Did you set goals for 2019? Here’s an update on how I did on my 2019 goals in September.
It’s October 7, 2019. And it’s time to check in on our goals! How are you doing on the goals you set for 2019?
I spent some time today reviewing October and reflecting on the blessings of the past month and the lessons I learned. I also looked at my goals and how I was doing in each area. (If you missed My Goals for 2019 post, read it here.)
Note: This month looks very different than my other months. I’m currently in a season of just doing the best I can do and being okay with that.
In order to keep myself accountable (and because I know some of you really enjoy these posts) I’m sharing a goals update post at the beginning of each month. I hope that this will not only motivate me to be focused and intentional this year, but I hope it might also inspire you in the goals you set for 2019.
So here’s my goals update for September 2019:
Personal Goals
1. Read 40 books I already own. (I’m using GoodReads to track my reading this year!)
Update: I only finished 1 book in September. Which is mostly due to me being pregnant, having a huge product launch (Monetize Your Blog) and 3 trips in 3 weeks. Plus, the fact that listening to audiobooks made me nauseous and most of the time I might have usually spent reading, I spent sleeping instead (thanks to my first trimester).
2. Slowly read through the New Testament using the She Reads Truth Bible reading plans.
Update: I started reading through the Psalms.
3. Listen to 2 audiobooks per month. (I use the Libby app to get these for free.)
Update: I finished zero audiobooks in September because listening to them made me sick to my stomach, for some odd reason! (Pregnancy does weird things to you!)
4. Complete all of the Organize in 5 Diary tasks to get our home more organized and set up better organizational systems. (Psst! Did you get yours? It’s just $9 right now.)
Update: Confession: I didn’t do this at all in September. (You can see two posts I did on some of my organizing projects in January and February: Cleaning Out the Cookbooks & Organizing My Purse & Bathroom.)
5. Stay offline for 4 hours per day, 5 days per week. (I share more about why I chose this goal here.)
Update: I didn’t do a great job of this in September because I spent so much time online working on the course launch. But I DID take every Sunday completely off.
6. Leave my phone in the basement every night. (I talk more about what inspired me to make this goal here.)
Update: I didn’t do this at all in September… mostly because I have a really hard time falling asleep at night right now because I have nausea the worst at night, so I often will listen to or watch something on my phone to help me try to pass the time until I feel more tired than I am sick and can fall asleep.
7. Go to bed before 10:30 p.m. 5 days per week. (I’m using this little spreadsheet I made to track most of my personal goals)
Update: I was in bed well before 10:30 p.m. almost every night in September. Falling asleep was an entirely different story (see above). But hey, at least I was in bed! 🙂
Marriage Goal
8. Go on an overnight trip with Jesse without the kids.
Update: We went on an incredibly fun trip to Destin, FL! Jesse and I drove by ourselves to FL and then we met up with two other couples there. We stayed in an AirBNB and split the cost three ways. Since it was off season, it made for a very inexpensive trip and we had the BEST time!
Motherhood Goal
9. One-on-one time with each child at least 3 times per week. (I am planning to dedicate 40 minutes per child after dinner each evening at least three nights per week to hang out and spend time with each child individually.)
Update: I did a pretty good job of this in September, but often it was the kids coming and sitting next to me on the bed while I was resting.
Family Goal
10. Take the kids to at least two continents and 4 states we haven’t traveled to. (We’re hoping to travel to Europe in the summer and South America at some other point during the year.)
Update: We went to Iceland (Europe) in June and also to Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. I’m not sure if we’re going to be able to cross another continent off our list this year… I’m still hoping to find a really good deal on flights/travel, but we’ll see.
Financial Goals
11. Pay cash to redo our room and renovate our bathroom (we have to pull out the shower and put in a new one because it was installed incorrectly and is leaking and ruining the floor/wall and we want to do a few renovations while we’re at it + we want to finally decorate our room — we left it really bare when we moved in and decided to wait to prioritize it in the budget).
Update: We finished the bathroom renovation at the end of July! We still need to work on our room.
12. Pay cash to paint the walls in the main floor of our home.
13. Fully fund our Emergency Fund.
Update: This is DONE! YAY!
Business Goals
14. Redo/set up a much more intentional customer acquisition experience for all three of our email newsletters.
Update: We’ve been hard at work behind the scenes working on this and made some good progress in September.
15. Finish launching the rest of our beginner Your Blogging University courses. (If you want to start a blog, be sure to check out my other site, Your Blogging Mentor.)
Update: We launched Monetize Your Blog in September, which was a HUGE accomplishment!
(Some of the bloggers from my Mastermind group got together for a one day event in July! It was such an amazing day!)
16. Launch a Blog Coaching/Accountability Group membership. (I’ll be opening this up to a very limited number of people in January of 2019. Stay tuned!)
Update: We opened this up to new members in April and I’m just loving leading this! Interested in being the first to find out when we open up to new members again? Be sure to join the waitlist!
Just one person’s experience and opinion but I’d keep an eye on how you’re feeling before tackling another international trip. We had purchased tickets to Europe before we found out we were expecting. I didn’t think much of it since it is such an easy place for Americans to visit. I vomited for all but an hour of the flight over, had to be given oxygen, and was utterly miserable. I guess it was pregnancy hormones but I had horrible motion sickness and once we got there, the smells really got to me – and they were smells I would normally have loved! I enjoy trying new foods but found that my pregnant body was not having it. All that to say, everyone is different but give yourself some grace if checking off two continents doesn’t work out this year. 😉
I realized that I should have updated that section when I re-posted this! We’re probably not going to do another continent this year as I think we’re doing South America when we do Antarctica in two years (hopefully!). Jesse and Kathrynne are flying to South Africa today and I stayed back with the other two kids because I knew I was in no shape to travel like that right now!
I’m sorry you had such a rough trip! 🙁
Please pray for us. My has been out of work for 11 months. He was laid off, along with a few hundred others, due to a reduction in force. He has 20 year experience as a high yield fixed income analyst and a buy side equity analyst. Please pray my husband will find a job soon. Please pray we will always lend and never borrow. Please pray we will have patience, faith, peace and joy while we wait for God to answer our prayer.
I just stopped and prayed for you. I’m so sorry you’re going through that!
Thanks Crystal. That means the world to me. God’s in a silent period with us and I’ve really been struggling. The days have been dark but I’ve been trying hard to remember God’s working for us even when I don’t see or feel it. I just wish God would give me a confirmation that He’s hearing me.
I have been so excited to have completed some lofty goals (entering music contests and hosting a backyard concert) and some fun goals (monthly dates with my husband and children). Our financial goals fell by the wayside this year but it didn’t help that we didn’t set specific enough goals for those!
I actually find it very encouraging, Crystal, that you haven’t achieved everything on your list. It’s good to know there are other moms out there who set goals but may not reach every single one and are okay with it.:-)
I’m so grateful that these posts are encouraging to you! And way to go on your goals that you accomplished!
Thank you for these posts. They are my absolute favorite thing that you do here and you’re the reason I started setting goals a few years ago.
Aw, thank you so much for your kind encouragement! I’m so happy that you find these posts helpful!
Good morning, sweet lady! Now that your big kids are getting older, do you work with them to set goals each year like you do?
My husband and I were talking about how we have goals for ourselves and our family, along with goals that we make for each child; however, we were thinking that our 13 year old might be old enough to start working on goals for himself as well.
What are your thoughts?
We encourage them to set at least one goal for themselves every birthday and then we encourage them to set smaller goals for themselves throughout the year. Goals are something that we all talk about fairly often, so it’s fun to see it rubbing off on them!
I love your computer skin/cover (so pretty)! Do you think you could have a giveaway prize where one of those computer skin covers could be one of the prizes? That might be really cool! 🙂
I got it off of Amazon. You can also find similar ones at local computer stores.
It sounds to me like you may want a smart device in your bedroom. I cannot have clock radios because of the light-I can have no light. but the Alexa device gives off no ight. You can have her read to you, you can tell her to play any time of music (literally) and she will, and you can tell her to pay for a half hour or an hour and then shut off. I often do this in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep I actually have a sleep play list.
For some odd reason, the thought of having Alexa in our bedroom just feels weird. I guess I don’t like the whole thing that “she” is listening in to my life at all times! 😉 But thank you for the idea!