My New Years Goals

Over the summer I read a truly inspirational book called The Happiness Project. After I was finished with the book I did a series of posts about actions I was taking in my own life that were geared towards making me happier. You can see my book review here and all of my happiness posts here.

Anyways, after summer ended and my life picked up pace I lost sight of my happiness project goals. To be honest, I don't really remember any of them off the top of my head anymore. That's alright because I have completely revamped my project and used the framework from the book to create my own year-long project.

I've been thinking a lot about what principles are the most important to my life and my long-term happiness and how I could translate that into quantitative goals. All of that has led me to the following 12 months of learning, growing, and happiness. Feel free to follow along with the goals I have set for myself or make your own goals and just share the experience with me!



January: Create

-paint a picture to hang in my new home
-create something to give away
-complete one knitting project

February: Build Relationships

-create a birthday calendar for friends/family (or buy one!)
-make quality time a priority (aka schedule "work days" and "social days")
-say "yes" to positive social outings

March: Simplify

-purge
-organize

April: Exercise

-Find an exercise regime that suits me
-Try a new form of exercise (or two!)
-Try to incorporate stretching or yoga into my routine at least once a week

May: Eat

-learn a new food preparation technique
-eat out at a new restaurant
-host a dinner party for good friends

June: Experience

-take a class that teaches a skill or enhances a skill
-take a trip somewhere new
-do one thing that terrifies you

July: Indulge

-enjoy a spa day (or create my own spa day)
-take off one day a week and do whatever you want to do..guilt free!

August: Finances

-Create a budget based on my current income
-Organize bill paying
-Set up a "tax station"

September: Connect

-volunteer at a kick-ass organization
-join a group (book group? knitting group? culinary group? bible study?)

October: Be Present

-do one thing at a time
-create a concrete "work space" in my home

November: Learn

-learn a new skill (rope tying? furniture building? crochet?)
-brush up on my French
-watch two classic movies a week
-read at least two books

December: Plan for the future

-develop a better way to keep track of my bucket list
-set goals for next year

Of course, there are a few overreaching goals I'd like to accomplish this year.

One project I want to do throughout my year is a little something I saw over on Bri's blog. Each night before I go to bed I'm going to write down my favorite part of the day. I think it's going to be a really wonderful memory for me someday and a great reminder to focus on the positive in life.

As usual, I want to set a reading challenge for myself. I'm going to try to read 30 books before my birthday. I have a pretty good start so I'm confident that I can do it!

I know I'll end up adding more goals to this list and elaborating on the meaning behind some of them but I wanted to get a preliminary list up so you all can follow along. I'm also sure that this plan will evolve as my year progresses but I'm happy to have the basic blueprint set up and ready to go.


xoxo
Mal