comment if it is in the wrong place for this posting.
Crystal Paine says
Way to go on achieving your financial goals this year!!
We set business, family, and financial goals this year like usual, but I decided to take a different approach and just share my own personal goals for 2014.
Jacki says
My goals are now called priorities! I am working on improving many parts of my life. I am committed to improving my health by any means possible. Living with MS can seem like a bomb waiting to go off. I plan on taking better care of the basics of my health that I can control. This means eating less sugar, white foods, wheat and dairy. I have been off of wheat and dairy for 4 years now and it has improved my health.
To combat stress, I now pay any bill as soon as it comes in the mail. This means I don’t have to worry if I forgot it or not. I take a nap if needed. This means that my girls will have to read or do something quiet while I’m resting. I can say “No”.
I will start my blog this year on homeschooling and loving life at home. I’m making sure my girls put their priorities in place everyday to better their lives. Thanks for all your encouragement.
Crystal Paine says
I love this — you’re such an inspiration!