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2019 is here! This is the time for New Year Resolutions, and people thinking about what they can do to better themselves and the people around them. In December 2018, I read Michael Hyatt’s book “Your Best Year Ever.” It was a great book, and it helped improve my goal setting.
One of the exercises was to think about how the year 2018 had gone. For me, it was a pretty good year but with bad moments.
The Good
I started an MBA program, which is something that I have always wanted to do since I graduated from college. However, being a young single mother of two babies, I didn’t have the capacity to start an MBA program. However, I always told myself that I would get it. Now that those babies are teenagers, there is no better time to do so. It’s been great. I have met some wonderful people in my cohort, and there are a couple who I am building friendships with.
In the spring, I started working at a new company. The company has a great organizational culture, and it’s professional and respectful. This was something that was lacking in my previous organization, so it’s a breath of fresh air.
I went to Panama for my cousin’s wedding, and it was amazing. We had a wonderful time, and it was nice to be surrounded by family. Another trip was the kids and I headed to New York for the week. It was nice having a carefree week enjoying NYC especially with my teens who had never been. The last trip was Las Vegas. I had a wonderful time with my sister, husband, and friend. I had never been so it was nice to be with good company.
The Bad
My marriage ended. I had a lot of reservations about getting married, and in the end, I should have listened to myself. We were two different people with different aspirations, dreams, and personalities.
My daughter was out-of-control, and I had to make some tough decisions to save this girl. Things are better, but it’s definitely a work in progress.
2019 Goals
The exercise of looking at the year I was leaving behind helped me transform the five-year goals that I had set for myself when I turned 40 in October into more concrete goals. The book said you should place goals in different quarters, so not all goals started in January 01 and end in December 31. I also updated my life categories to the ones Hyatt suggested. These are:
- Emotional
- Parental
- Financial
- Physical
- Avocational
- Vocational
- Intellectual
- Social
After going through the exercises in the books, including the one above, I came up with the following 2019 goals:
- Meditate for 10 minutes for 4 days out of the week starting January 1, 2019
- Journal for a minute every day by 9PM
- Read 2 books a month, and read more than 24 books in 2019
- Do 2 webinars a month for PMP
- Don’t search for Kate Middleton or anyone that makes you feel that your life sucks
- Lose 40 pounds by July 31, 2019
- Divorce by April 2019 and don’t look back
- Follow contract and be consistent with kids
- Help both kids pass grade levels by June 16, 2019
- Help Cebastian get Eagle Scout by June 20, 2019
- Take a family vacation just the 3 of us in 2019
- Find online community like FriendFeed by January 31, 2019
- Volunteer at least 2X a year with kids – March and October
- Do something new every month
- Go to Michelin restaurant every three months
- Take one Lynda course a month
- Watch 3 hours a day of TV in Q1 and reduce to two hours in Q2
- Start a new business on March 1
- Learn to code
- Eat out 2X a week
- 50% done paying credit card debt
- Get a car with $300/mo or less in Q1
There is a difference between habits and goals, but I included both of them.
How do I keep track of them?
I use OneNote to have my entire 2019 goals, and then I have separate pages for each goal. On each page, I describe the reason I want to achieve this goal, the reward, progress report, and any related tasks.
I then use Todoist for the goals so that I can add deadlines. My Todoist is connected to my Google Calendar and Google Home. I can add items on Google Calendar that go to Todoist, so this helps to have my goals and calendar together. For my Google Home, I use in my morning routine so I know the tasks that I have for the day. It really helps keep me motivated.
For my habits, I use the Productive app. The reason I use Productive is that I can view my streak history, which makes me feel damn good that I am being consistent with my habits.
Marking your goals and tasks as complete is a huge achievement that anyone should be proud of. This blog will help keep me accountable by sharing the progress on my goals and habits.
If you are someone who prefers a physical planner, then my friend lives for Erin Condren’s Life Planner. She showed it to me, and I fell in love. I am thinking that if my digital way of doing things stops working, then I will shift to Erin Condren. Definitely check it out if paper is your preference.
What are some of your 2019 goals? How do you keep track of them?
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