SixEight Life

Goals- March

Well, another month has come and gone, so it’s time for another update on this year’s goals. Here’s a recap:

1. Run a Half Marathon  I started back on a routine towards the end of March, and started to be more consistent in running. Brent and I have also instituted a system to hold ourselves accountable. We exercise three days a week. If either of us misses a day, we have to put a dollar from our spending money into a jar to go towards debt. We’ve started this for April, so I think it’ll help.

Photo Credit: ky_olson (Creative Commons)

2. Innovation as a professional every month – This month marked the kick-off of a blog I’m having my students contribute to in one of my classes. It’s been going pretty strong and the class seems to be enjoying it. We had our first ‘comment’ this week, which sparked a great discussion and an extra credit assignment! Check it out: beyondthelineksu.wordpress.com

3. Read 24 books: This goal is going really well! I read “Rescuing Hope” by Susan Norris, and “Interrupted” by Jen Hatmaker this month. They were both really good! I also started “Safely Home” by Randy Alcorn, but didn’t finish it until April. I’m hoping to get at least three books read this month to get ahead on this goal.

4. Get Biscuit certified as a therapy dog Still putting this off for budgeting purposes. However, I’ve started being a little more disciplined in Biscuit’s walking, making sure he stays by us and practices the skills he’ll need to pass the therapy dog test.

5. Encourage two people a month with a handwritten note Still not doing as good on this one as I would have liked. I did write one note this month. I’m committed to do better, I just need to sit down and DO it.

6. Write 60 blog posts Five posts were written this month, with no guest posts. So, I’m at 21 posts for the year, which is ahead of schedule. And, this month marked the first time I had a post that got over 100 hits in one day. In fact, it got over 200 in 24 hours. That doesn’t seem like a big deal to some, but it was exciting for me.

7. Get to know people who different from me This month I’ve been thinking about intentional neighboring as it relates to this goal. I’m trying to prioritize my time, and am realizing that God has placed people around us who we can spend time with. While this is not what I had in mind for this goal, I think it’s a start, especially for right now.

8. Enter into a mentoring relationship Still going great. I love being able to spend time with Cindy, she’s taught me a lot and our friendship is growing tremendously. I also have a another woman I’m going to meet with soon as well, and I’m cultivating other relationships with professional women in the field I’m in so I can learn from them.

9. Pay the car off We hit a milestone in March, our debt was lower than it’s ever been! We are working hard, and praying that God will come through this month in a big way vocationally for me so we can get the car paid off. He has a plan that’s best, so I’m trusting in Him for that.

10. Increase my political activity- first name basis with elected officials – March was a bit quieter, but I did some follow up emails with my elected officials and went down to the capitol for one last lobby day. I think it’s safe to say that my senator definitely knows who I am and my rep at least recognizes my name. I am also getting to know other elected officials who are involved in fighting human trafficking.

11. Publish a professional article (or at least write one)– Our paper has hit a lull this month, mostly due to the busyness of both me and my writing partner. Fortunately, there is still time and I hope to get more accomplished this month.

12. Memorize the book of Philippians – Most of Chapter one is memorized. I’m a bit behind and haven’t been devoting as much time to this one as I should, but I already have most of chapter two memorized so I should be able to get back on track soon.

13. Love my husband in a new way every month – I didn’t deliberately do something different to show Brent my love this month. Like the letters and memorization, I need to focus more attention on it. It’s a desire, it just needs to become a priority.

This month went by very quickly! I still need to work on my priorities and my consciousness for specific goals. One thing I’ve been thinking about to increase my productivity overall is to wake up earlier. I’m blessed at my job right now as I don’t have to get up super early. But there’s no excuse why I can’t get up at 6:30 or 7:00 am to run, read, and get other things done pertaining to my goals. To do that, I need to stop staying up to midnight doing things that aren’t that productive (ie: facebook, twitter, and pinterest). So essentially this month’s word is discipline. If I’m going to increase my productivity I need to be more disciplined.

So, if you aren’t a huge morning person but manage to get yourself up early, do you have any tips for me? Or morning people too, feel free to chime in if you have tips. Suggestions are welcome!