March 2017 Goals
As a life coach, goals are probably one of my main focuses. I love to set them myself, and I love to coach my clients on creating and achieving them. I love how they create intention and purpose in one’s life. But lately, my goals have shifted. While I still love and am an avid user of the S.M.A.R.T. goal setting method, I’m learning to make space for what’s known as good goals. Good goals are essentially less is more goals that focus on intentionally cultivating what matters. With good goals, instead of focusing on doing more, you are focusing on stewarding what you’ve been given well; and that’s exactly what I’m focusing on during this season.
As a recovering striver, I’ve been known to burn myself out with busyness and work to the point where my health, relationship, and friendships started to suffer. At the end of 2016, I realized that my striving had to cease. I knew that in order to restore my health, relationship, and friendships, I had to take my worth out of my work and focus on what really mattered in my life. This is where the PowerSheets came in.
I bought the PowerSheets with the intention of getting my business in order, but I realized that this goal-setting planner focused on more meaningful things. And while I still use it to set goals in my business, I mainly use it to remind me to intentionally cultivate a meaningful life -- not one of striving, but thriving.
Beyond my business, I want to flourish in every area of my life-- mentally, spiritually, physically, financially, and relationally; and that is what good goals help you do. So with that being said, I’ve decided to start sharing my monthly goals with you -- not to suggest that these goals should be what you are pursuing, but to encourage you that your goals don’t always have to be plenty and extravagant. The best goals are purposeful and cultivate what matters in your life.
March Goals
Personal
1) Build and cultivate new friendships.
From last month's coffee and brunch date at West Egg Cafe!
It’s ridiculous that I’ve been in Atlanta for almost a year (in May), and I haven’t been intentional in building new friendships. Over the last few months, I’ve been intentionally pushing myself out of my comfort zone to meet new people, and in result, I’ve met a few new friends! In order to make sure I’m building and nurturing these new friendships, I've set a goal to meet up with them over brunch or coffee dates at least once a month.
2) Go on an intentional date night.
From one of our date nights last month in Alpharetta!
Fun Fact: My boyfriend and I have been dating for almost 5 years, but this is our first year living in the same city. (Yes, we were long distance for 6 years). We’ve definitely had some struggles adjusting to this new, in-person relationship, so in order to make sure that we are growing, I’ve set a goal for us to have an intentional date night once a month where we actually plan out a date (rather than stick to the regular routine of dinner or a movie).
3) Re-read Lady in Waiting.
In this season, I’m being really intentional with preparing myself as a godly woman and future spouse, so I decided to re-read Lady in Waiting. Lady in Waiting is perfect for those of you are who looking to do the same. Rather than solely focusing on singleness, the book challenges you to go deeper in your relationship with God and develop personally while you wait for your future spouse. I originally read this book back in 2013 when I was leading a Pinky Promise group at Howard, but I realized I never went through the study guide portion, so I’ll be taking the month of March to complete that.
4) Declutter emails, wardrobe, and desk.
Would you believe it if I told you I had over 5 email accounts with over 9,000 unread emails?! Since March usually begins the spring cleaning process, I’m making sure that I get each inbox to 0.
I’m also focusing on decluttering my wardrobe. I’ve had some of the same pieces from freshmen year of college (and that was over 6 years ago)! Just about all of them are outdated and don’t fit, so now is the perfect time to get rid of them and make away for a more simplistic, minimalistic, classic wardrobe.
My desk needs to be cleaned out as well. (It really should be really cleaned out once a month). I have so many papers, receipts, and miscellaneous things stuffed into my drawers. A desk clean up has been long overdue.
5) Tidy up my storage unit.
I have not swept up my storage unit since I’ve moved in May, so there is an ungodly amount of dust in there that needs to be swept up. (A couple of boxes could be organized too)!
Business
6) Organize Fearfully Fashioned’s electronic files
I typically use Dropbox and Google Drive to organize all of my graphics, resources, systems, and client materials, but I have not kept up with the maintenance of them. I would like to start organizing this month by clearing out the pdf files and docs from my laptop.
7) Seed influencers for #IAMFearfullyFashioned features.
I would love to have these interviews be bi-weekly features on the blog, so I’m working on creating a Google spreadsheet where I can track who’ve I contacted as well as create an email template to reach out to these purpose-driven ladies.
8) Create new challenge for Fearfully Fashioned.
The Developing Discipline Challenge had such a great a turn out that I want to continue to create purposeful challenges for you guys. I’ve already jotted down some ideas for the next challenge, so this month I’ll be outlining and drafting up the content for it.
9) Vet new offering with the Fearfully Fashioned community.
I’m in the process of developing a new offering for the community that will allow more interaction amongst readers. I’ve already outlined and created the project timeline. In order to make sure that you guys will find it valuable, my goal is to vet and test the offering this month.
10) Participate more in networking groups.
Networking has always been an activity that is outside of my comfort zone, but lately I’ve been learning the importance of building relationships with colleagues and future clients. Last month I’ve joined three Facebook groups, and my goal is to get in there, be helpful, and develop those relationships.
Weekly Goals:
1) Connect with family 1x a week.
This is important to me since my immediate family is in my hometown in Ohio. I rarely get to see them, so the least I can do is make an effort to connect with them weekly.
2) Workout for 30 mins 3x a week.
I’ve fallen out of a consistent routine since moving to Georgia, so I’m starting with 3 days a week in hopes of working my way back up to 5.
3) Post 2 to 3 blog posts a week.
Still trying to get back into the swing from the holidays. The goal is to have a consistent posting schedule.
4) Honor the Sabbath.
This is a new but special goal of mine. I’m known as a workaholic and it’s hard for me to sit and have idle time. However, I’m learning that the Sabbath is a time for rest and restoration, which is needed to increase peace and productivity. I’m still trying to decide if my Sabbath will be on Saturday or Sunday, but I will update you on my decision in the next monthly goals post!
5) Live within my means by purchasing necessities only.
One of my goals for the year is to work on financial stability and cultivate more contentment. In order to develop discipline in my finances, my goal is to only spend money on the necessities each week (i.e. food and gas).
6) Attend Fusion.
I just joined my church last month, and Fusion is our adult ministry. They have Bible study every week at church, so now that I'm a member, I would love to boost my church involvement and find community by attending weekly.
Daily Goals
1) Close Activity Rings.
There’s an Activity app on my Apple Watch where I can set and monitor my Move, Exercise, & Stand goals throughout the day. My goal is to attempt to close the rings each day, so I can make sure that I’m meeting my weekly goal of working out 3x a week.
2) Eat intuitively.
Again, my health hasn’t been the greatest since I’ve made the move to Georgia, plus I’ve had some digestive issues ever since my bout with acid reflux in college. So in order to begin my gut healing journey, I’m learning more about intuitive eating, which is essentially listening and being aware to the foods that your body needs. It’s not a diet (which I am firmly against). It’s a lifestyle where you eat foods that are going to be nourishing, energizing, and healing, but at the same time you are free to honor your cravings in moderation. I’m praying that this way of eating, as well as the healing techniques I’m researching, will help jumpstart healing in my stomach.
3) Drink 94 oz. of water.
4) Take Vitamins.
5) Journal.
This year the Lord has called me to begin journaling again. I use to love it when I was younger, but I fell out of it during high school. I believe the Lord is taking me through a pivotal point in my life, and I want to be sure that I’m documenting every moment of it.
6) Job hunting (M-Th).
While I work on Fearfully Fashioned full-time, it’s not my source of full-time income, therefore I’m in the process of looking for a job that will support me while I continue to build my coaching practice.
March Books:
I hope that this post was encouraging to you! I think this series will be a perfect way of holding myself accountable while encouraging you to set good and purposeful goals. If you’re interested in using the PowerSheets to set and track your monthly goals, they are accepting pre-orders for the six month undated ones that will be shipping out in May. I’m not sponsored by the PowerSheets, by the way. I’m just a huge believer in the tool because of the powerful progress I’ve made in my personal life in just a matter of months!
I would love to hear the goals that you are working on! Feel free to leave your goals in the comments below or link a post to where you’ve discussed your March goals.
Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links, meaning that if you purchase the books mentioned in this post, I will make an affiliate commission from Amazon. All products and resources I recommend have been vetted and used by me. If you decide to purchase the books, at no additional cost to you, you help support Fearfully Fashioned.
