One reason why people don’t like to set New Years Resolutions is because they don’t achieve them. I was this way once as well and I’ve learned it’s because I make them too broad, immeasurable, make them pipe dreams that just can’t be achieved, not really important to my life, and with no due date other than “by the end of the year.” These are just recipes for disaster. So I’m doing it the smart way this year.

Unfortunately, it is day 1 and I’m bitterly behind my first goal so will have to modify it. I set to launch my children’s book How To Love Like Jesus: A Guide for Children and Their Parents today. I was going to market it today with a great pitch toward parents whose goals this year are to teach their children to be more godly this year. And right when I attempted to add the back cover description onto the Amazon Kindle Description, I noticed a glaring typo. An entire verb missing from the very first sentence on the back cover. This is a mistake I can’t just look over. If the first sentence on a back cover has a typo, who on Earth would even attempt to read on? Not me, that’s for sure! So I just emailed the book designer, asked them to fix it ASAP and offered to pay whatever cost necessary. I just hope and pray they get it  back to me in the next day or so. So disappointing. I don’t know how I missed it during all of the draft checks.

But I’m not going to let this stop me from forecasting my goals for this year. I’m trying to hit a few different areas: professional, spiritual, family, and personal. I know many people don’t like to set New Year’s Resolutions, and that is fine for them. But as for me, I find the new year inspiring and no better time than to make goals. And thankfully, I just learned of this application called MindBloom which I plan on downloading as well. Also–Coach.Me is supposed to be good. Will play around with both and see which one works for me. Supposedly with MindBloom you can type in your goals, get alerts that ask you how you are doing with them, and also add inspirational photos and music that plays for you as you work on your goals.

So here they are, and feel free to hold me accountable by asking me throughout the year how I’m doing with them.

Professional Goal(s): 

1. Get my Resume Website Launched by Summer.

2. Get my Children’s Book launched on Amazon as soon as I get the revised draft from the book designer (hopefully this week!) and then begin marketing it on Youtube, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, and my blog.

3. Get the 1st draft of my Marriage/Love app completed by Valentines Day. My good friend and blogger Nikki Marie at http://TheMomIWantToBe.com and I are excitedly drafting this. We cant wait to find an app programmer and get this launched on iphones and androids all across America. More on this later. Don’t want to reveal too much too soon. 😉

Spiritual Goals:

1. Pray on the way to Work Again, Listen to Worship music, and Listen to my Audio Bible (I got out of the habit of doing this the entire way to work. Started doing it just the last 10 minutes of my drive and not having enough time to do all three. I think all three are important and want my entire 45 minutes to work to be focused on worshiping and drawing close to my Lord and Savior.

2. To be a light more in other areas of my life, not just ministering to my kids. I talked about this a few blogs ago. I’m extremely busy, especially when working. So my light will most likely be limited to just encouraging texts and messages to my friends and family. But I also want to make a few meals this year for people, donating clothes, and above all else, be better at praying for people other than me and immediate family. There’s another great App out there that will help me remember to diligently pray for others more. Its called Prayer Notes. You can list people and groups, what to pray for them, and even get reminders.

Family Goals:

1. To be more consistent in disciplining my children and coupling it with giving them the gospel message when they show defiance or rebellion.

2. To be consistent in reading with my children and fostering a love of books. 

3. To watch less television with Owen and the kids. Owen and I are canceling our Netflix and Hulu Plus in order to ensure we replace that time with more reading, games, music, and talking for family and couple activities and downtime. I’ve always hated television anyway because I see what a time waster it is. Plus I actually get depressed if I watch it too much. Unfortunately, Owen loves television. So I often get sucked into it even when I don’t want to. This is going to be so helpful! I can’t wait to just sit and talk with him. Or listen to music together.

Health Goals:

1. To Lose 10 pounds of fat by October 27th. I’m 10 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight. Usually I hold onto this weight until I finish breastfeeding. But I also use breastfeeding as an excuse to have extra treats. I don’t want to do this, this time. And I don’t want to do stupid things to lose 10 pounds which prevents one from losing actual fat. I want to work out twice a week (once at the gym doing the elliptical trainer and circuit workouts, and going to Fit Camp once a week at a nearby Dojo that holds them for free). I don’t just want to be thinner, but firmer. We don’t plan on having any more children so now is the time to get back into great shape.

2. To Cut out Bread/Wheat out of our regular diet. It isn’t good for us. It turns to sugar. We have an intolerance/allergy anyway, especially Owen. He immediately stuffs up when he has it and his breathing issues is actually hurting his red blood cell count, so out of love for him, we just need to stop. Gluten Free is expensive, so I’d rather just eliminate bread altogether. I’m not going to go Paleo, but I do want to lean towards Primal (which from what I understand is Paleo but with dairy). We don’t do a lot of dairy because we have allergies/intolerance to it, but in moderation, it doesn’t hurt us and I absolutely love cheese and sour cream so would probably be extremely depressed if I lost it. I just need to get inspired: lettuce wrap tacos, spaghetti squash pastas, veggies dipped in tuna salad instead of crackers…that sort of thing. There are a lot of great food bloggers out there who have yummy paleo/primal recipes and I want to regularly visit them to get inspired.

So those are my goals. What are yours? Any apps we should know about to help us reach ours? Feel free to comment to show you are out there! Happy 2015!