In the past few years, I’ve come up with three to five broad categories of goals I want to accomplish throughout the year. This year, I tried to take a more focused approach, so I came up with one overarching theme to guide the changes I hope to make. My overarching theme for 2017 will Healthy Mind, Body, and Spirit, and I tried to set all my goals with this theme in mind.
2017 Review
This was a great year in terms of helping to change my perspective. I value this year’s theme of Healthy Mind, Body, and Spirit so much, and I think I made great strides to becoming a more mindful person in general. I still have a lot of work to do, but I feel like I’m improving year over year — and that’s all anyone can ask for.
In the past several years, I’ve learned how to hone in on what I actually want to achieve and I’ve made a lot of improvements to my goal setting process. With each passing year, I understand a little more intuitively how to design a goal that will work for me, and I no longer have qualms about adjusting a goal that isn’t achieving its intended purpose. This has come about from many iterations of setting annual goals, which highlights the importance of repeating the process each year, with the appropriate tweaks. I only hope I’ll continue to refine and improve my goal setting process going forward.
Goal #1: Keep a daily gratitude journal
I’m the type of person who sweats the small stuff. I tend to get caught up worrying about things that are out of my control and this causes me to fall into a bit of a negative downward spiral from time to time. By keeping a gratitude journal, I’m hoping to focus on shifting my perspective to one that is more positive and being thankful for all the wonderful aspects of my life.
This goal will involve identifying at least one thing at day that I’m grateful for. My gratitude journal will be a digital one, and I’ll be using Microsoft Excel to track my daily gratitudes. I made my first entry in the journal yesterday, and it felt lovely to recall four or five things throughout the day that I was truly grateful for. I’m happy I’m documenting these moments in time.
2017 review
I did very well with this goal, but I did tend to forget to update my journal on a daily basis, and I’d occasionally have to catch up after the fact. That being said, this practice did help to change my mindset! I can now more easily see the positive things that happen and I feel very grateful for all the good in my life. I don’t think I need to continue this practice going forward, but if I do find myself starting to revert back to negativity and complaining, I’ll know I have this in my toolkit to change my perspective.
Goal #2: Stretch for at least 10 minutes per day
This is a repeat goal from 2016. I only did my stretches around 50% of the time last year, so I decided I’d try again this year. I do understand and feel the benefits of stretching, so I’m hoping I can integrate this into my daily routine. To give myself a better chance for success, I’m going to bundle this goal with another (see #5).
2017 review
I was much more successful with this compared to last year! I did start cheating on my stretches towards the end of the year, where I wouldn’t necessarily time my stretches but I’d make sure to stretch periodically throughout the day. Overall, I’d say stretching in general has become part of my routine now.
Goal #3: Go for at least 8 massages
This goal is also the same as last year!
2017 review
I went for 4 massages this year, but I’ve since decided to scrap this goal. The main reason for this is that my massage therapist moved — I was sad because I loooooved her — and I haven’t found anyone I’ve liked as much. Instead of going for massages, I’m going to experiment with a combination of stretching and self-massage to see how that goes.
Goal #4: Wake up at least 2 hours before leaving for work
Last year, I set a goal to wake up 1.5 hours before leaving for work and I loved it. This year, I want to push the boundaries even more. I’d like to experiment with waking up 2 hours before leaving for work. I usually leave for work at 8am, so this means I’ll be trying to wake up at 6am every day.
2017 review
I did it!! Waking up 2 hours before leaving for work has now become my new sweet spot. It’s beyond wonderful.
Goal #5: Turn off the computer by 9pm if I have to work the next day
Since I’m shifting my wake-up time earlier, I’m also planning to implement an earlier computer shut down time. I anticipate the 9pm shut down time to be a bit of a challenge, and I’ll likely need to revisit this. I definitely want to keep up with my YouTube channel, so I might need more computer time to do all the things associated with putting together my videos.
2017 review
I ended up modifying this goal and reverting back to the 9:30pm shut down time. This was mainly because I started shifting parts of my nighttime routine earlier due to my Invisalign treatment. Instead of waiting until the end of the night to brush my teeth and wash my face, I’d do that right after dinner so I could put in my Invisalign aligners. Completing this part of my nighttime routine earlier meant I could be on the computer a little bit longer and still get to bed on time. My shut down time did suffer a bit due to my daily vlogging in December but I continue to implement this most days.
Goal #6: Only watch YouTube videos while I am doing something productive
I set this goal in the hopes that it will help me achieve some of my other goals (this is the bundling I referred to in goal #2). When I start watching videos, I tend to go down the rabbit hole — and before I know it, I’ve spent hours upon hours consuming content on YouTube. This goal is intended to interrupt that pattern.
I’m hoping this new habit of only watching YouTube videos while I’m doing something productive will be one of those game-changer goals that will make all my other goals easier to achieve. A few examples of “doing something productive” include getting ready in the morning, working out, doing stretches, or cooking. I’m also going to be making an exception when hubby and I sit down to watch a video together, but this rarely happens as we have very different interests for the most part. I will not be watching YouTube videos while eating.
2017 review
I did very well on this, and it is such a time saver! There were a handful of times that I did fall into the YouTube rabbit hole again, but I’d usually be able to catch myself and adjust before spending too much time watching videos.
Goal #7: Complete 3 monthly challenges
Over the years, I’ve noticed that monthly challenges have really helped to nudge my behaviour in the right direction. I love using the monthly challenge format to try out a new habit or routine. It’s a relatively painless way of testing something out to see if it’s for me. Even if it’s not, I know I’ve given the new habit a good try, and I have no qualms about moving onto something else. This year, I plan to complete 3 monthly challenges. I have an idea what a couple of them will be but I’m going to keep the plan fluid in case I change my mind.
2017 review
This was such a huge success! I ended up doing the 31-day Yoga Revolution in January (via Yoga with Adriene), my 31-day eat at home challenge in March, a 31-day no calories from drinks challenge in March, and a 31-day meditation challenge in March… soooo March was a very productive month! I don’t think I did any other challenges the rest of the year, but I completed 4 challenges in 2017 and made some great progress.
Goal #8: Drink 16 oz of herbal infusion every evening
When I did purchased David’s Tea advent calendar last December, I noticed that drinking a herbal infusion every evening helped tremendously with my hydration and my state of mind (a hot steeped drink is so soothing). Since finishing the advent calendar, I’ve noticed that my water consumption has decreased dramatically. In an attempt to increase my level of hydration in 2017, I’ll be setting a new goal to drink at least 16 ounces of herbal infusion every evening. This goal has the added bonus of having inherent elements of relaxation and self-care.
2017 review
This goal was a huge success and is a now highly valued part of my daily routine.
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The first 8 goals were designed with my overarching theme in mind. The next 4 goals are other things I’d like to work on this year.
Goal #9: Learn how to accessorize
I’ve gotten out of the habit of rotating my jewellery, so I started dabbling in accessorizing towards the end of 2016 as a way of testing out this goal before implementing it in the new year. With the short experiment, I saw firsthand that adding a few simple accessories can have a noticeable impact. It also has the added benefit of making me feel like I’m making good use of the things I own. This goal is a bit subjective and doesn’t really meet the SMART criteria; however, I’m still going to go ahead with it, and I’ll be tracking this on Instagram as I continue to post my daily work outfits.
2017 review
This goal helped me realize that I’m a jewellery minimalist. I like simple, understated pieces that I can wear every day. Since discovering this about myself, I’ve been able to let go of a lot of my big and bold costume jewellery.
Goal #10: Track usage of beauty products
I don’t have any specific decluttering goals in 2017, but I do know that I’d like to get a better understanding of how long it takes me to use up a particular product. I started an Excel spreasheet at the end of 2016 to track my usage of beauty products. Some of the fields I track include when I purchased the item, when I started using the item, when I finished using the item, who uses the item and how often, and how long the item lasted. Having a better understanding of these details will hopefully help me to better plan my purchases during sales, only use my mascara and lip gloss every 3-6 months, and generally be more mindful of my stash.
2017 review
I love love love this spreadsheet! I’m finding the information very useful and tracking using this tool has become a part of my routine going forward.
Goal #11: Meet my annual savings target
This is an ongoing goal for me! I won’t be setting any budget goals this year (learned my lesson last year). I’ll be happy as long as I meet my annual savings target.
2017 review
Yes! I met my annual savings goal this year!
Goal #12: Continue with my photo-a-day project of my hubby & me and reduce # of days missed
This is another recurring goal for me! I missed 13 days of photos in 2016, and I’m hoping to improve on that this year.
2017 review
Success! I only missed 8 days of photos in 2017, not counting the days I was in Paris with my friend.