In my last post, I talked a little bit about the beauty of a new year, and how it can be a good way to mentally restart and refocus. I know it sounds cliche, but I truly am looking forward to what 2016 has in store for me, and I truly want to make this new year my best year yet.
I was talking to my parents the other day about how our family tends to set really high expectations of ourselves (sometimes impossibly high) and then we get frustrated and mad at ourselves when we don't achieve them, or live up to these unrealistic personal standards. This has been always been a struggle for me, but especially in these past few post-college, adult years.
I've been doing a lot of contemplating and thinking and self-evaluating the past few weeks, and I have come up with quite a few things I would like to change, modify, improve in my life. Some things, even though I wish I could change my genetic makeup, will never happen. For example, I would love to be like my dad, who gets up at 5 a.m., works out, spends time with Jesus, and has a very productive morning. However, even though I would like to be that kind of crazy morning person, the night owl in me will reign forever.
I'm talking about those kinds of unrealistic dreams, that will just never be so. I'm talking about the things that I truly need to change in order to continue to grow as a person. The things that are outside of my comfort zone.
Those things can get really overwhelming when you stack them up all. I want to work out more, I want to eat better, I want to drink more water, I want to read my Bible more, I want to binge watch Netflix less.....the list goes on and on of things that need revamped in this coming year. All areas that need some work in order for me to love God, others and myself better this year.
Here's a moment of honesty. Every couple of months I go through these reflective periods and decide that my life needs an overhaul. And every time, I fail miserably because I try to tackle every problem at once and essentially make myself into a new person overnight. And that, simply, does not work for me.
But this year is going to be different. This year is going to be the year I start tackling all of these less than ideal areas of my life, in order to take baby steps to where I want to be. And that's my plan to follow through. Taking small, doable steps, making little changes each month to propel me forward in my journey to being a little bit better today than yesterday.
So if you're anything like me, and you actually want to commit to following through with making 2016 a better year for you, maybe I can help. Whether you have a mantra for the year, like I do, or you've made resolutions and truly want to stick to them, here's my plan to actually follow through with my goals for 2016.
The very first thing I knew I needed to do in order to follow through with my goals this year was to get organized. This is my 2016 planner. It's a great place to keep all of my different schedules, responsibilities and lists, etc. Everything is color-coded to make my schedule more organized. 
I love to make lists. Pretty sure I've talked about that before. There is just something satisfying about crossing items off of a to-do list. Between my two jobs and all of my work at the church, my life can get pretty hectic really quickly. The best way to stay on top of it all is by making a daily to-do list of tasks that need done. That way I can organize and prioritize my day, making my mind just a bit less frenzied. 
Then came step 2. It was time to start figuring out how I could break down my blanket goals in order to make this year count. Monthly goals. That's what I came up with. Simple goals that I can spend the month accomplishing. So, I made a list. I broke down my goals into 6 categories, including fitness, health, and faith. And then I picked one simple goal that I knew I would be able to accomplish this month. 
Fitness. I'm pretty much starting back at level zero here. I've gotten so far away from working out on a consistent basis. In order to get back into a better routine, my goal for January is to work out 3 days a week for at least 20 minutes. Maybe I'm just a child inside, but I've found in the past that using sticker charts to track my workouts actually works as a motivation and reward system for me. So, in order to keep my life as organized as possible, I'll be putting a sticker and tracking what workout I did for each day, like this. I thought superhero stickers were quite fitting for my workout tracking! 
Health. My goal is to drink enough water every day. This number is different for everyone, but a good rule of thumb is to drink half your body weight in ounces a day. However, if you are active, working out, etc, this number should be higher. For me, I've decided to try to drink the volume of this bottle 5 times a day (around 80 ounces). My fancy way of keeping track: rubber bands. The bands at the top are the times I've already refilled the bottle. The bands at the bottom are how many I have left to reach my goal for the day.Faith. I'll be doing a longer post on this one, so I won't spend a lot of time here. I've committed to reading through the Bible in the year 2016. I found an app that I'm loving to assist in this endeavor. To make this a habit, my faith goal for January is to read the Bible every day. Now, I'm not talking about in-depth, multiple commentary study. My schedule simply does not allow me to spend hours delving into the minutia of the passage that I'm reading on a daily basis (as much as I would like it to), but simply reading and reflecting on the day's passages is something that I can do.
And that's what I did for each of my 6 categories: pick a small, attainable goal to work on for the month of January. And that way, one small goal at a time, I will actually take steps to move closer to the person I want to be.
Maybe you only need 2 categories for your goals, and you want to pick 2 to 3 small goals for each month. Awesome. Do it. The point is to actually succeed in accomplishing your goals, instead of trying to make yourself become a completely new person over night.
Make this year be the year that we follow through. Make this year the year that we are a little bit better.
Don't stay in love with your comfort zone.
-A.A.
