Preparing for the New Year!

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!  I know that some of you are totally on top of the cleaning and have all the decorations cleaned up and put back into storage already.  That is not me, of course my parents will be visiting us soon so we'll be having one more Christmas.  I'm sure after we've opened the gifts I can persuade my family to help clean up the decor right?

We had a delightful holiday and I will confess I took no pictures...not that pictures weren't taken they just weren't taken by me.  I think that I'll wait a couple weeks before posting the Christmas Pics, but we had a fantastic weekend which included a major surprise that left us grateful and feeling more than blessed!

Now that Christmas is behind us, the new year is drawing near.  I know that many people will write up a list of resolutions for the year but the majority of them will fall by the wayside before the month of January is over.  I gave up resolutions a long time ago, however I do think that goal setting should be a part of every persons life.  Goals are what keep us learning and keep us young.  Over the last month I've been thinking about what goals I want to set for 2012, making sure that I set reasonable goals that are beneficial yet cause me to stretch just a little bit as a wife, mother, daughter, sister & friend.

angietorres via Buffy via Pinterest

Goal setting for your life isn't something to be made into a strict order of how things are done, but something to give you direction for your life.  As is stands in just under 5 years I will be the mother of teenager...that terrifies me.  I know it will come upon me like a thief in the night and before I know it I'll be wondering if the sleepless nights of a newborn compares to that of being the momma of teenage boys.  Yet I contain the power to do something to prepare myself for the road ahead, even if I don't know what the trip will be like.

gatherlove via Buffy via Pinterest

One thing I know is that I can't constantly live in the moment, fighting the fires as they come...I have to be proactive.  This is where goal setting comes in.  What are the things that I want to accomplish in 2012 and how will they make me into the woman God desires me to be.  Goals can be dreams too, or stepping stones to the big dreams.  Dreams are achievable but you have to work for it!

stringkitty via Buffy via Pinterest

So over the rest of the week I'm going to tell you my goals for the new year.  I have some goals for the month of January, a six month goal and a big goal for the entire year!  I am so excited to share these goals with you.  I'm counting on you all to be my biggest supporters and help me achieve my goals.  I also want to help you to achieve your goals!  So if you haven't started thinking about your goals, start now!

google images via Buffy via Pinterest

And because I'm so nice, here are a few tips to making a resolution into a goal...this is the difference between success and failure!

1. A goal must have an end date and must be measurable.  You can't say I want to look better for the wedding in June...say I want to lose 20 pounds by May 1st.  This makes your goal finite and gives you the accountability to stick to it (the first resolution you know you'd be switching up the definition of look better when nothing changed in time).

2. Baby steps:  Break that goal down into manageable steps.  Like the example above you could make a small monthly goal to lose 5 pounds a month...by May you'd be down 20 pounds.  Break the goal down even smaller if you want, like lose 1-2 a week.  See what you just did?  You took 20 pounds and made it one pound!  You could lose a pound easy in a week just by cutting back on the food and increasing water and exercise!

3.  Find a buddy!  Accountability can be a pain in the tushie but it can also be fun!  Would you rather go to the gym alone or with a friend?  I mean 20 minutes on the treadmill won't seem like work if your bestie is next to you as you catch up on life!  Before you know it you'll be achieving your goals and it won't feel like hard work.

Besides making the work fun a buddy can help encourage you and lift you up when you had one too many pieces of birthday cake at work or you didn't meet your weekly goal.  A friend can help you to see what changes you can make to realize your dream when all you see is failure.

Last, remember failure isn't always a bad thing.  When you lose sight of your goal and miss a few steps it doesn't mean you failed but that something else took over.  These are the moments when you have to regroup, reassess and determine if your goal is what you still want.  Mistakes are even better opportunities to grow.


Well I better get a move on, gotta get the house cleaned up.  I let the kids play all day yesterday with their new toys without having to clean...but now it's time for a good scrub down!