SixEight Life

Goals- February

Well, two months into the goals for the year! So far I’m doing alright. Not terribly behind on any goals, but also not as disciplined either. Here’s the update:

My infograph for my ‘innovation’ goal.

1. Run a Half Marathon  Still being a slacker. I only ran a couple times this month. I had some legitimate excuses, and some not-so-legititmate excuses (ie: I was lazy). I’m going to try harder this month, I promise.

2. Innovation as a professional every month – This month I learned the art of creating infographs. I created an infograph for the Not for Sale Poster Campaign, and was even able to share it with elected officials. I’m horrible at design, so I was pretty proud of this one.

3. Read 24 books Still doing pretty good. I finished “UnChristian” by Kinnaman and Lyons, and Read “Running a Thousand Miles to Freedom” By William and Ellen Craft. “Running” is an autobiography by two escaped slaves. It’s an incredible story and was very inspiring. I was all set to read another book by the end of the month, “Sun Stand Still”, by Steven Furtick, but I haven’t been able to get into it. I’ve really tried, but it’s a no go. I’m setting it aside for a later date. Next up is “Interrupted” by Jen Hatmaker and “Rescuing Hope” by Susan Norris.

4. Get Biscuit certified as a therapy dog Still putting this off for budgeting purposes. It’s coming though.

5. Encourage two people a month with a handwritten note Confession: I didn’t make it this month. I have my two people in mind but I didn’t write the notes. I’m going to make up for it by writing four notes this month, and I’m trying to not call myself a failure. I’m going to keep trying and be a bit more disciplined.

6. Write 60 blog posts I wrote six posts this month, and one guest post. So, I’m at 16 posts total, which is pretty good progress for getting to 60 posts for the year. Excited to say I’m right on track.

7. Get to know people who different from me I’m not going to lie, I’m struggling with this one a bit. I’m heavily committed to so many different things and projects I’ve not found a place to serve. I have an idea, I just need to follow through. I’ve also thought about being a more intentional neighbor and how that could lead to these relationships.

8. Enter into a mentoring relationship This is also going really well. Cindy and I are meeting for coffee regularly, it’s been very encouraging. I also had the opportunity to meet with a woman in Atlanta in February. She leads an organization I greatly respect, and was so empowering and encouraging to me. We both had a great time and will probably meet again soon.

9. Pay the car off Paying off debt was a bit difficult in February, but we’re working on chipping away at more in March. I also have a hope/plan for paying a big chunk of the car off in a couple months, so that vision/idea was very encouraging. Another thing I’ve been doing to keep focus and discipline is a visual debt ‘thermometer’ on our fridge where I color in our progress. I also keep a numerical record on our budget spreadsheet so we can see our overall debt go down each month. Those visuals have been really motivating.

10. Increase my political activity- first name basis with elected officials – This goal has moved at warp speed! I actually was invited to testify at the House Judiciary committee in February pertaining to a piece of Human Trafficking legislation. I’ve been talking to my Georgia elected officials a good bit and both of them seem to remember me. My political activity has definitely increased and it has been thrilling!

11. Publish a professional article (or at least write one)– Our paper is coming along nicely. We have a survey we are finalizing and will begin conducing interviews this month.

12. Memorize the book of Philippians – Half of Chapter 1 is memorized. Hoping to have all of chapter 1 done this month!

13. Love my husband in a new way every month – This month I really thought about priorities. I’ve gotten really busy and I need to focus more on prioritizing time with Brent and focusing on our marriage. So that’s what I worked on.

February takeaway: Consciousness Last month I realized that I needed to focus my time and be more disciplined. This month I realized the importance of keeping goals at the forefront of your mind. It’s very easy to forget about my list of goals. Some goals are easier to remember than others. I keep my books on the coffee table so I remember to read and not surf. I have my debt visuals. My running shoes sitting in the hall closet remind me to get off my butt and lace them up. But others were easier to forget. The handwritten notes stayed in the office and I failed to write them. My busyness led to me forgetting that I need to be more intentional with relationships. My moleskin notebook didn’t transfer over from one bag to another so I didn’t pick it up for a few days. In March, I’m going to try to be very conscious of these goals. If you have any ideas on how I can keep my forgotten goals more visible, please let me know!

How are your goals going? Any tips for me to stay disciplined? Let me know in the comments!