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My Monthly Goals…Why do I set them? Why do I share them here?
- Setting goals helps me remain focused.
- Sharing my goals helps to hold me accountable.
- I hope that it may inspire you to set goals for yourself.
Are you new to goal setting? Here are a few posts that may help or inspire you:
- How to Set Goals using Short Challenges and Mini Goals
- How Short Challenges and Mini Goals Work for Me
- One Simple Task to Help You Follow Through On Your Goals
Sleep
March: My goal was to be in bed for 7 hours at least 5 nights of the week. I hit this goal a little too much. I just needed more sleep this month. There were mornings that I was not up before my girls and I missed my morning alone time!
April: I want to continue to be in bed for 7 hours each night, but try to be up before my girls. If you have trouble making sleep a priority, check out these helpful resources: Sleep It Does a Family Good and Make Over Your Mornings.
Exercise
March: Workout 3-4 times per week and complete the 30-Day Pilates Body Challenge as part of my March Mini Goal. I completed my cardio at least 3 times each week. I completed most days of the 30 days of pilates, but often skipped it on my cardio days.
April: Cardio 3-4 times per week and finish the 30-Day Pilates Body workouts I did not complete in March.
Weekly “date” night with hubby
March: One movie, game or date night per week. We did this most of the weeks, if you count watching March Madness basketball?
April: Continue one movie, game or date night per week. We have been using VidAngel to watch movies at home. It’s just $1 per movie, we don’t have to leave the house to find a Red Box, and it’s not a subscription service. We have watched well over 10 movies with it and are happy with how easy and cheap it is. I wrote a post about VidAngel if you are curious how it works.
Monthly outing with our family
March: We met the cousins at a waterpark for a few days. It was the greatest time!
April: Plan one fun activity for the four of us in March.
Habit from my 12 Mini Goal Challenge
March: I didn’t complete all 30 days of the 30-Day Pilates Body Challenge (my March Mini Goal). I fit it in most days and will finish up the uncompleted workouts in April. Less evening snacking wasn’t even on my radar in March…
April: Complete my April goal of clearing my kitchen counters each evening. I am looking forward to waking up to a welcoming, clutter-free kitchen. Bonus points if I can complete this for my kitchen table too. Read more about my 12 Mini-Goals Challenge.
Faith
March: Read Daily Devotional New Testament: Through the New Testament in a Year
April: Continue to read Daily Devotional New Testament: Through the New Testament in a Year
Morning devotion with my girls
March: In February, I read a bible story to my girls at breakfast each morning. We all loved it and I wanted to continue to do this in March. I am disappointed that I got lazy on this goal and stopped reading the last half of March.
April: Read a daily devotion or bible story with my girls at breakfast each morning. We are currently reading First Bible Stories
Books
March: I wanted to finish Bringing Up Girls: Practical Advice and Encouragement for Those Shaping the Next Generation of Women
I also read and enjoyed Anchored: Finding Hope in the Unexpected
Girls
April: I can get lazy on going outside as I wait for the warm weather. My girls love playing in the backyard or at the park, so I need to get the girls playing outside at least twice per week.
Home
March: My goal was to have a weekly decluttering session at home. – NOPE. I switched gears and this was not a priority this month.
April: My home goal is to keep the kitchen counters clear. (Plan your garden! Here is a free Garden Planner Printable for you to use.)
Taxes
March: I enjoy doing my taxes. :) I will have to do research on how blogging income will come into play. – Almost done.
April: This obviously needs to be completed in April. I filed my taxes with e-file for 2019. It made the process much quicker and easier! See you are eligible to file for free or get 30% off your filing here.
March Blog Goals
- I joined Her View From Home as a contributor in March. You can read my first post as a contributor here.
- Publish “How to Start a Blog” post. – DONE! Read the step-by-step guide to setting up a WordPress blog. If you are considering starting a blog, I hope you find it helpful!
- Update Spring Cleaning Printable from last year. – DONE. Here is the updated Spring Cleaning Printable.
- Clean up the categories/navigation bar on my blog. – I didn’t get around to this.
- Research blogging income and taxes. – DONE.
- Set aside time to plan next printable workbook. – Nope.
- For one week in March: record how blogging time in spent. – Nope.
- Work ahead and plan out the 12 Mini-Goals Challenge for April. I would also like to map out a tentative plan for the rest of the year. – I am excited about my Mini-Goal for April, but I didn’t get around to planning out the rest of the year.
- Increase page views from February. – Yes, there was a small increase.
April Blog Goals
- Create one new printable.
- Clean up the categories/navigation bar on my blog.
- Figure out newsletter plan. I am approaching the maximum subscribers for a free account through Mailchimp. I have to figure out if I’m going to clean up my list or upgrade.
- Look into using Boardbooster for Pinterest. Update: Boardbooster is no longer. Use Tailwind instead.
- Pinterest update 2021: If you use Pinterest for your blog, join the Pinteresting Pins Subscription + Mastermind here!
- Work ahead and plan out the 12 Mini-Goals Challenge for May.
- Keep page views consistent with March’s page views.
Check out Make Over Your Mornings, a course I found so helpful!
You will receive free updates, morning motivation, printables, blog post highlights, and occasional deals sent your way. Frequency?? Just a few times per month.
Victoria @DazzleWhileFrazzled says
Good luck with your goals this month! I need to be better about writing down my blogging goals. Since I’m only a few months into this, I still feel all over the place. Visiting from Pretty Pintastic Party.
Emily says
I find it easier to keep focused when I write my blogging goals down.
Becky @ bybmg says
Such great goals. Going to bed with a clean kitchen is such a great feeling!
Lisa B says
I need to finish my taxes too – Yikes! I love the idea of reading a Bible story during breakfast… what a great way to start the day! — Lisa | Naptime Chai
Emily says
It is a wonderful way to start our day. The girls love it!
Julie S. says
I like your sleep goal, I should add that to my goal. Too much to do, not enough time. We’re gonna have to implement a date night when hubby returns, this separation is definitely not easy. Thanks for linking up! :)
Samantha says
I am with you on the kitchen counters. I feel less irritable in the mornings if I don’t have to battle my way to the coffee maker. And I slept in a little this past month too, when I was sick. It really made me appreciate my “me time in the mornings.
Emily says
I am with you…now that I have been enjoying a quiet house by myself, it’s easy to miss the time when I sleep in!
Ellie Augustin says
Sleep. I miss that word and that…. If I get more then 4 hours a night I am GOLDEN! Ha… and I love your goals for April goals! I am hoping to do better this coming month.
Tricia says
I will have to check out VidAngel. We are faithful Redbox users but I’d love to not have to leave the house! Haha
Emily says
Now that we started with VidAngel, we haven’t turned back to Redbox once! It is nice to decide to watch a movie and start it within a few minutes instead of having to get in the car and go pick it up.
Let me know what you think if you try it. Thank you for stopping by today, Tricia!
Abbie says
I still love your accountability with your goal setting. I also love that you do your devotionals with your girls in the morning. I don’t know why but this is a revelation to me! We read at night, but I love this way to start the day when they are fresh and engaged.
Emily says
As long as I read as soon as they start eating, they are very engaged. If I wait too long, my 2-year old does get a little antsy.
Let me know if you try it!
Savvy says
I love the kitchen counter idea; I’m going to have to try that one. I haven’t heard anyone mention Passion Fruit in awhile.
Echo says
These are great goals and I love the way you have them laid out! Thank you for sharing them at the #SmallVictoriesSundayLinkup!
Theresa says
I really resonate with your kitchen goals. I try and have a clean kitchen to wake up to every morning…but some nights I just can’t. Way to go on your goals. Keep it up.
Jill says
We had similar posts this morning- goals:) Ahhh..I love setting goals- and putting it out there on the blog makes me so much more accountable to them. Your blog is so inspirational- thanks for a great post. I’m looking forward to reading about blog income and taxes- something that has been on my mind for some time now. :)
Emily says
Yes, writing them out here helps me stay focused. Love the accountability!
Thanks for stopping by, Jill!
Aimee says
I love the idea of recapping and evaluating each month! Often I do set goals, but rarely do I evaluate and hold myself accountable. Looking forward to checking out your link up on Wednesday!
Emily says
I find that writing them down helps. I track my progress on a printable calendar that I make each month. If I don’t write the goals down where I can see them, I can easily forget about them!
Danielle says
Great goals! I love reading what others goals are. Good luck getting your April goals done! :)
Becky says
I love monthly goals posts! I love seeing what other people hoped to accomplish and what they are planning for the next month. It is so motivating! Good Luck!!
Emily says
Thanks Becky!
Tajuana Paige says
Thank you for sharing!!
Sara says
I love that you had a daily devotional with your girls. I was doing this at night and kind of slacked off after the time change because my little ones were just too tired. Do you have any devotional books for small kids you love? We finised Jesus Calling the kids bible version!
Tracey says
So enjoyed reading through your goals and seeing your progress! I am interested in the devotional book you’re using; I’ve been doing She Reads Truth so far this year, but I like the way the book you mention is set up.
Setting monthly goals is something I post about monthly as well, so I’ll be back tomorrow to post mine on the link up!
Emily says
I recommend checking out the devotional. I am enjoying it! I have never read a devotional that reads through portions of the Bible like this one and I’m happy I found it.
I’m looking forward to checking out your goals tomorrow!
Suzanne says
I love this post! Weekly date nights with the mister is a great idea. Thank you for inspiring me!
Tina says
I love goals! I am just starting to work on a goal list to accomplish before I turn 30 in one year! So we shall see how it goes. How encouraging to read your updates!
Bonnie says
I like your kitchen counter goal for your home. I have an island and it always is cluttered full of stuff. Thanks for holding a great link up.
Tanya @ Mom's Small Victories says
Great job with your goals, congrats on almost hitting your mailchimp subscriber limit and increasing pv from Feb to march. And Me Before You? Yes! Read it …with lots of kleenex mearby. With a spring break trip and my infusion that knocks me out, i haven’t gotten my april goals up yet!Thanks for sharing with Small Victories Sunday Linkup. Pinned to our linkup board.
Michelle says
I read Dobson’s books while raising my girls. He use to be my go-to on parenting and marriage. Glad to see parents are still reading him today.
Emily says
I have no idea if other parents are still reading Dobson, but they should! My parents read many of his books and recommended them to me.
MsCrookedHalo says
Congratulations on almost hitting your Mailchimp subscriber limit. When I get to that level, I may have to consider either staying with Mailchimp or importing over to Aweber.
Sharon Rowe says
I love reading other people’s goals! I find it fascinating! It makes me feel that I am not alone when I set my goals too! I am going to look at your pilates challenge this sounds like fun! Thank you for sharing on Monday Madness link party! Hope to see you there next week too!
JES says
Thanks for sharing your goals on the Art of Home-Making Mondays. I need to work on some monthly outings. Great idea!
Cassie says
I like sharing my goals as well because it keeps me accountable, however, I am horrible at updating my progress. Maybe I should make it a monthly post.
Secondly, I have tried passionfruit ads before and just didn’t have much luck with them, I hope you have better luck than me.
Lastly, I need to work on keeping my counters clean as well. I am great at cleaning them off at the beginning of the month, but by the end of the month it’s cluttered again.
Good luck!
Keri Snyder says
Love your goals- you have been doing such a good and focused work here- very inspiring
Suzanna @ One Hoolie Mama says
You did great work on your March goals – congrats! I’ve been considering the Make Over Your Mornings course. The more I hear people rave about it, the more I’m leaning towards purchasing it! Thanks for linking up with Gratitude & Goals.