I set four lofty goals for myself last year (Read the whole blog post here). Here they are below with a recap of how they played out.
1. Read more. My goal is to read 12 books this year.
I didn’t quite finish this goal but this is a list of books I read in 2012. I included links to purchase these on Amazon as I recommend every one of them! The Language of Sex: Experiencing the Beauty of Sexual Intimacy by Gary Smalley, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, The Hunger Games Trilogy: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, Financial Peace Revisited by Dave Ramsey, A Woman and Her God by Beth Moore and friends, and The Good Girls Guide to Great Sex by Sheila Wray Gregoire. If you can count, then you understand that this is only eight books, not twelve. However, most years of my life, I have completed 1-2 books/year. So this is a HUGE victory for me and I am so proud of myself. I set this goal of twelve books again for 2013 too.
2. Eat healthy and lose weight. My goal is to lose 17 pounds.
I tried Weight Watchers in the beginning of the year, but didn’t put enough effort into it to see any real results. I also ran in my very first 5k. But other than that, I didn’t loose much weight and didn’t really exercise much at all. I definitely did not form any new positive habits in this area.
3. Pay off debt. My goal is to eliminate my student loan debts.
FREEEEEEEEEEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE’RE DEBT FREEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Using Dave Ramsey’s Debt snowball and Financial plan we buckled down and completely paid off all our debts (except for our home) this year. This is the best feeling in the world and I highly recommend every person who ever reads this to invest in your future and legeacy by enrolling in Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University.
4. Start a business. My goal is to build a shop on Etsy.com to sell handmade crafts and the like.
Yeah…..sooooo……..this one….I opened a shop, but I have still not posted any crafts. For this goal, I cut myself some slack. I wanted very badly to start this last year, however, I was working the equivalent to two full-time jobs and whatever free time I could muster up, I wanted to dedicate it to my husband and family. This is not the case this year so my umbrella of “slack” has been removed in 2013. Keep on the look out for my Etsy shop this year!!!!
For the recap, by setting lofty goals, I ended up achieving way more than I would expect of myself normally. I am really excited to make even more crazy goals this year. I’ve already set several of them and have already begun working toward them. I’ll share those with you tomorrow.
One lesson I learned last year regarding resolutions/goal setting: Make your goals specific and measurable. Avoid vagueness and take time to determine exactly what you want to accomplish in order to achieve the most success.
How did you do on your 2012 resolutions?
Love, Steph
Earning an MRS Degree 