Monthly Goals Update

Obviously I completely failed at this. September is only a few more days long and I haven't yet posted the update for my monthly goals. Double fail for not posting in two weeks. Do I really suck this much? Well, let's see how I did on my goals:

Post on this blog regularly: Absolute fail.

Film and edit videos: Filmed three videos, edited none yet. Editing software is overwhelming. Semi fail.

Read five books: Two non-fiction and two fiction down, one to go. Check!

Walk at least 5,000 steps a day: Check! 

So at least I don't suck 100%. Phew. But let's look a littler at those goals I set, why I set them and how I'm really doing at them. 

I really wanted to make this blog a priority this month but it didn't work out as well as I had hoped. I did think about it a lot but I didn't actually do anything. In part this was because my life was just pretty busy and I just always have a million things on my mind that I want to do and research and learn about and I just get distracted. A lot. Also I think that maybe my goal was set a little high. Maybe I need to start smaller and slowly build up this habit. That also wouldn't make me feel like a loser as much for not reaching my goals. So in (almost) hindsight, I am glad I set this goal, I am glad I failed it and I am glad I am still making this post and not giving up right away.

Next up, the youtube goal. I've been wanting to have a youtube channel for a long time now but I just can't seem to get it started. First of all, editing is freakin' impossible to figure out right now. Also, there are just so many amazing and high quality youtubers out there and since I am a perfectionist, I feel like having to live up to those impossible standards. I know that's stupid and unrealistic but so far haven't been able to convince my entire self of that. But I will also not give up on this one and just keep taking one tiny step at a time. 

A goal I had almost no problem with was the reading goal. I love to read so it is just a matter of finding the time (and space, one of the books I read entirely in the bathroom). If I come across any amazing, life-changing books I will definitely do a review on them, but this month it was nothing super special, so I won't.

And lastly, the walking goal. I work as a waitress right now so on the days I work (about 3-4 times a week) I have no problems reaching this goal anyways. But I wanted to make a point of moving more on my days off and I think I did really well. I just downloaded a step counter app onto my phone and recorded my steps every day. I did an average of around 8,000 steps a day, my record was 13,900 and I only had one day each week where I didn't make it to 5,000. I'm really happy with those results and will definitely continue walking more. The hardest part for me was actually having to have my phone on me all the time.

So all in all, I am pretty happy with how I did, I'd give myself a 2.5 out of 4 so far and I definitely learned something on the way.

Hope you enjoyed this. I am open to any feedback and suggestions!

Read you soon,

Lisa

Monthly Goals: September

Don't forget the important things!

Even though we are already quite a few days into the month of September, I wanted to share my first “Monthly Goals“ now. I want to do these posts to remind myself of what I am focusing on that month, as well as hold myself accountable at the end of the month as to whether or not I completed or at least attempted my goals.

Before I formulate my goals for the month (which I actually did on August 30^th), there are two 'concepts' that I keep in mind:

The first one is used in management and is called S.M.A.R.T. goals. It's a tool to help you set goals that are: specific, measurable, attainable, reasonable and time-bound. So a goal like 'I want to read more' would not be a S.M.A.R.T. goal, whereas 'I want to read four books this month' would be one. I think this is a really helpful tool and I try to always keep it in mind, even if I don't end up applying every single letter to every single goal.

The other tool that I use comes from some of my favorite internet people, The Minimalists. They've come up with five categories and if an action does not fall into at least one of them, they will usually not do it. The categories are: health, relationships, passion, growth and contribution. I want to apply this one by trying to set goals that fall into at least one, better even two, of the categories each.

Alright, so after this quite lenghty introduction, let's finally get down to business.

Here are my goals for the month of September:

• Reactivate this blog and post at least three times per week as well as every third day.
• Film and (figure out how to) edit at least two videos for my youtube channel.
• Read five books this month, at least two of which must be non-fiction.
• Be in bed between 12 am and 8 am.
• Walk at least 5,000 steps a day.

I think these are all pretty self explanatory and I will not go into any more detail at the moment. I am planning on doing some weekly and or monthly challenges, but for now I want to keep it simple and give myself a chance to actually accomplish the goals.

I hope you all have an amazing, productive week full of joy, sunshine and laughter!

Read you soon,

Lisa