Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Goals for February 2012.

Since the month of January has pretty much gone by without any progress towards some of the goals I made in my 2012 Goals and Resolutions Post, I decided I need to intervene.

In case you haven't noticed, I am a very goal-oriented person. I like to make them, talk about them, and work steadily towards them. However, I also lack a great deal of motivation. And, let's be honest, since going back to daily subbing near the end of November, I haven't been working a great deal. I have been lazy, uninspired, and spend WAY TOO MUCH time watching TV instead of taking care of things that need to be taken care of around the apartment.

So, I am making monthly goals. These are things that I want to finish by the end of the month. Some are book-oriented, some are personal. But, no excuses, by the end of the month, I want to have them finished and completed. You'll see some of them say "continue" and such, and that is mainly to keep myself on track with things I am already doing. I also left some areas broad and some goals broad, since too much confinement will make me a bit batty. ;)

I'm not sure how much I am going to love this process, but I am all for self-improvement and sharing that process with you. If I fail miserably this month, I can always reevaluate and try again next month, right?

Here are my goals for February (some are smaller pieces of my larger 2012 goals, and some are just for the month):

Grad School:
  • Revisit requirements for the three programs I am interested in. Create a timeline for due dates, etc.
  • Write to old professors for letters of recommendation, etc.
  • Draft personal statement
Writing:
  • Continue working on my current piece
  • Write 20,000 new words this month 
  • Continue writing in my journal 3x per week 
Blog Related:
  • Finish the two Dickens titles I have selected for the month (David Copperfield and Nicholas Nickleby) in celebration of his birthday
  • Make progress in War and Peace (Hoping to get to 120 chapters)
  • Start Les Miserables
  • Read Roots for the readalong
  • Read other books off my project list if time. :)
Crafts:
  • Finish my senior scrapbook (from my senior year of high school. Seriously, I need to finish it)
  • Finish crocheting my mom's scarf (been half done for a year now)
  • Print some wedding pictures to put in our frames...we've been married for over two years. This needs to be done.
Domestic:
  • Continue to try one new recipe a week (I might be combining this into my weekly update posts in my continued effort to make the blog more "me" than just books).
  • Use my crock pot more (inspired a bit by Trish and this post)
  • Clean out our second bedroom and organize (seriously, it is our dumping room)
  • Continue my "ten-minute" clean-ups every night (basically I set the timer and clean up for ten minutes every night and stop when the timer goes off-very helpful in getting rid of daily clutter, etc.)
Health:
  • Go to the gym 3x per week
  • Work-out videos and Wii Fit 3x per week
  • Carry water with me everywhere!
  • Continue my diet!
There you have it, some detailed goals for the month of February.

How do you feel about making monthly goals? Anyone want to join in?

7 comments:

  1. Like you, I find monthly goals a lot more effective than yearly goals! Although, to be honest, I haven't made any lately. So maybe I should join in. Haha. Good luck with all of your goals, it sounds like you have some great things that you are working on. :)

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  2. Yah, the scarf! Wedding pictures too-WOW. Can't wait to see both. I have lots of exercise tapes, if you get bored. Doing the 10 minute Beachbody now. If I am ever able to do the entire collection, I am going to look really good-LOL. Good luck on your goals.

    Love, Mom

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  3. I LOVE my crock pot. OMG. I use it all the time, especially when the weather's crappy. I mostly make chicken or pork roasts in them. But its the best thing ever, seriously - throw stuff in it in the morning, let it go all day. House smells amazing during the day. You can find simple recipes online, based upon what you like to eat. My dad makes an amazing pot roast in his often, beef stew, beef burgandy, etc. I'm not a huge red meat fan so I stick to white meats.

    Ok, I'm done with the crockpot talk now. LOL And funny enough, someone else on my twitter feed was talking about that tonight.

    Also, I like the 10 minute timer cleaning idea. Might have to try that!

    Good luck with your goals! :)

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  4. You sound like me: goal-oriented, lacking motivation! I think the monthly goals are a great idea, perhaps one I should consider... I hope this month's goals go well for you.

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  5. Between you and Jillian, I'm considering posting my February Goals list as well. I wrote one (didn't publish it) for January, but I ended up ticking off less than 25% of the goals in it. Oh, well, I'll do better this month.
    I really like your goals! I joined the hoards of bloggers who intend to read some Dickens this month. I can't wait to see what you think of David Copperfield, it's one of my all-time favorites.

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  6. love the ten-minute clean up idea! We're pretty good at decluttering each night, but I should give myself 10 minutes of sweeping/mopping/counter cleaning/vaccuuming/bathroom cleaning each afternoon so it doesn't look so DIRTY to me. I spent hours today doing the downstairs...

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  7. wow, that's a lot of goals! I would do well starting a list myself... To keep up with my reading goals, I use google spreadsheets, that helps me a lot. you can see the links in my January recap: http://wordsandpeace.com/2012/02/02/january-wrap-up/

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