Live Brave: LetsTalkGoals

Hey, it has been a little while since I've posted anything on here. For a short time there I wasn't sure if I was going to carry on with my blog or not but after some reflection and thinking I have decided to continue with it, although I am looking to add more informative posts, sharing some things that I have been growing through and changes that I have made. For now, though, I wanted to kick things off again by sharing my summer goals.

Make a list of all the things I want to do this summer and go do them || This one has been super important to me. When I set it, I knew that I didn't want this summer to pass me by without being intentional with my time. A few things that I knew I wanted to make time to do is to go to the beach, take my lunch break outside, eat breakfast in the garden, grow some vegetables and spend time in the pool.

Create a plan and be intentional about my healing and health || I have been having some health issues for a few years now and I feel like I am at the stage where I have tried everything I can on my own and its time to go see the doctor. So this summer I plan to work with my doctor to figure out what is going on and then I plan to start my own Wellness Project.

Continue to actively pursue my relationship with God || I have been making good progress so far this year and I it is important to me to make sure that continues. I plan to keep on using my Write the Word journal during my quiet time to both get into the word and track my prayers. Sometimes "simple" is best and that is what I am going for.

Make rest a priority || This is another important one for me. I am pretty sure that part of my health problems have been made worse by all the stress that I have been experiencing. While I know I that some of this stress is outside of my control, I want to make an effort to reduce it where I can and take the time daily to relax and unwind.

Invest in relationships and friendships this summer || Summer is a great time to be out and about with friends and family and I want to make the most of that. Going to parks for a picnic or out into the woods and fields for a hike is a great way to catch up on each other's lives. Relationships are important and I want to make sure that I am growing and nurturing the ones that I have.

Begin working on my business idea || I have a plan and I hope to be ready to start it at the beginning of 2018. I have a lot of work to do between now and then but I also want this process to be fun. I have a full-time job so this, in the beginning, will be a side business....meaning it is not "do or die". I'm excited to see where this goes.

So there you have it - the areas that I have been and will continue to be focusing on during the rest of the summer. I would love to see what goals you are working towards so feel free to leave a link to them and I will definitely come by and take a look.

Hello February, so nice to have you arrive. I love, love, love January with all its new starts and fresh pages but I must admit, January feels a little pressured to me. There is that expectation to change myself and my world with a snap of the finger and it leaves me feeling like I am holding my breath the entire month. February just seems more gentle, more forgiving, more room to breath.

On Monday I had a day off work and spent a few hours this morning finishing off January and deciding on February's goals. Here is what I will be focusing on:

Monthly Goals

Read I don't wait anymore | I have heard such good things about this book and am looking forward to diving in.
Spend time with two different sets of friends | This is already planned in. On the 2nd I am going for dinner with Julie, Veronica and Lisa and around the 26th I am going to a new Japanese restaurant with LeAndra.
Follow up on volunteering with UAVA | In January I emailed UAVA but havent yet heard back from them so need to do some follow up.
Complete the One Little Word prompt | I am really excited about what my word will bring this year.
Choose a focus for Whole | Listen to this months prompt and pick an area to focus on.
Research fundraising ideas | I want to make a start on my fundraising but need some inspiration and ideas as I have never really done any sort of fundraising before. Something new to learn!
Gather all my financial documents, terms and balances | This feels like the first step towards looking at my long term financial needs.
Set a budget | I made good progress with this in January and hope to continue with it.

Weekly Goals

Publish 1 meaningful blog post
Track weekly spend
Immerse myself in a bible study twice a week
Continue with the photography challenge
Spend time creating
Listen to a podcast

Daily Goals

Daily devotional
Take my vitamins
Talk to God
No YouTube in bed
Focus on eating low GI foods
Get my body moving!

Hope you have a progress filled, grace fueled month. If you want to take a look at my January progress you can read about here.

I have loved using the power sheets this month. It has been so encouraging to measure my progress and use my tending list to help guide my decisions as to how to spend my time. Now that is life changing for me!

This year, instead of sharing specific progress against the monthly goals I have set, I thought it would be interesting to show the progress I have made (with the help of the monthly goals) against my yearly goals.

Here is a recap of my yearly goals and what progress I have made.

01 | Waste less time in front of the TV and spend that time doing something that fires me up
This goal has been one of my most favorite this month. I have loved turning off the TV after dinner and heading upstairs. This month I have spent this time working on project life, reading two (The GI Diet and The 10 Day Detox) and a half (The Power of I am) books, taking time to pray and study my bible and just generally get to bed earlier.

02 | Impact my wider community by raising £4053 for A21 to use to help set someone free from human trafficking while continuing with my local volunteering
No progress on this in January.

03 | Learn and explore what it means for me to truly live a life that is whole
This month I focused on completing my One Little Word prompt, on getting the basics in place for what the word means, for what I am hoping for this year and for some inspirational quotes.

04 | Dive deeper into my relationship with God and remember that it is about relationship and not about performing, tasks or legalism
I have been focusing on three areas this month; a daily devotional (which I have loved and only missed a handful of days through the month), started doing the Living Free bible study by Beth Moore, and continued to add to my prayer jar.

05 | Figure out what it really means to care for myself mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually and how to do it more often
Although I didn't have a specific goal for this area this month the one thing that I can say that I really did a number of times in January was intentionally listen to my body when I felt tired. This meant a few more bubble baths than normal, lighting some candles, climbing into bed earlier etc. I also enjoyed two at home spa evenings.

06 | Nourish my body well more consistently and focus on building strength and flexibility in my body
I have not made much progress in this area in January. I mainly managed to get some sort of exercise in on the weekend with little to none during the week and I struggled with meal prep the last week of the month.

07 | Share meaningful content and impact others by purposefully using my blog and any platform God gives me
This month I have managed to get back into blogging. I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing the posts that I have...although I am aiming to add more meaningful posts next month.

08 | Research and create a plan for my long term/retirement needs
While I haven't made any progress on my long term needs, I have set a budget this month and taken a slightly different approach to tracking my spend - weekly rather than the monthly I was doing before. While the weekly tracking takes more dedication, I have definitely felt more on top of what I have been spending and found that it has made me more careful with what I am purchasing.

09 | Cultivate richer relationships while taking the time to make new ones
This month I met up with a friend for dinner and a movie, had another friend pop in for a quick cup of tea and I made some new friends when I joined my local women's netball team.

10 | Prepare myself to be a wife and mother while I trust and wait on God's timing for this area of my life
In order to make space in my home for my future husband, I re-decorated my bathroom and added a gorgeous bathroom cabinet. I went through all the books in my house and got rid of those that I no longer need/want. I have also started thanking God for the man He has for me, thanking Him in faith for what He is doing behind the scenes at the moment.

So that is the progress I have made in the first month of twenty seventeen - not too bad.

Ahhh, hello January, I am so pleased you have arrived. The last few months of 2016 were tough going for me and my family and I was glad to see the end of the year. While there is something magical about a new year, a clean slate...there is no chiming of the clock that stops the difficult emotions and situations from coming across into the new year. The hard things from 2016 are going to continue into 2017 and I am aware and as prepared as is possible for that but as I begin to work on new goals I am welcoming GRACE into the coming months for all that is to come.

With all that in mind, I shared my big picture goals for 2017 earlier this week and now I want to share with you the smaller goals I am focusing on in January.

Monthly Goals

Enjoy a friend date | I already have the 15th planned into my diary although we are not sure yet what we will be doing in that time.
Declutter and organise my books | I have this bad habit of buying too many books at one time and then they sit unread on my bookshelf as I buy new ones. My goal is to get rid of any that I no longer want and organise those that I want to read this year.
Read 1 book | From the list above
Look into volunteering with UAVA | Last year I started volunteering as a counselor with a charity who provide help to victims of sexual assault and abuse. I have really enjoyed my time there and have learnt so much but they are a little too far from where I live. As such, I have been thinking about possibly volunteering somewhere else, and I think UAVA may just be the place.
Complete the One Little Word prompt | I am really excited about what my word will bring this year.
Have a pamper session twice this month | I am in desperate need of getting my hair cut and colored so that is on the list this month. I will also probably do a session one evening at home involving putting on a mask, paint my nails etc.
Make a start on project life | This will be my third year doing project life and I love it. My goal this year is to continue telling the story of my life in this manner.
Declutter and organise my bathroom | One of my goals this year is to prepare myself for a husband and family and one of the ways I am doing this is by making space in my home for them. This month I am starting in my bathroom.
Attend my dentist appointments with courage and bravery | The dentist terrifies me!! But I go twice a year because I know that it is a part of looking after my body. A week before Christmas I had my six month check up and unfortunately I need to have my wisdom tooth surgically removed. The appointments will probably be this month hence my goal.
Budget and track my expenses | Last year I got a little slack with the whole budgeting thing so I am recommitting to creating and tracking against a budget each month.

Weekly Goals

Create 1 meaningful blog post
Meal plans
Immerse myself in a bible study
Take part in Beth Adilly's photography challenge

Daily Goals

Consistantly track my progress with good nutrition
Consistantly track my progress with daily movement
Daily devotional
Eat whole foods

I have some really big goals this year and am excited to begin making progress, little by little, on them.

And that my friends is the end of January....boy has this month just flown by. This month has been a pretty good month but I am looking forward to it being February tomorrow. Last year I did my monthly wrap-up and new goals in one post but this year I am going to shake things up and do separate posts. So welcome to my January wrap-up.

January's Goals

1.Book an appointment with the Oral Hygienist | I almost chickened out of this one. I have this ridiculous fear of dentists and while I force myself to go to my six monthly check ups, I have up until now, seen these as optional. My one little word of Brave has been lent on a lot this month because not only did I book the appointment but there was a cancellation and so I ended up going to the appointment as well during January! Go Lynne!

2. Finish reading one book | I had planned to finish reading "What Colour is Your Parachute" but I wanted to spend the proper time working through the activities so instead, I decided that I was going to read "Pearl in the sand". This is the second time that I have read this book and I loved it just as much, if not more, this time round. If you haven;t yet read it then take the plunge. Goal 2 done!

3. Apply for a volunteering position | I finally applied for a volunteering role. The next intake of new people is in April so for now this larger goal is on hold. Goal 3 done!

4. Prepare my Project Life album for 2016 | Goal 4 Done. Feel free to take a look at my first few pages here.

5. Decide on my One Little Word for 2016 and complete January's prompts | So I didn't get around to sharing my pages on the blog but they are all done. This years word is turning into some really personal stuff so far so I may decide to pick and choose which prompts to share as the year goes on. Goal 5 done.

6. Set a budget and track against it | I am counting this goal as done. Budget is all setup for the year as well as more specifically for January. The only thing that I haven't yet done is track January's spend but as the month is not yet done I haven't yet completed it.

7. Save 10% of my salary | Goal 7 done!

8. Lose or maintain my weight at each weeks weigh in | January has been a bit of a fluctuating month for my weekly weigh-ins unfortunately. So while I weigh less at the end of the month than I did starting out the month, I wasn't able to keep that weight loss consistently going in the right direction.

9. Stretch or do Yoga each week day | This was a complete fail for me. I think what would have made this goal more doable was if I had picked out a routine before hand. Instead I spent ages searching for the perfect one and then did't like the routine.

10. Take my vitamins daily | Goal 10 achieved!

11. Come to the well | I am loving the impact that this time has had on my life so far and will definitely be continuing with this one. Goal 11 done!

Nine out of eleven goals done is brilliant. A great start to 2016!

Happy Saturday! I hope that you are having a great day. My Saturday as been lovely so far - I am getting so much done and managing to relax while doing it. As I shared my 2016 Goals with you earlier this week I thought it would be a good time to share my January Goals.

This year, like last, I used Lara Caseys' Powersheets method to dig deep and identify what I wanted from this new year as well as a monthly plan of action for those larger goals. This will allow me to make progress little by little and keep me focused on the bigger picture.

The plan for this year is to share my monthly goals with you here, at the beginning of each month. This will allow me to update you on my previous months progress and keep me accountable. Another feature that I may add to those posts is a paragraph or two on what went well during the month and what didn't go well, in the hope that it will help me to identify the problem early on and create a course correction so that I can continue to make progress.

January's Goals

1.Book an appointment with the Oral Hygienist. Over the past few years I have been working on overcoming my fear of the dentist. This has meant that I have been for checkups and had a couple of fillings...and in November a root canal. But the one thing I haven't yet done is gone to see the Oral Hygienist so my goal this month is to get something in the diary.

2. Finish reading one book. I am currently reading "What Colour is Your Parachute" and had thought I would finish this book in January, however as I have made my way through it there are a number of activities it recommends you do and I don't want to rush through them. So instead of finishing this book my goal will be to join in the Brave Love Book Club in which we will be reading Restless by Jennie Allen.

3. Apply for a volunteering position. This was one of my goals from 2015 that didn't end up happening but that will change this year.

4. Prepare my Project Life album for 2016. I'm looking forward to another year of documenting my life and stories through Project Life.

5. Decide on my One Little Word for 2016 and complete January's prompts. More to come on this on my blog next week.

6. Set a budget and track against it. Last year I was great at setting a monthly budget. The only problem was that I didn't actually end up spending inline with the budget. So this year, not only am I going to set a monthly budget, I am also going to do my best to get my spending in line with it.

7. Save 10% of my salary. I'm currently working on increasing my emergency fund.

8. Lose or maintain my weight at each weeks weigh in. This will be the year that I make significant progress on my weight loss goals. As part of this goal, I will also be putting together a weekly menu so that I can keep things as simple as possible.

9. Stretch or do Yoga each week day. This is something that I am definitely wanting to do - I just need to find a routine to try. If you have any suggestions feel free to let me know in the comments.

10. Take my vitamins daily. Consistency is the key here!

11. Come to the well. This is my goal to spend time with God daily. During the week that will probably look like prayer and a devotional while on the weekend I plan to step into some Bible studies and Bible journaling.

So there you have it. This is what I am aiming for the first month of this year.

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