The 31 Day of Writing Challenge continues. It’s Day 9 of my 31 Days of Gratitude 2015.
Last year, I started to get into the habit of making goals.The idea was a little foreign to me. It was something I associated with business men or entrepreneurial women. Not something a stay at home mom and part time blogger would do. But now I am so grateful to those who inspired me to set goals and for Laura Casey’s Powersheets that helped me define what those goals should be in my life. I have seen real progress over the last year and in this season of life I have more free time to explore some of the projects I had to put on the back burner when I had babies and toddlers in the house. So for my progress, for my extra time and for the grace of God that helps me put in the effort, I am truly grateful. 🙂
Last month I shared with you my September goals and now it is time to review those goals and make new ones for October.
My main big goals do not change but my mini-goals change depending on the areas I need to work on the most. So here is a summary of my progress and my mini goals for October.
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Main Goal #1: To always have God at the center of my life and to deepen my love for Him. I want his will to be my will and motivation.
September Mini-Goals Reviewed
- Continue with the 15 minutes of prayer in the morning until it becomes second nature. – I have been doing well at keeping my morning devotional time, although it still does not come easy. I have to “force” myself to stop and spend quiet time with God before I tackle my To Do list.
- Print out and memorize the “Come Holy Spirit” Prayer. – Yes, I printed it out and made it into a bookmarker and printable, which you can download here. It really helped in learning it. 🙂
- Re-focus on my phrase of the year Be Still by finishing the book Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World: Finding Intimacy With God in the Busyness of Life. – Nope didn’t happen. I have hardly read anything at all. Ugh. Althoug, I did try to BE STILL during my devotional time so that was good.
October Mini-Goals
- Continue with the 15 minutes of prayer in the morning until it becomes second nature.
- Substitute a half-hour (or so) of watching TV or listening to music with something of greater substance, like listening to an uplifting podcast or reading a devotional/ spiritual book.
- Get away from the regular routine for a bit and go to the chapel for prayer and confession.
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Main Goal #2: To be a loving and holy wife to Brian and to work at keeping our marriage strong, to nurture our friendship and spend time alone to reconnect.
September Mini-Goals Reviewed
- Continue to plan weekly date nights and monthly out of the house dates. – Going well. We have an out of house date planned for this weekend. 🙂
- Continue to work on having the home picked up and my attitude in check so Brian comes home to respite and not chaos. – Mostly good. There were a few days when I was a volcanic mess about to erupt but that wasn’t the norm.
- When Brian gets me upset, still treat him with respect and not like he is another one of my kids. – Hmm…I think I have been better. I’d have to ask Brian (or maybe the kids) for an honest review.) 😉
October Mini-Goals Reviewed
- Continue to plan weekly date nights and monthly out of the house dates.
- Make a conscious effort to thank Brian more when he does something for me or the kids and not just take it for granted.
- Let Brian help me out when he offers and stop acting like he can’t do it the way I would do it. Let him have his own way of doing things. (I’ll tell you right now, that one is going to be tough!)
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Main Goal #3: To be a good mother that loves her kids and spends time with them and is not always “too busy.” I want to teach them about their faith and how to love and serve God in their young lives.
September Mini-Goals Reviewed
- Revise the kids chore charts now that school is back in session. – Done. For the most part they have been doing a great job at pitching in and doing their chores, even though some unnamed kiddo may give the a drama queen a run for her money during chore time.
- Do what dinner prep I can in the early afternoon so I can spend an hour in the late afternoon helping the kids with their homework. – This still needs serious work. The busy afternoons of multiple school pick ups, driving to and from appointments and practices, getting chores done, homework started and dinner on the table is the toughest part of the day. I definitely need to work on this more.
- Incorporate three feast days into the family life to help the kids better appreciate the fullness of the faith. This month it will be Mary’s birthday on the 8th, the feast day of St. Matthew on the 21st and feast of the Archangels on the 29th. (This one may be a little ambition but I’m going to add it anyway.) – I think this is the goal I am most excited about! Our evening before bed time is almost as hectic as our afternoon time but on Mary’s feast day I wanted to start evening family prayer time. I thought we could have a little time for prayer, intentions and say a decade of the rosary. It went so well, we did it the following night and the night after that and every night since. It is the perfect way to end the kids’ day and for Brian and I to start our evening. I’ll share more about it on a separate post next week. 🙂
October Mini-Goals
- Continue to work on doing what dinner prep I can in the early afternoon so I can spend an hour in the late afternoon helping the kids with their homework.
- Get the boys involved in Just Run at school and take walks as a family on the weekend.
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Main Goal #4: To bring order into our home so I am not stressed out by the mess and chaos. When things are organized our family life runs smoother and there is more peace.
September Mini-Goals Reviewed
- Fill in my new planner for Sept 2015 – Aug 16. – Done and done, baby. I share my planner here.
- Spend some time in the evening working on Mystie’s course Simplified Organization. – I actually put that course on hold to take Mystie’s other course Work the Plan. It had to do with working on goals and how to make those goals happen in a way that suits your family. That is what I have already been working on here and I’d love more direction and tips. I started it at the end of September so this will be ongoing for awhile.
October Mini-Goals
- I’ve been slacking on my meal planning and going to the store too often so back to weekly meal plans on Sunday.
- Spend time on the weekends with Mystie’s Work the Plan course. I have a full calendar in October so the weekends will be the only times I can have a little extra time for this.
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Main Goal #5 – To take care of myself physically, spiritually and mentally so I can be a happy and healthy wife, mother and friend. Taking care of myself mentally also means challenging myself to come out of my comfort zone and facing my fears and trying new things.
September Mini-Goals Reviewed
- Track my eating. – Big fat NO. Grr.
- Plan a blogging schedule. – This is still a work in progress.
- Spend a few minutes a day just writing and getting thoughts down on paper. It doesn’t have to be for a post but just to keep the process flowing. Use the Listers Gotta List challenge for inspiration. – For the most part, yes.
- Record more scopes on Periscope. – I never got to this.
October Mini-Goals
- Once summer is over I tend to drink less so this month more H2O and take my vitamins. (So easy to do yet I always forget!)
- Complete the #write31days blogging challenge and write a post each day on my topic – 31 Days of Gratitude.
- Complete the Lisa’s online class #LoveYourLettering about how to love your own handwriting and learn the basics of hand lettering. (I started here.)
Okay, I think those are all doable but if I get even half done I’d be happy. 😉
What about you? What is the one thing that you really want to work on this month?
PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Periscope/Katch, GoodReads Letterboxd, Spotify or Instagram. 😉
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I really love this process you go through with each of the different areas of your life. I’m great on to-do lists but I (and my family) would benefit greatly if I did something more like this monthly. I’ll have to give it some serious thought….
It really helps me out, Laurel, because it makes my goals more “real” and less lofty. I can see small concrete ways in which to work towards those goals. It has made a big difference. I am the type of person that needs structure so it works for me. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
I am so impressed (again) by how organized you are, Bobbi! And, also, dare I say – brave – to document your goals so that others may learn from them. it’s surely a personal process, but I am grateful that you’re sharing because they make me want to plan better, too. Way to go! Also – the chapel in the first picture is gorgeous! Where is that?
Hi Heather. The funny thing is that I have always been unorganized, messy and hoarder-like but I’ve always liked making lists and planners etc. I’ve been working really hard to find my inner organizer because I have so much more peace when I reign in my disorder. It’s a constant fight. (Now if I can just tackle the endless piles in my house.) As for the goals, I got the inspiration from Ashley (big white farmhouse) and Jenna Guizar when she blogged. I loved how they set goals and shared their progress. It inspired me to do the same. 🙂
Oh, and the chapel is actually The San Carlos Cathedral in Monterey, CA. The history behind it is fascinating. Here is a little bit of info: “San Carlos Borromeo de Monterey was founded by Father Junipero Serra on June 3, 1770, on the shores of Monterey Bay, as the cornerstone of his Mission. A year later, Fr. Serra moved the Mission to Carmel. The church remained as a Royal Chapel for the soldiers guarding the new Spanish Presidio of Monterey. The present sandstone church was completed in 1794. The significance of San Carlos cannot be overstated. It is the oldest continuously functioning church and the first stone building in the State of California. It is California’s first cathedral and stands for the birth of Carmel Mission and Monterey, the first capital of California.” 🙂