Sunday, November 2, 2014

November goals

Wow, November. Already? Time is flying, which, every time I say those three words I just feel old! Before I know it, I know Christmas is going to be here and gone.

I have some pretty big goals for the rest of the year, so I thought it might be a good idea to set some goals for myself. Here goes.

  1. Finish writing all of my thank yous for the wedding. I ended up having to order over 160 thank yous (wowza) and I have been slowly writing thank you notes every night. Breaking a project like this into chunks not only works for me, but also results in more personable thank you notes. I ordered photos that have a message from both of us on them, and I know technically I could get away with just sending that without personalization on it. However, I just don't want to do that. I am actually enjoying hand writing notes to everyone. 
  2. Participate in MOVEmber and move every day in November. Even if it is just a walk. The past two weeks have been very hit or miss for me in the working out department and I would like to get a solid routine going again. 
  3. Get at least half of my professional portfolio done. In Iowa, you have to complete a professional portfolio that proves you have met all the teaching standards. There are several standards, with many sub-standards below that. Each one requires artifacts, which amount to over 40 artifacts. Luckily, I am the first to create an electronic portfolio (I get to be a guinea pig!) and I think that will make the process much smoother. It is not due until spring, but I want it DONE. 
  4. Plan a party. Bill and I have been wanting to have a party all year now to show friends and family our new home. We would like to have a couple more home projects done though. Right now we're tossing around different ideas for when ... this time of year is always so HARD to plan stuff. 
  5. Spending FREEZE. NO shopping for unnecessary items. Especially clothes. I would say books too, but I bought two books yesterday, so I would have already failed that goal. I am going to limit myself to 5 books this month and they must be used books. Anything else I buy must be gifts for others. No gifts for myself.
  6. Going along with my spending freeze, I am making a goal for myself to repurpose some items in my closet. Example: yesterday I paired a floral summer dress with black leggings, cardigan and scarf with boots and it was adorable (IMO). It also felt very "new" to me. I am hoping to do that several times this month and then show off all my "new" outfits in a blog post. Hopefully this doesn't turn into too much of a train wreck. 
  7. Finish 4 books. Right now I am reading Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult and am only half interested. I don't think it's the book. I think it's me. My attention span is ridiculous these days and my head is just too full of mumbo jumbo to focus. 
  8. Blog 8 times. That is twice per week. I. Can. Do. This. 
  9. Put myself on a Facebook diet. Well, all social media diet, to be honest. Facebook is the biggest robber of my time though. My new phone tells me the amount of time I spend on all my apps and it is SICK how much time is spent staring at my FB feed. Sick, I tell you. It's time for an intervention. I am not taking a full break though, because that is just not realistic. To start off, I am allowed to check Facebook 3 times per day. Just three. No more. Once I hit three, I am thinking I might delete the app from my phone. I cannot be trusted.
Well, that's a lot ... but, I think it's all totally do-able What are your November goals? 

9 comments:

Lisa from Lisa's Yarns said...

You have a lot of goals but it will be fun to check them off the list one by one! The facebook one would be hard! I am bad about checking it when I am bored or don't feel like working on what I should be working on!

My goals for November are to plan WAY less (October was awesome but way over-planned), not buy any non-essential things for myself, and workout 6 x's per week.

Jayme Shelby said...

It won't let me comment off my new account. :( But I really like your goals. However, I'm kind of terrified that I've not heard of this portfolio :/

The Many Thoughts of a Reader said...

Read two books. Work out twice a week. Get a lot of christmas shopping done.

Kelly (She Wears a Red Sox Cap) said...

I've been having the same problem with facebook. I did delete the app, which helped a bit but... I can still just go to it on my internet, and I do ha ha.

We also have to do a portfolio similar to yours. But we have more freedom to add the number of artifacts we want, but it's tied to evaluation. Last year I put way too much effort into it, and I think my boss already knows what she is going to give us before we upload all of it. This year I am really trying to focus on only the 100% necessary stuff, particularly that affects the kids. I know my boss already knows I am a good teacher so I'm not going to go as crazy trying to "prove it." Man, it's hard though.

Amber said...

My goal in November is to plan way less and also spend as little money as possible!! I like your rule of only buying gifts for others and no gifts for myself so I think I may implement that, haha!

Heather said...

I am with you on the social media. I have no reason to check it after I just checked it 12 minutes ago. No reason!

Three times a day....I might have to join you on that challenge.

Carolina John said...

At first I thought your MOVEmber was a part of Movember, where men grow mustaches and ladies don't shave their legs to promote fundraising for prostate cancer. quite the surprise!

You can blog 8 times this month. Great goals!

Nora said...

Look forward to reading more from you this month!

I deleted the FB app from my phone which made a huge difference and ultimately led to me deactivating (for the time being, there are a few reasons that I did this, not just a social media fast). I don't really miss it and if I have a few "spare," moments at work i find something else to do with my time, like walk around the office or do more work.

My goal is to get back to exercising. I hurt my back/abs when I was doing the 30 day challenges so I've been on the DL for a bit. Finally get some physical therapy and help for it!

Sorry this is the longest comment ever! <3

Shoshanah said...

Writing Thank You notes after our wedding was such a pain. I don't remember how long it took, but definitely months, mainly because I procrastinated doing ti. Of course I just had a baby shower, and expect to have one more at work, so I'm back on the whole "I need to write thank you notes" kick. Hopefully I can manage to get them out before the baby arrives???