Happy August everyone! I want to share my goals for the month to help hold me accountable and for my future self to look back on and hopefully see what I have accomplished and feel motivated to set even loftier goals to achieve. I typically operate on a calendar year mentality, but have noticed in past years that the beginning of the school year is starting to act like a half-way year reset for me. I am feeling pretty optimistic and motivated about these goals this month and am looking for progress not perfection (words by Lara Casey). I am ready to make some lifestyle changes and I’m ready to start small this month and hopefully this will lead to larger ones in future months.
Typically I will share my results from my previous month’s goals and then share my current month goals, but since it’s been awhile since I’ve shared my goals we are just starting with August goals. I am basing the structure off of Lara Casey’s Powersheets. I have been using these this year and love them! I really like how they make me actually stop to think what I want to accomplish and write them out so I have them right in front of me instead of just thoughts swirling around in my head.
Encouraging Words:
Progress Not Perfection
Monthly Goals:
- Self-care (i.e. bubble baths, reading, paint fingernails, etc.) – I need this for myself. I can tell I am a better wife and mother when I take some time for myself. It doesn’t have to be a long time…a little goes a long way.
- Lose 5-10 lbs. – My ultimate end goal is to lose 35 lbs., by my 35th birthday next year (Sept. 2018). I am trying to focus the next couple of months on getting to my prepregnancy weight which I have 10 more lbs. to go (these are the hardest for me) and then I’ll evaluate about how hard core I want to go to lose the remaining 25 lbs based on if I am still breastfeeding or not.
- Read 3 books (2 fiction, 1 non-fiction) – July was a slacker reading month for me. I just couldn’t get into reading mode and then I started back to work and before I knew it the month had past and I was still reading the same book I started out the month with. I’m hoping in August I will pick up the reading pace and pick some interesting books to read that will want me coming back for more.
- Ultimate Bundle, Photography, and Hand-lettering – I’m lumping these 3 things together. These are 3 things if I ever get free time I want to explore and learn how to do by taking online classes, etc.
- Date night – Robert and I enjoy our date nights and since Claire has been born we haven’t had one, so we are both looking forward to having a night for us. Hopefully one Saturday night we can have the grandparents watch the girls and we can make this happen.
- Limit social media (delete Facebook app. and limit looking at Instagram) – when I was on maternity leave I got in the bad habit of constantly being on my phone and looking at Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter (hence the little reading I got done) and I noticed how it affected me and how uncontent I was starting to become. I am tired of feeling that way, so I am taking FB off my phone and then limiting the time I spend on Instagram this month and see how that impacts me. I will check back in on this.
Weekly Goals:
- Weekly Preparation – I want to start planning for my weeks on Sundays. I want to lay out the girls clothes for the week and make sure I have a system in place for Claire’s bottles and all the pumping supplies I need daily. I am tired of feeling so rushed each morning, so I want to implement a better, more efficient way to handle things beginning on Sundays.
- Weekly Meal Plan – I would like to start meal planning and placing an order with Walmart Pickup on Saturdays/Sundays so that during the week we aren’t scrounging around trying to come up with something to eat and ultimately getting take-out 3 to 4 times a week.
- Blog – I am going to work on being consistent with my blogging. I would like to try to come up with at least 2 blog posts a week. I am going to work this month on preparing blog posts in advance.
Daily Goals:
- Quiet time with God – I’ve resigned myself to the fact that due to the season I am in, I can’t sit down and read a passage, journal, and pray for a long time, but I can listen to a short devotional podcast (Hello Mornings is one I have found) or read a She Reads Truth/IF post sometime during the day. So if I can do one of those things daily I am checking my box off.
- Prayer – I am feeling that my prayer life is something I need to focus on. I have a direct line of communication to the Creator of everything and I do not do it near enough. I need prayer in my life. Specifically this month I am praying for my husband, my girls, and for my Miracle Prayer.
- 6,500 steps – Since I am wanting to lose weight, I know I need to be more active. It is hard right now, because I feel like all my free time is taken up with nursing/pumping…but I am trying to be more conscious of moving more and getting up and walking around during the day when I am at work. My intention is to increase my steps month by month.
- 96 ounces of fluids (mainly H2O) – When I nursed Emmalyn I think the reason I had such a low supply and dried up so easily was because I had not been drinking a lot of water. With Claire I have been drinking water constantly during pregnancy and now, but I am not sure of how much I’ve been drinking, so I am working on tracking it and trying to meet this goal (preferably I would like to make it to 128 ounces which is a gallon, but we will see).
- Vitamins – I need to do a better job of taking vitamins and my iron pill for not only me, but also for Claire.
- Gratitude – I did this at the beginning of the year and I noticed how much it improved my attitude and how I seemed to feel more content, so I am starting to implement this back into my day, by writing down one thing I am grateful for every day.
- Meditation – I read on Emily Ley’s blog one day about the app “Headspace“. I downloaded it and have been using it for a few days now and I really am enjoying those few minutes of intentional quiet. I’ve never been one for the idea of meditation (thought it too fru-fru), but I admit…I feel so much calmer and relaxed after it. Looking forward to doing this every day this month and seeing where it takes me.
I know this seems like a lot, but I think it’s manageable and I am looking forward to this month and making progress on all these things. Here’s to a happy August!!!
Until next time…keep it simple!
Lindsey
P.S. Also, I will be hosting an online Matilda Jane trunk show next week. Feel free to join in!!!
