Hello Everyone!

Happy New Year! Today I am going to talk (or type) about one of my favorite things!  Goal-setting for the New Year!

Every year around this time, I love planning my new year, making new goals, thinking about new/old projects, dreaming about the future year and what it will hold. I decided to come up with 18 goals this year – in honor of the fact that it’s the year twenty-eighteen!

For the month of January, several of my blog posts will be centered around goal setting and planning for the best new year possible. So, be sure to stay tuned!

The following list of 18 goals is my personal goal list for twenty-eighteen.  Along with these goals are my own reasons for setting the goals, my plans on how to reach my goal and more. It is my hope that you will take this list and use it for inspiration in creating your own personal goal list for twenty-eighteen!

18 Goals for The New Year

1. Study a Book of the Bible Each Month

Okay, so I may have originally stolen this idea from my hubby… but… it just seems so fitting for me! Lately, I have been spending my time reading through the Psalms and also 1 Samuel. Staying in the same book(s) for a longer period of time is helping me dig deeper and really learn more about what I’m reading. I’ve even used the devotional book, Men of the Bible to study out the character(s) of Saul, David and Jonathan, since these are the prominent characters in the book of 1 Samuel.

For the New Year, I plan to pick a new book of the Bible each month to study. My choice might depend on what book of the Bible I find particularly interesting, or even what book my Pastor happens to be preaching from. I have a KJV Life Application Study Bible which has super helpful study notes. From there I may even choose other study guides and books to help me learn. (I enjoy the BE series commentaries written by Warren Weirsbie, although I would not agree with everything including his choice of Bible versions).

So…. that’s my Bible reading plan for the New Year. 🙂

2. Use a Spiritual Journal Each Day

A few weeks ago, I bought a cute polka dot notebook from Walmart. It had no lines in the pages, and each page is tan instead of white (similar to a sketch pad). It’s been perfect to use during my devotions. In it I copy down verses that stick out to me, as well as prayers, and favorite quotes from my devotional book, Deep Fire. I use this notebook frequently, but I want to begin using it on a daily basis.

>>> To see how to use a spiritual journal, check out this post.

3. Create and Follow a Bible Memory Plan that Works

I know that memorizing Scripture is very important! But I’ve never been able to come up with a system that works well for me. I will probably start small – just one or two Bible verses a month. If you have any tips on a system that works well for you – let me know in the comment section!

4. Make Small Steps Each Month Towards a Healthier Diet

My hubby and I don’t eat a horribly unhealthy diet, but we certainly don’t eat healthy all the time either. We love our healthy breakfast smoothies, and I love my trim healthy mama cookbooks, but actually shopping, cooking, and eating healthy all the time isn’t always simple. Each month I want to take small steps towards healthier eating. For January we plan to detox – the rest of the year we may focus on eating more fish, cooking with more all natural sweeteners, or replacing refined flours with other alternatives. I want to go slow since I know healthy eating can be overwhelming if you try too much. That’s why I want to take small steps each month.

5. Maintain a Clean and Organized Home (aka follow a cleaning schedule)

As I mentioned in another post, I recently read and loved the book, Simply Clean, and all the cleaning schedules in this book! The daily and weekly plans take some work, but they are simple, they make sense and they are do-able! I’ve been following this plan for a few weeks now, even though the holidays have made our schedule a bit topsy-turvy, I’m still following and loving the plan. Of course, I’m tweaking it a bit to work the best for us… but overall, this is the cleaning schedule I love and want to follow in the year 2018.

6. Weigh X Amount at the End of 2018

I have a goal weight for the year twenty-eighteen, and at the end of the year, that’s what I want to weigh. Enough said 😉

7. Exercise Five Times a Week

Oh, exercise. It’s been left out of my life for a little too long. Just like my cleaning schedule has something to clean for each day of the week – that’s how I want to go about exercising. My plan looks something like this:

Monday: Strength Train w/ Cardio  Tuesday: Strength Train  Wednesday: Go for a Walk

Thursday: Strength Train w/ Cardio  Friday: Strength Train  Saturday: Stretch

8. Read 50+ Books (That’s only one a week!)

As you probably already know – I love reading! Every year I set a new Goodread’s reading goal and try my best to reach it. There were a couple years I actually succeeded in reading 100 books! This past year, I didn’t get to read near as much as I had hoped, but the new year looks very promising. 🙂 This year my goal is to read 50 books – you can follow me on Goodreads right here.

9. Continue Blogging Once a Week (and increase blogging income)

I’m going to be very honest with you…. blogging takes a lot of work, and it costs money too. Thankfully, I love blogging, it’s one of the best things I’ve ever started doing! Blogging once a week and posting on Thursdays works well for me – and I plan to continue doing that in the new year as always. However, because it takes a lot of work, a lot of time and is just plain fun, I want to turn my blog into a larger source of income. I do earn a little bit by being a part of Amazon’s affiliate program. This basically just earns me a little bit of spending money each month. However, my hope is to increase those earnings and also branch out into other ways to earn an income through this blog. Thanks you to everyone here who is a loyal and faithful reader –  this blog wouldn’t be possible without you!

10. Restart Weekly Emails to my Subscribers

Once again…. blogging sometimes costs a lot of money. And the sad truth to why I know longer send out emails to my subscribers, is because I simply can’t afford the monthly fee! So, another reason why I want to increase my blogging income? I want to begin sending my subscribers regular emails each week!

11. Increase my Social Media Efforts for this Blog

I’m not a huge fan of social media, but I do know that without it, my blog never would have become what it is today. Most of my social media followings are small – minuscule actually.  With the exception of PInterest, which is this blog’s largest source of traffic. This year I want to choose one or two social media platforms to be this blogs main source of traffic and grow my following. What sites do you use? You’ll find me in the following places… I would love to have you follow along! 😉

• Pinterest: See and share my latest pins.
• Facebook: Like the page, leave a review, and get updates.
• Twitter: Get weekly post updates.
• Goodreads. See what I’m reading.

Thank you to everyone who follows along!

12. Spend Time Connecting with Others

I’m still in a bit of a transitional stage… with most of my friends and family over an hour away. It’s been fun meeting new people and making new friends, but I hope to take some of those relationships to deeper levels, while still keeping in touch with special people “back home”. I also want to keep in touch with some fellow bloggers and other special people who help to keep me inspired.

13. Journal on a Consistent Basis (Once a Week)

I love keeping a journal, however, sometimes when life gets busy, it just doesn’t happen. These are some of the best times of my life (and I know there is more to come!) so I want to have written records of the days and weeks we are living. It’s so much fun to be able to look back and re-read old journals…. someday I am going to appreciate taking the time to journal these special days of our life as well. I believe journaling once a week is a reasonable and do-able goal.

14. Create Seasonal “Project Lists”

I’ve been reading a book called Simplify Your Time, and I absolutely love all the good ideas in this book! One idea the author suggests is creating a project list with 10 projects or less for each season. Projects that are done inside are best during the winter time, and outdoor projects are good for spring and summer. I love this idea because it puts a time frame on a particular project, and putting it on the schedule during the right tine of year means it’s more likely to get done! I’m already thinking about my project list for the rest of this winter! 🙂 (What kind of projects are on your to-do list?)

(Psst… the book Simplify Your Time is only .99 cents on Kindle!)

15. Host Dinner or Game Night Once a Month

Before we got married, Adam and I agreed that we wanted to be a hospitable family. Since, getting married, we’ve hosted family members and have been planning other get-togethers with friends. I often watched and helped my mom prepare for company, and now that I’m doing it in my own home, it’s a lot of fun! Hosting one get-together a month seems completely do-able for us at this time in our lives, and I am so excited for all the fun memories that will be made! (What are your favorite games for game night? Adam and I love Apples to Apples, Imaginiff, and Catchphrase!)

16. Find Someone Who Needs a Babysitter

You’re probably wondering… what? But seriously, I miss babysitting! I would love to find a family who needs a babysitter on an occasional or even semi-regular basis. So, that’s probably something I will be praying about and pursuing this year. I miss my nanny days!

17. Don’t Let Emotions Control the Day

You probably know what I’m talking about here.  Some days you’re up, and some days you’re down – and that’s usually determined by how you “feel”.  Ups and downs are a part of life, but emotions shouldn’t be the controlling factor!  This is something I really need to work on in my life… and I’ve come to realize that there are things that I can do to help me not to live by my feelings and emotions. This is my game plan.

• Get enough sleep.
• Spend enough quiet time in God’s Word and prayer each day.
• Keep my hormones in balance (the essential oil, Endoflex helps me with this!)
• Journal my thoughts and feelings instead of letting them fester.
• Spend time chatting with my hubby or mom.
• Choose to be joyful.

How do you deal with negative feelings and emotions?

18. Flourish.

This is my one word for the new year. I will probably share more about this in future blog posts, but this year my biggest desire is to flourish. I want to flourish in my relationship with God, I want to flourish as a person, as a wife, as daughter, sister, and friend. One of the verses I’m choosing to go along with my word is Psalm 92:12…

 ^“The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.” Psalm 92:12

That’s my goal for my spiritual life, and my personal life this year!

Final Thoughts

You may be wondering why I don’t have any “wifey goals” on this list! Well… those are coming soon. Several months ago I made a small list of my goals as a newlywed wife. I will be sharing those in the next few weeks. ♥

Now, how about you? What are your goals for Twenty-Eighteen? What would you like to accomplish this year? Share your goals and plans in the comments!