What I have come to learn in all my years of experience is that I'm a person that needs to challenge myself. This past fall I challenged myself to get more fit by following the Insanity workout series and was able to do pretty good. I got so much more fit and lost weight and just really felt great about myself. So I'm gonna take that same motivation and put it into action throughout 2014. But how?
One failure I think most people make in New Year's Resolutions in planning. I know my past resolutions have not been planned out. So this year I have thought ahead, asked some good friends for ideas for goals, and even thought them through. One thing I know is they need to be achievable. I need to know my limits, along with my family and work responsibilities, to be able to make goals I can effectively achieve. Also, they need to be measurable. Saying "I want to start running" isn't exactly measurable. At the end of the year, I want to be able to sit down with my list and say "yes I did that"! Now, one of my goals may be harder to measure, but it's something I know I want to do for the benefit of my girls.
So here is my list of goals for 2014:
1. Read 4 books. I used to read a lot when I was younger. I read the whole Left Behind series pretty quick. But I guess constantly reading text books in college kinda ruined me and I had to desire to read after that. But I want to kick that mindset and get back at it once again.
I chose to read 4 books for the year as an achievable goal. I don't have lots of time on my hands to sit around reading. I have two little girls, a husband, a house to clean, Arabic to learn and friends to visit. So I knew I would just need one book for every quarter. Which is better than the zero books I read now. The first book I'm going to read it called In The Land of Blue Burqas by Kate McCord. The next two I have chosen are Effective Parenting in a Defective World by Chip Ingram, and Forgotten God by Frances Chan. I'm still trying to decide on a fiction book, but that will be my 4th book on the list.
2. Run a 5K. This is something I have wanted to do for a while, but just never stuck with it. There are 5K runs here in our country, so before the end of 2014 I want to train and be able to run one. I've never been a long-distance runner. I've only been able to run about 1.5 miles at a time. So if I can just double that, it would be a great accomplishment.
3. Create a monthly family budget and stick with it! I started to make a family budget this last fall, but it fell through. I didn't plan well enough. So I want to stick with it so we can save and finally pay-off my students loans. It will be a challenge to stick to a budget and not waver, but with communication between me and Kevin, and a handy envelope system, we should be able to make it happen. And I also want to start saving up for vacations too!
4. Read books to the girls everyday for 20 minutes. We read books, but not near enough. When I stayed home with Eliana, I used to read to her all the time. She had a fabric box full of books and she would take one out at a time and we'd read it, and then move on to the next one. Reading is one of the best things you can do for kids and I want them to have a love for reading. I'd like to also maybe do some fun learning activities to go along with the books. But the main goal will be reading. Also, I'm allowing myself a little room for flexibility on this one because there will be days when I won't see the girls much at all. For instance, tomorrow I leave town for a few days and won't be back until Sunday, so those days I will not be able to read to them at all. But when I am home with them, I will read!
5. Follow a "Read-the-Bible-in-a-Year" plan. This one was suggested to me by a friend and I hadn't really thought about making it into a goal before. But it is true that I have set out to read the Bible in a year before, and I usually get stuck around the genealogies (imagine that!) So Kevin suggested to me the daily reading plan by the Gospel Coalition that follows a daily reading plan that isn't just Genesis-Revelation, but mixes it up day-by-day (taking sections from different parts of the Bible and not just one), and adds a short devotional thought about the scriptures read. I'm excited about this challenge to actually say I read the Bible in a year. For some this may be a normal occurrence, but I need to challenge myself and make it a goal.
I also wanted to call them goals instead of resolutions because it makes them seem more missional and purposeful. And sure, I have Arabic goals too, but those will be highlighted in my work-related goals I will set for myself. So these are more personal in nature, in helping myself become a enlivened person. And I hope these can challenge you to make goals for yourself too.