I do this every year.. I say “I’ll be healthy,” “I’ll eat better,” “I’ll read more,” “I’ll be less of a hermit.” I make goals that are attainable, but I don’t follow through because I never make a plan or set a deadline for myself – I just imagine it’ll happen some time within the year organically. Ha! Nothing happens for me organically. And I know this. But here we are.. every year.. the same or worse off than I was the year before.

This year I changed up my resolution mindset, and I attempted to create SMART goals. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (learn more here). I learned about this in like high school, but I’m not sure why I didn’t commit it to memory or put it in practice before, but new year, new me, eh?

For example, here are last year’s goals:

Not exactly specific or measurable. What is “more”? Once a week? Once a month? Once a year? I’m not sure. Some of those things probably only happened once in the year, but that is all the success I seemed to ask myself for, and I deserve better than that. I definitely need to do more than finish half of a resolution. Look at all that marked-out junk.

New year, new me.

(It’s a total cliche, but I’m gonna keep saying it until it happens. Maybe not a whole new me, but at least a better one.)

New year, better me.

(Happy?)

Ok, what my readers (all 3 of you) have been waiting for:

My 2019 SMART Resolutions

Read at least one new book a month

Can I commit to this? Yes. Can I measure this? Absolutely. Do audio-books count? You betcha. This means I can learn or extend my imagination on car rides, while running (Ha! Right? But just wait – this may actually help me get into the gym.), while doing a puzzle (have I mentioned I’m a multi-tasker?), or whatever else I do every day. I’m also hoping this will help me cut back on TV time. We’ll see.

If you’re interested, here’s how to get an Audible membership, and my January read is The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone. Maybe maybe I’ll write about it in the future.

Fit in my wedding dress by April 1st

BOLD, right? I bought my dress almost 2 years ago (an actually crazy move on my part), and I never tried it on with the right-sized dress liner under it before it was purchased. The dress itself has some give, but that liner does not. That’s what makes this resolution so measurable – it’s either going to happen for me or it isn’t. Simple.

I don’t really do diets. I love Chick-Fil-A’s fried chicken sandwiches too much (please don’t take this as making a stance on the company’s religious views – I can debate on that another day). I also struggle with consistently working out. It’s going to be a wild few months, honestly. Every body is different, and I’m not sure if mine will lose fat or build muscle first, but I’m hoping to lose some inches around my waist and tone up my arms a bit.

I’ll keep you updated on how it all goes.

Drink 2+ bottles of water each work day

It’s not the total recommended daily suggestion for water, but it’s a start. I’m very bad about remembering to drink water. I even bought one of those Hidrate Spark water bottles to flash at me every 30 minutes. It worked great for a while, but I lost the extra battery it came with during my SC move, and now I just have a very expensive normal water bottle.

Maybe buying new batteries for things should be a resolution at some point. I’ll shoot for mid-year. I’ve got a lot going on before May.

Travel once a month

I don’t know how many times in my life I’ve looked at the calendar and thought “wait, how is it already the end of the month? I’ve done nothing.” Well here it is, the resolution to fix my month-ending woes. If I have something to look forward to each month, like a trip or a new adventure, I won’t be able to say “I’ve done nothing.”

These can be mini road-trips to family, flights to new cities, and May will be pretty easy to check off the list with our European honeymoon.

Fun resolution: check!

Take more photos that aren’t screenshots

I can have like one “more” pass, right? I feel like this one won’t really do much for me long-term or monetarily, but it’ll give me some fun Instagram stories next New Year’s Eve. 2018 wasn’t really eventful enough for me to have a fun story/event from. every. month.

Did this make me sad? A little. Will I lose sleep over it? No. I figured adding one “easy” thing to the list would make me feel better next January 3rd.

Keep my plants alive until 2020

Once again, it will either happen or it won’t – a resolution that’s easy to measure.

If you know me, you know this is going to be a struggle.

At least the cat meows if she needs something. I’ll just leave it at that.

Start blogging again – at least once a month

Hey look, a new blog post!

I’m shooting for at least one a month. I stressed myself out a bit when I tried to do it weekly. If I mess up a streak of any kind, I tend to go into shameful hiding from whatever the activity was.

I’m also trying not to do that anymore.

I actually really liked blogging, though. I felt like it gave me a sense of peace through writing all my thoughts down in one place and hitting “Publish” to share with the world. It also makes me a lot less chatty at parties when I start thinking “Butttt I haven’t told people this story yet” – yep, I’m that friend – so I feel like this will be a relief for everyone.

$$$

I also have a few monetary goals, but I’m not quite ready to share those with the whole internet. I’m not ready to be that transparent with you all. I mean, you barely ever see my face in this blog, so you definitely don’t need to know my bank account situation.

In the paper copy of my resolutions, I wrote down a rough number of what I’d like to have saved by the end of the year outside my 401K and what I’d like for Life in Crafting to make in profit this year, but I still need to go back and see if those goals are actually achievable. If they are, there is some planning to do, and I’ll try to keep you [three] in the loop on how I do that planning.

Here’s to 2019!

New year, better me.

 

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