My 2015 Goals & Resolutions

The late President Abraham Lincoln once said, "Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other."  I couldn't agree more.  Setting goals and resolutions play a huge role in helping us to reach success, whatever that may mean for you.  Whether you want to become a better Christian, learn how to boil water or have a lasting marriage, having a clear outline or list of goals and resolutions will aid you in your efforts.  That is exactly why I believe in setting new goals and resolutions at the start of every year.

One activity that I like to do when setting my goals and resolutions each is making a vision board.  I tend to be a very visual person and having visual representation of what I want and need to accomplish help to keep me more focused and makes me feel more accountable compared to just writing them down.  This year Moo and JJ got in on the action as well.  Also, I did something different and broke my vision board up into four sections- Home Life, Finance/Money, Career and Relationships (Marriage, family, friends, etc)- after reading Lucinda Cross's vision board feature in Essence Magazine.  Below are a few of my main goals and resolutions that I hope to achieve by the end of this year.

Home Life

-Exercise 3 days a week for 15-30 minutes:  I plan to switch up my workouts everyday and rotate between doing Zumba (cardio), yoga and a day of just ab and leg training.  I have nice YouTube workout playlist that I've already started adding videos to.  Yes, you can find free videos from professional trainers like Jillian Michaels on their YouTube channels.

-Apply for passports for myself and the kids and renew the Mr's:  I've talked several times on here about how I want to travel overseas to Paris, London and Italy.  Well, you can't do that without a passport.  Therefore, I'm finally finishing up the applications, taking our photos and sending in our applications.  I've given myself until May to get this task done.

-Travel/Take a vacation: The travel bug has been biting at my heels (and Moo's) for some time now and I'm determined to get out of the Queen City and see something new.  A few places we'd love to visit are New York, Philadelphia, and New Orleans.  Moo has requested a trip to either Disney World or to take a Disney Cruise.  We'll see.

-Get stronger in my faith, trusting God's plan for the lives of myself and my family:  There is definitely room for growth and improvement in spiritual life.  This year, I'm focusing hard to make it to church, do a daily devotion and continue with our daily morning and evening prayers.

-Get more involved in philanthropy and giving back:  Giving back and serving others is one of the most emotionally rewarding aspects of my life besides parenting.  I've already started jotting down projects that I can start doing and continue doing on a yearly that basis that we can do as a family as well as by myself.

Relationships

-Spend more time doing family activities:  Be it more trips to the park or dance parties in the middle of the living room, I'm committed to getting from behind the computer and putting down my phone to spend more time with my kids and my husband.  My first item of business is to start monthly family nights and invest in a collection of board games.

-Have kidless date night:  My husband and I haven't had a date night without the kids in over 6 years!  So, I'm working on planning something special and having my baby sister to come up and hang out with the kiddies in order for us to get out alone for a few hours.

-Find local couple/family friends:  My husband and I have zero local couple friends.  All of our friends who are married live in different states that are thousands of miles away from us.  While, we love our single friends that we have here, I'd like to be able to do family date nights and other couple/family related activities.  I'm definitely looking for couples who are compassionate, grounded in their faith, have kids and share some of our likes and dislikes.

-Do a better job of reaching out to other bloggers and writers:  I'm an introvert by nature and that doesn't exactly mix with being a blogger and writer because I need to network and be able to self-promote well.  There's been so many times that I've wanted to reach out to a blogger and collaborate on a project, but didn't.  I'm looking to improve that this year.

Career

-Get more consistent about blogging and vlogging:  Last year I was all over the place with the exception of my weekly Thankful Thursday posts.  This year I've designed my own blog and vlog planner and I've already gotten started with jotting down post and video ideas as well as dates on which to post and upload it.  I'm working on coming up with a weekly feature for my YouTube channel.

-Improve and expand my blog and video content:  This year I want to be more intentional and purposeful when it comes to the content I produce.  So, be prepared to see more DIY projects, recipes and even a few interviews coming to the blog and vlog.  I want to produce more content that will be useful and more inspiring to you guys.

-Take a class:  Whether it's a blogging class, graphic design or a general business class, I'm committed to learning more skills to make myself a better entrepreneur. 

Finances/Money

-Pay off small debts:  We have a few small debts ranging from $50 to $3500 that we want to off by June, but definitely before the end of this year.  Financial freedom is something that I didn't grow up seeing and I'm determined to set a better example of managing finances and stress the importance of not having debt to my children.  

-Start researching and open a retirement account:  The Mr's retirement account is all set thanks to his job, but it's time that I work on making sure my retirement is set.

-Save money/cut expenses:  Overall, we have fell off the wagon a little bit when it comes to managing our expenses.  This year I really want to get back started with couponing and just making sure we do everything we can to get our monthly spending down.  

-Start an overseas trip fund:  Since we'll have our passports by the end of the year, I want to start planning a trip somewhere outside of the US for us to take in 2016.  I've been checking out a lot of travel blogs and stockpiling resources in preparation for our trip.

-Teach Moo and JJ more about money:  As I mentioned earlier, I want my kids to have a more positive relationship with money and know how to manage it.  So, we'll be checking lots of books and watching kid videos that break down money management in a way they can understand.

I know this seems like a long list, but a lot of these goals just require more self discipline and actually putting in effort.  Mind of matter so to speak.  I'll keep y'all updated as I make progress on them through the year.  I choice the words "fearless" and "leap" as my focus words for this year and I'm looking forward to doing just that.

 Also, I felt like God kept leading me to Jeremiah 29:11.  So, I created a chalkboard printable and printed it out to display on the mantel in the living room as a constant reminder of this promise from the Lord.  Check it out below as well as a link to download your own 4x6 printable for FREE for personal use ONLY!  Please remember to link back to this post and give credit if you share my printable on your blog and/or social media accounts!

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What are your goals and resolutions for the New Year?