I recently shared my 2019 word of the year here on the blog.  If you missed it (you can go back and read it here), the word I chose for 2019 is treasure.  That is, I want to be really intentional about where I place my treasure – my time, my energy, relationships, money, etc.  I want to be mindful of what things I’m holding closely or treasuring this year.

As a stay-at-home mom, there are surprisingly lots of demands on my time, thoughts, and energy and this year, especially, I want to be intentional about where I put those things.

I’ve talked a lot about goals and goal setting here before.  Why it’s important to make sure your goals are aligned with your priorities and setting goals together with your spouse.  (Hubs and I still use the questions on that worksheet as a framework for setting our goals together.)

And because goal setting is something that we do often around here, I thought it only fitting to share some of my big goals here on the blog with y’all.

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Ultimately, I’d love to share updates and goal updates on a regular basis.  I love following along and watching others accomplish their goals, and perhaps sharing here will give some accountability, too.

2019 Goals

So then, in keeping with my 2019 word of the year and reflecting some on the things I’d love to do differently or better than in 2018, here are my 2019 goals.

Personal Goals

Many of these personal goals are simply about being intentional this year about good, simple (but necessary) self-care routines.  Allowing myself to put my best foot forward, to be in community, and to be growing spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.

• Get in the Word everyday
  • I was up and down with this in 2018 and frankly, much of the overwhelm I felt can be attributed to not taking time EACH day to ground myself in the Word and in prayer.
• Get to the gym or workout 3x/week on average
  • It’s not even about weight loss, because the number on the scale (that only tells a small part of the story) is fine.  It’s not the best it’s ever been, but it’s within “healthy” range for my height.
  • But, I can tell that my body doesn’t feel as strong as it’s felt before.  I notice how my clothes fit.  And there are things that I used to be able to do that I can’t right now.
  • And regular physical fitness helps my mood, my sleep, my eating, etc.
  • So, I need to workout.  Not to bend to any social pressures, but to be the healthiest version of me.
• Run a 5K
  • I’ve never been a great runner, but I was getting so much better when I was exercising consistently prior to becoming pregnant with the littlest.  Hoping to do this this year.
• Read at least 4 books, but ideally more.
  • Okay, this seems easy peasy.  But it can be hard to find time to read just for reading’s sake.  4 books is 1/season and I think that’s totally doable.
• Find simple, meaningful ways to connect often with Hubs.
  • Because it’s not always easy in these little years.  But, man, is it important.
• Be open to change and interruptions.  Create margin.
• Be intentional about nurturing relationships with friends and neighbors.
• Learn to rest.

Home Goals

We spend so much time at home, and I really believe that home is important.  Making home is important and using our home well is important.  I want our home to be a place where love grows and people thrive.  For our family and for anyone who comes in.  I want our home to be a place where people feel welcome, loved, heard, and important.  Ultimately, I want our home to be a place where the love and peace of Christ is displayed freely, openly, and undeniably.

All of my efforts in homemaking and home-keeping are to that end.

• Create space in our home for things such that our home is a place for calm, organization, and rest.
  • Well, not always calm because #boymama.  But we are continuing to work on decluttering and organizing.  And I’ve got some big plans to re-do some of the spaces around here to make them more functional and restful.
    • Specifically, hoping to update our office/playroom, reorganize some things in the kitchen, update our gallery wall, paint the back deck, and organize the garage. So stay tuned for some fun before and afters this year!
• Create systems to combat overwhelm.
  • Cleaning routines, meal planning schedule, regular meal prep, etc.
  • Creating specific and consistent “clean up” parts of our daily routine so that everyone (read; also the kids) work together to take care of our home.  It’s our responsibility to teach this to them, and I really need to work on this consistently this year.
• Embrace and encourage creative, messy, and imaginative play regularly.
  • You would think I have this one down seeing as how I post lots of kids’ activities on the blog, but I’m really hoping to stretch my imagination this year to be able to engage more in imaginative play with the boys, not be discouraged by messes (read: maintaining order such that we have space to make a mess and a process to easily clean it up when we’re through.)

Blogging Goals

And lastly, this blog.  What a fun and creative outlet this space has become for me.  I saw so much growth and learned so many new things in 2018.  And while it was fun to see the blog grow and fun to be able to earn some extra income from my efforts, I really want to be intentional in 2018 to keep blogging in check with my other priorities.

Blogging can be VERY time intensive and it’s easy to let that take me away from other things.  In 2018, my overarching goal is to work smarter, not harder in continuing to grow Live Well Play Together, to use my platform and influence well, and to provide helpful, authentic content to my readers.

• Blog consistently at least one post per week.
  • This is mostly maintenance, but I want to be sure to continue creating content on a regular basis because it’s helpful for me to stay in a rhythm.
• Diversify content to share more motherhood and lifestyle type posts.
  • I shared A LOT of kids’ activities here in 2018 and I hope to still share that often, but frankly, there is just so much more to motherhood and my life as a stay-at-home mom, and marriage, and I’m hoping to share more of that in this space.
• Increase page views.
  • Not totally sure what my number is for this, but I’m hoping that each month will be better than the corresponding month in 2018.  Does that make sense?  It takes a lot of time to create content and promote new posts and I’m always thinking of what kinds of things might be helpful to share in this space.
  • You can help me with this by sharing posts that you like with others, making sure my emails get to your inbox, and just continuing to be great and following along.
• Set standard office hours at home and put down the phone.
  • Because I’m my own boss when it comes to the blog, I get to choose when to work on it.  In 2019, my big goal is to create sort of “office hours” to do work and then step away outside of those hours in order to be more present and focused on other important roles and projects.
• Create a plan for consistency on social media.
• Clear email inbox at least once/month (for the blog and personal email)…anyone else let email clutter your life on the reg?  Hoping to change that this year.

If you haven’t already complete the Reader Survey for 2018, I’d love to you take a minute to do it now.  Click here to complete it, let me know what you want to see on the blog, and enter to win a Starbucks gift card…all in less than 5 minutes!

And that’s it.  Like I mentioned, I’m hoping to stop in often in this space to share updates and monthly (or bi-monthly) goals with y’all – so stay tuned for that.

I’d love to know what you’re working on this year, too!  Let me know in the comments below (and if you’re also a blogger and you’ve shared your own goals posts – let me know that too, so I can check them out!)