Did you see that tweet going around that said, “Laughing at all of you who said you were going to eat healthier in the new year and have already pushed it off until Monday.” Yeah that was me this year. Even though I am a few days late with my new year goals, I am refusing to beat myself up. And if you are like me, I hope you’re not too hard on yourself either. Any day is a good day to start new, whether it’s January 1st, January 6th, or even sometime down the road in May; just start!
In the past, when I would sit down to think about my resolutions, I would regrettably come up with 100 things I wanted to be better at. Then come February I’d realize that I hadn’t made progress toward any of them because I simply overwhelmed myself with too many resolutions. I decided to take a new approach this year in hopes to grow a little bit each month. The word intention really strikes a cord with me lately and has been motivating me tremendously in my present day to day life. With this in mind, I simply wanted to focus on how I could realistically show up more intently for each of my priorities. It was important to me to also find a way to track how I’m doing and hold myself accountable. In this post I will be sharing my daily intentions and a few goals I have to kick off the new year. There is even a little surprise to help you stick to your intentions this year, so keep reading! If you’re ready, let’s get started!
When I sat down to think about my intentions for the year, I couldn’t help but focus solely on my priorities: God, my health, my kids, my marriage, & myself. It’s important to me that I continue to show up better than the year before so I can be the best christian, mom, wife, and person possible. For each of my priorities I was able to pin point a specific intention that I want to focus on and can realistically accomplish daily. Along with my intentions, two goals came to mind as well: declutter the house and spend less money.
In order to really visualize what I wanted this year to look like, I put together some motivational quotes, pictures, practical ways to hold myself accountable and words I want to live by. I love that I now have something visually pleasing to look at that will remind me of my priorities, goals, and intentions, daily. I highly recommend doing this if you are a visual person and need the constant reminder, like me!
New Year Goals
Spend Less Money
Derek’s Tips:
1. Create a realistic budget.
2. Know yourself and use a cash envelope system if need be.
3. Learn to identify a need versus a want.
4. Learn to say no to your kids. (I think this one was harshly directed at me and two of our three kids don’t even talk yet…)
5. Set up a monthly direct deposit to savings so you never see that money in your checking account.
My Tips:
1. Unsubscribe from emails so you don’t see sales and new arrivals. And Instagram I love you but can we turn off the ads pleaseeee?
2. Re-evaluate your monthly/yearly subscriptions and decide which ones you can part with. Cancel them now so you don’t forget.
3. Before you buy, sleep on it! I typically don’t want it as much the next day and I am more likely to leave it in the cart.
4. If you are already getting uncomfortable at the possibility of your husband being home when UPS shows up, don’t buy it.
Declutter Home
These two goals probably go hand in hand but I feel like all the “stuff” has taken over our house and it’s time to purge, donate and sell. I’ll be honest this has been a goal since the girls have started walking almost a year ago so I am sharing the plan I will be implementing to finally make this goal a reality this month!
Decluttering Plan:
1. Make a checklist of every space in the house that needs attention so you can keep track of your progress.
2. Schedule a date for Salvation Army pick up to give yourself a deadline.
3. Allocate specific times during the week for decluttering.
4. Separate items into donate, sell and giveaway piles as you go.
5. Take it one cabinet/closet/bedroom at a time.
New Year Intentions
Moving on to my new year intentions. Before I share my intentions with you, I am excited to show you a helpful chart I put together to keep all of us on track this year. This daily checklist, or star chart if you will, will help me see where I need to improve after each month and more importantly I will be able to see and celebrate the success I had as well. To utilize the chart, I listed each of my priorities at the top of each column and I wrote out my daily intentions that I want to focus on at the bottom. Each day I will check off what I was able to accomplish and at the end of the month I will be able to see how I did. This will also allow me to reevaluate after each month and change up my intentions if need be.
Below are the priorities and daily intentions I will be focusing on this month. I hope these give you some inspiration if you are still working out your own intentions and goals.
God
Intention: Spend time with God everyday.
Plan: Complete readings from Search the Word Bible Study 5 days a week. Attend church or watch online and go through study questions.
Motivation: Strengthen my faith and relationship with God.
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 9:13
Health & Fitness
Intention: Create good eating and workout habits again.
Plan: Stick to Arbonne 30 Days To Healthy Living. Complete treadmill or bike workout along with Whitney Simmons At Home program. Complete yoga or light walk on one rest day.
Motivation: Feel good and be the best mom I can be for my kids.
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”
Kids
Intention: Be more present and spend more quality time with my kids.
Plan: No phone for at least 2 hours per day. Limit screen time for kids during this time.
Motivation: 5 years from now when I am sitting in the school drop off line and reminiscing, I don’t want to have any regrets with the time I had at home with my kids.
“You were made for this.”
Marriage
Intention: Keep our marriage a priority even with kids.
Plan: Do one kind gesture for Derek every day.
Motivation: I struggle showing Derek that he is a priority because I have to give so much of myself to the kids but I want him to know that he is a priority too.
“Your priorities aren’t what you say they are. They are revealed by how you live.”
Self-Care
Intention: Start the day on the right foot with intentional me time.
Plan: Wake up before the kids to workout, do my devotion, do skincare and/or get ready for the day.
Motivation: Be my best self for my family and friends.
“Give yourself the same care & attention that you give to others and watch yourself bloom.”
I hope you all are as hopeful as I am for the new year! Here’s to staying positive no matter what 2021 brings! Thanks so much for reading.
Jaci Johnson
You go girl!! Thank you so much for all these ideas of purposeful intentions. Love this post!