Hey everybody! Happy New Year!
By now you’ve probably all made some new years resolutions and are motivated and ready to kick some 2017 ass, right? Uh huh.
It’s time to talk a little bit about managing expectations. Look at your list of resolutions. Are you going to go from being a couch potato to running a marathon this year? Are you going to quick soda and alcohol cold turkey? Are you going to halve your calories so you can lose 50 lbs by summer?
You may be able to accomplish those goals, but it’s going to be hard. Exceedingly hard. Instead of tackling everything all at once, try to set some smaller, more achievable goals like the ones I set last year.
Let’s Review my 2016 Resolutions and see how I did:
Long Term Goals:
- Have a complete first draft of a cookbook before the end of 2016 NOPE. I barely worked on the cookbook at all.
- Pay off all of our credit card debt so we can begin to save for a house CLOSE. All of our credit card debt will be paid off by the end of March.
- RUN (and I mean run the whole thing) a legit 5K before the end of the year DONE! I ran an entire Turkey Trot 5K nonstop on Thanksgiving morning.
Medium Term Goals:
- Learn how to do a kettlebell snatch with proper form DONE! I need practice but I managed to teach myself proper form.
- Go camping/hiking at least once (maybe someone will ask me to go hiking with them) DONE! Even though we only stayed one night because it was 26 degrees overnight the first weekend in April.
- Take a road trip to Chicago to visit family DONE! This trip was SO MUCH FUN!
Short Term Goals:
- GET THIS 8 LBS OF CHRISTMAS WEIGHT OFF MY BODY ASAP (probably mostly water) UHM. It appears I weigh 2 more lbs than after last Christmas.
- Work on better lighting for my food photography DONE! I made a lightbox.
- Return the money I ‘borrowed’ to pay for emergencies to our savings account NOPE, we needed new computers so the money went to that.
Okay, I achieved 5 1/2 of the 9 goals I set. That’s not really too bad.
I have one major goal this year: TO NOT TELL ANYONE MY GOALS!
Why? Because when I run my mouth about stuff I almost always manage to not finish it. It’s a thing I do.
Also, I’m not beating myself up over not making every goal. Why? Because look at what I DID do! So don’t overwhelm yourself and don’t make your goals so difficult that you give up if you make a tiny misstep, and CELEBRATE when you achieve!
If you like sharing your goals with others, please share them in the comments below!
A Measured Life 
Great blog, Andrea! I think you did very well with your goals! Regarding not achieving all of them – I’m sure there were loads of things you achieved last year, that were not on the original list, y’know? That’s one thing I try to remember when I haven’t achieved everything on a specific list. 🙂
I don’t do legit resolutions, but a goal I have for this year, is to get rid of all the remaining clutter/knick knacks/bullish!t that has consumed my closet space for too many years. I’ve already made a dent in this project, so I just need to keep the momentum going! Another ongoing goal I have: maintaining my weight by tracking my calories on spark – I gotta keep this up because I refuse to gain back all the weight I’ve lost! Lastly, and I don’t really have a good, measurable plan for this yet, but I want to re-open my nail polish shop on Etsy…it’s been closed for over a year now, and I’m suffering from some sort of analysis paralysis when it comes to reopening the shop. Sigh, it just kills me that it’s been closed for so long.
Anyways, I wish you the best in 2017! Here’s to a great, fresh new year!!
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I have achieved tons that I didn’t plan too, so yes, I’m absolutely not upset about the results at all. 🙂 you should definitely reopen your store. It took me a few months of being absolutely terrified before I started this blog and now I’ve been at it for more than 2 years.
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I think you have done awesome. I look at resolutions as something different than goals….so a resolution might be….I am going to lose weight and then I would break that down into different smaller goals and define what I mean by that statement and how I am going to get there. I have to be honest though, I haven’t done resolutions in years. I had hip surgery in January 2015, July 2015 and July of 2016 and really I’ve just been working on holding my life together during that time. It has been a rough couple of years but I am finally on the mend and feeling like I can live my life. I have started blogging again in a big way, upgraded it to business blog and am figuring out everything that I should be doing, (yankeefrugalist.com) I started making food videos a few months ago so I am learning all about that and think I have it down but I feel like my lighting needs work. I also work full time. My plate is pretty full and when I have time (most nights in front of the TV) I will crochet all sorts of things, right now I am working on a baby blanket for a dear friend who is due in April. I am happy though….I really, really am.
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Thanks Dagne! I’m definitely going to be checking out your blog. I Also feel like I have trouble with lighting for my photos. We sound a lot alike, actually, I do a ton, too. 🙂 Let’s make 2017 fabulous for both of us!
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Yes let’s!!
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I love this! 5 1/2 is pretty darn amazing–you should be proud of yourself. I’m the opposite: if I talk about my goals and make a firm commitment with someone else to achieve it, I’m much more likely to hold myself to it! My goals this year are a-plenty, but they include making a very LONG travel trip exploring new places and trying at least one thing that is completely out of my comfort zone. Happy new year, and good luck with your resolutions!
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Doing things out of your comfort zone is a great one – so empowering when we realize that we’re absolutely capable of the things we were apprehensive of! I feel that a lot is going to change for me for the better in 2017, and I hope that’s true for you too. 🙂
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Love this post and I love resolutions. I started a Happiness Project last year and managed to stick to it and I am happier 🙂 This year, along with the Happiness Project I WILL lose 56lbs. I’ve already started and never felt so ready for it. A massive incentive is that I get married in October, but I’m doing this for me not the dress. I’m doing it for my health first and vanity second 🙂 Happy New Year and best of luck achieving your goals for this year.
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That’s great! Losing weight works best when you do it for yourself 🙂 And a wedding is so exciting! Congrats!
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