Goals

I've resisted doing a post with new year's resolutions as they all seem to fall into two categories:  people who make resolutions and talk about how cliche resolutions are and people who don't make resolutions because people never keep them and talk about how cliche it is to not make resolutions because people never keep them.  I fall squarely in between.  {There's also a third category of people whose resolutions read like a Kate Spade ad, but we discussed that on Twitter last week, so I'm not going there.}

I like the idea of resolutions.  As a type-A perfectionist, I'm drawn to that idea of constantly striving for self-improvement.  Growing up, resolutions were a requirement in our family new year's meetings.  These meetings were all business.  My dad would make hand-outs with bullet points and we had to prepare at least 3 resolutions to bring to the meeting.  My parents still have a folder with all of our past resolutions.  My personal favorite is the year my sister resolved for our family to be on Family Double Dare.  Add that one to the 'failure' pile.

But resolutions too often are these rather vague, overreaching visions of what and who we want to be without any sort of framework, plan, or ground game for accomplishing these visions.  Most of the time they are more or less us telling ourselves what we think the best version of ourselves would be.  And then a year later when we haven't ticked everything off the list, you are left with the sneaky and disappointing suspicion that you aren't your best self.  If the idea behind resolutions is self-improvement, that doesn't seem like a particularly wanted outcome.

With that said, this type-A perfectionist adores goals and loves nothing more than the feeling of marking something off of a list.  When I make to-do lists, sometimes I write down things I've already done just so I can mark them off.  I find it that satisfying.  So while I do have some resolution-ish things in mind for 2013 {most of which are closely related to items on my 101 in 1,001 list}, I'm much more excited about the monthly goals I've set for myself.

One of my overarching themes for 2013 is to live a more deliberate life in all aspects of my life.  I don't intend that to mean that every detail of my life is planned out to the second; there's a lot to be said for spontaneity and letting things happen as they come.  But too often I find myself not following through with my best intentions and watching the days go by without accomplishing much of anything.  The road to hell and all that.  I want to look back this time next year and say, "Wow, I really did stuff this year!" instead of "Wow, I wanted to do a lot of stuff last year!" {see: decorating our home to look like two employed adults live there}.  This quote has been inspiring me these past few weeks: "Fear is a manipulative emotion that can trick us into living a boring life." - Donald Miller

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So my monthly goals seem rather silly when typing them out on their own.  But come December, my hope is that they'll add up to a much larger picture of accomplishment and yes, maybe even a little self-improvement.  Vague and overreaching, perhaps, but now that I have a monthly plan for making things happen, I'm excited to get started.  Some of the first goals?  In the month of January, I want to floss at least twice weekly.  And one week, just one, I want to drink the recommend 64oz of water a day, every day.  And I WILL finish reading "The Emperor of All Maladies".

What things are you checking off of your list in 2013?