Goals and Goal Setting
In order to achieve big goals, you’ve got to set big goals! Light a candle (or, if you’re like me, set off the smoke alarm), grab your favorite drink, and let’s set some goals!
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In order to achieve big goals, you’ve got to set big goals! Light a candle (or, if you’re like me, set off the smoke alarm), grab your favorite drink, and let’s set some goals!
Welcome back to my monthly goals post! Every month I dress up my dog for cute pictures, review my goals from the past month, and set new goals for the next month! I set a lot of ambitious goals, and they all build on my annual goals and core values. This month I dressed Ryder up in a cute vintage Valentine setting, and am excited to build on the progress I set in January!
I’m not usually the type of person who gets excited about Valentine’s Day, but when I was digging through my drawer full of scarves and found some vintage handkerchiefs that once belonged to my grandmother, they put me into a sort of vintage romantic mood. Vintage handkerchiefs, romantic pearls, and suddenly I had a February 2021 BuJo theme!
Hi and welcome to my monthly goals post! It’s been a long time, but I’m resurrecting my goals posts where I include pictures of my dog dressed up all cute (or at least I think he’s cute) and I talk about my goals for the month. Since this is my first goals post of the year I’m just going to set new monthly goals based on my annual goals. Going forward, I’ll recap how I did for the last month and set new goals for the next month.
It’s 2021!! Yayayayay let’s celebrate with a January 2021 bullet journal plan with me! Or, yunno, champagne or bourbon works too. This month’s theme is navigation and antique navigational instruments — such as sextants, compasses, sundials, telescopes, etc.
(Hopefully that light is actually the end of the tunnel and not a train.) It’s that time of year! Time to review goals from the past year and set new goals for the next year. So grab your beverage of choice — tea, coffee, bourbon, whatever — and let’s reflect and plan!
It’s the end of the year, so it’s time to set up goals for next year! And ooooh look! I made a video! Light a candle (or, if you're like me, set off the smoke alarm), grab your favorite drink, and let's set some smart goals and intentions for 2021! (Bonus surprise: PRINTABLES!)
It’s mid-December, so we’re all excited to plan and set goals for next year! But before you set new goals (or if it’s your first time setting annual goals), it’s important to review this year so you understand what went well, what didn’t go well, what’s in your control, and determine steps forward to drive your annual goals. I can guide you through this process and I even have some free printables for this!
2019 goals recap and 2020 goals - these are things I want to accomplish in the coming year. I’m up 2 goals from last year - this year I set 44 goals - but I’m focusing more on just a couple areas of my life. Goals require deep work, but a major element of deep work is rest. So I need to make sure I build in periods of rest this year to avoid burnout and to ensure I stay creative and keep some plasticity in my mind. Additionally, I feel like I’m getting to the point where I’m happier with the things I’m doing and I just want to do more of those things, so I have fewer goals/resolutions where I want to change my existing behavior, and more goals/resolutions where I want to grow a behavior or habit that I already have.
I had to get a little creative with this month’s goals cover photo because Ryder had bilateral colorectal hernia surgery (poor boo bear!) and he’s been an absolute pitiful mess ever since his surgery. He’s got a big shaved section of his rear end for the incision sites so he looks like a cross between a poodle and a feather duster and for weeks now he’s been practicing his pitiful expression for an ASPCA commercial audition. I really had no idea what to do for this goals photo - his glum outlook clashed terribly with my festive idea for a big New Year’s glitzy glam photo, and I didn’t really have any back-up options. So I looked at my sad shaved dog. And I looked at my sad muddy yard. And I picked up sticks in frustration to make a pile for the outdoor fire pit. And once I gathered enough sticks, I realized they kinda looked like a nest. A little creative rearranging later and…ta da! A giant dog nest! Add in one pathetic-looking dog, some little wings, and a creatively draped blanket and I’ve got myself a little bird-dog. Get it? Bird-dog. Har har har.
2018 resolutions recap, and then 2019 resolutions, goals, or guidelines - these are things I think I want to accomplish in the coming year.
It’s not too often we get a bunch of snow, so when this big storm came through I knew I had to dress Ryder up as a proper snow dog! He was originally going to be an elf for these December pics, but a combination of his elf costume that I ordered being too big by an order of magnitude and this recent snow means a holiday-styled snow dog, yay! But first we’ll look back at November’s goals.
When I was a little kid I thought my dad was a lumberjack. He looked just like one! He had a big full beard and he wore plaid shirts and work denim and he’d split and haul firewood for our wood fireplace. With his sharp axe he was the rugged spitting image of a lumberjack, and yet I never understood why, when I told him he looked like a lumberjack, he’d immediately start singing Monty Python.
Now, to this day, I can’t hear the word “lumberjack” without that song playing in my head. I should probably move on to more sensitive comedy sketch songs, but nope, I think that one is going to be with me my whole life - for better or for worse.
“Ughhhh I’m so behind on my goals posts,” I lamented to my best friend recently.
“Liz!! Those are my favorite ones!”
“What, the goals posts?!”
“Yeah!”
“Well dang. Now I feel guilty that I haven’t been posting them.”
So yeah! Here’s a goals post. Finally.
How cool is my dog Ryder? He's so cool I taught him to wear sunglasses! It was a struggle, but he wore his American-styled shades just long enough for me to fire off a few photos. In honor of 4th of July this month's photo shoot was all about the red, white, and blue and Ryder never looked so all-American!
Do you know what I have *not* been doing? Monthly goals! (Ooooooops!) My last monthly goals post was the beginning of April and I totally dropped the ball on May. For the most part, my April goals could have easily carried forward to May with a couple additions, so I recapped the two months together and came up with a fresh list of goals for June. What are your goals for this month?!
Surprise! I'm alive! Long time, no post, but it's been crazy at work and crazy on the weekends and crazy all around. Although if we're being honest, I wouldn't have it any other way. I want my days to be brimming with life (with the occasional time for rest and restoring some semblance of sanity) and, well, things are brimming! But the downside is I have been neglectful of the blog which is a bit less than desirable. But hey, it's a new month, it's a new spring, it's a new chance to be better. Check out my recap of March and my new April goals!
I'm going to make a dangerously bold statement and say SPRING HAS SPRUNG! Everything around me is starting to pop out its emerald green, including Ryder! Hooray for March and new goals! Here's hoping this month is a lucky one.
I don't know if you've noticed, but I apparently like to torture my dog in that I like to dress him up in silly costumes. He's just the perfect model for a nice over-the-top styled shoot, am I right? I thought it might be fun to celebrate all my monthly goals this year with a Wegman-esque photo shoot based on seasonal themes, so let's hear it for this month's little cupid!
Surprise! Ha, I know I just posted goals for 2018, but an important aspect of long-term goals is breaking them down into short-term goals, so I apologize in advance for the back-to-back goals posts. Just remember - these redundant posts just come once a year, so you don't have to put up with this redundancy again until 2019! (Which will be here before we know it, ha!) But before we jump right into the monthly goals, my reader survey is up! It's the first time I've ever done a reader survey, so I'm pretty excited to hear feedback from you all. You can fill it out using the link https://goo.gl/forms/l0dSSHW8PY7N4ec53 or fill it out directly on the blog post. Thanks in advance!
Happy New Year! This is the third year now I've set new year's resolutions on the blog, and while it's a little silly it's nice to have something publicly posted to hold me accountable and to see how my goals have changed over the years. So first let's look at how I did for 2017 and then we'll dive into goals for 2018!
Poor Ryder. My poor fluffy-butt-pupperkins has the hard job of being a model when I want to play with the camera and do silly things. Like put plaid reindeer antlers on the dog and drape him in holiday lights. People always say I have a photogenic dog but it's because I bribe him with lots and lots of treats. Treats and running and hiking and snuggles. Wait, no, he doesn't like snuggles, even though I keep telling him you can't spell "SMOTHER" without "MOTHER." He said he still doesn't believe me, but he'll smile for the camera if I give him more Greenies.
I don't know about you, but October has disappeared! I'm super excited about November though because I signed up to do a stupid thing or two. Check out the goals this month to find out what!
I don't know about you but October is my favorite month. Birthday, fall foliage, crisp cool climate, beautiful hikes, exciting races, bouquets of freshly sharpened pencils...I could keep going, but time is flying and the month is short!And so, without further ado, it's time for GOALS!
How is it September already?! And it's Labor Day weekend?? I talked to at least three people this week in the elevator at work and asked them if they had any fun plans for this weekend, and they were like, "Why, what's up with this weekend?" "It's Labor Day weekend!" I'd exclaim. "What?! No way! I'm glad you told me, because otherwise I would have come in to work on Monday!" Surprise! I'm not one who usually likes surprises, but a surprise three-day weekend? You can surprise me with one of those any day. But since it's September, it means it's time for GOALS!
Proof that I am a slacker: the last time I did a goals post was April. Yes, April! It seems like it's well past time to fix that! And oh my gosh I keep getting reminded of the time right now - time to do something, time to do something, time time time!I'm literally hearing bells to remind me of the time: McCrae brought home this crazy antique family heirloom clock this weekend. It was dead silent all day on Sunday, but McCrae stashed the clock in the guest bedroom (which is now just becoming "my photography studio" but also "the antiques room"), and suddenly that clock has come alive.
A Saturday post?! What is this?! Exciting, right? Well, it's the first of the month so of course I had to put up a monthly goals post!
They say March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, but I feel like this March is just going to be a big ol' polar bear on a melting ice cap. Too soon? Fiiiiiiine. Let's talk about goals!
Ah, February. Celebrating love in a cold month, cutting out pink hearts on grey days...l'amore! Right? And there's so much more to do this month! But first, a January recap and then February goals.
Okay, let's be honest - raise your hand if your resolution was to run or go to the gym more in 2017 but for whatever reason - time, health, stress, whatever - you haven't done as much as you'd planned? You say to yourself, "I will, I will, I will, I will," but your legs say, "But this couch is so nice," or your hands say, "But we can just pour ourselves this glass of wine instead, it was a rough day after all," or you just don't want to get out of bed. Yeah, we all struggle with this, but it's been a few weeks after New Year's so now is a good time to check in, evaluate progress, and ask ourselves what else we can do.
Bees and clover
Is anyone else just so ready for spring?! I was mulling over what I wanted to do for my March bullet journal for a while and kept thinking about spring and St. Patrick’s Day and wishing the cold rain would stop so I could get out into my garden. And I kept coming back to this idea of bees and clovers — so I ran with it! I love this month’s design, and I hope you enjoy it too!