In keeping with tradition on here, I wanted my first post of the new year to be my personal goals for 2019. As I was trying to decide on goals to set for myself, I realized…I basically just want to keep working on what I had in my 2018 Goals.
I’m actually really proud of how much progress I made with all my goals last year. Some I reached; some I got close to; and some I could definitely try a lot harder at. That’s why my theme for this post is “keep on keepin’ on.” I plan to keep striving for what I was working towards last year, but to help motivate myself and keep myself accountable, I’m using the following two tactics:
- Being more specific about what I want to achieve
- Logging my goals on a regular basis
It’s nothing groundbreaking or anything, but I think these two concepts are what I’ve been missing in past years. The hardest thing for me (and I know for so many others) is just…making good habits exactly that: habits. Consistency is the only way to get and maintain results, and I think logging will make a huge difference for me (because it has done wonders for my workout schedule over the years). And since healthy living (whether mental, physical, or emotional) is all about what you do every day, I want to work on my focus so I stay dedicated all 12 months of the year.
If you’ve been reading some of my recent blog posts (or especially Instagram posts), then you know I just moved to Chicago from San Diego. With that move brought a number of life changes. Aside from the obvious colder weather, I’m also transitioning to a completely remote work schedule for my full-time job (read: my job as a writer). This is very new to me (though I was already working remotely half the time), so I’m very curious how I’ll settle into this new work lifestyle.
Considering these life changes and what I still want to accomplish for my personal health and well-being, here’s the list I’ve come up with that I plan to commit to in 2019:
- Read an average of 1 book per month (which is 4 more books than I ended up reading last year).
- Reduce my body fat percentage by 2-4% (by putting a greater emphasis on a nutritious diet and incorporating more movement into my daily life).
- Work out at least 4 times per week (for at least 15 minutes and doing a variety of activities throughout the week).
- Model at least 1-2 meals per day after the Mediterranean diet (which emphasizes all the foods I want to consume more of—e.g., fish, plants, herbs vs. salt, etc.)
- Get outside every day, even if just for 5 minutes (it’s weird how easy it is to not do this when you work from home).
- Practice piano for at least 30 minutes per week (which is the top goal I struggled with last year).
All of these actually seem a bit daunting to me, but maybe that’s a good thing. It shows I’m really challenging myself. Making a whopping 6 goals also feels a bit overwhelming at first, but that’s part of why I know logging my progress is important this go around. I’ll be creating a spreadsheet with each item on my list, so I can regularly update it with where I’m at.
Although I had similar goals last year, I’m excited about embarking on this new and improved list this year. It feels doable despite the fact I know it’ll be hard work to maintain all year. But that’s why January is such a great month—it’s the start of a fresh new year, and anything is possible!
Do you make New Year’s goals or resolutions?
What’s one thing you want to work on in 2019?
