Last year frankly worked pretty well with smaller monthly goals, so we’re gonna continue with that method though we are going to fiddle with the categories a bit and add one for “Habit of the Month”.  This came out of an earlier post about a TEDTalk that suggested doing one new thing for 30 days.  Some things are going to be prescheduled since the big fitness goal for this year is the Vegas Rock and Roll Half Marathon in November 2014.

Daily habits I’d like to develop or improve upon include writing/journaling, exercising, reading for pleasure, taking a picture and so on.  I don’t know if I can come up with 12 right off the bat, but I’m expecting more to grow out of the initial ones.  The big financial goal is 3 months of living expenses in the bank on top of the money the heir will need for college, so we’re going to continue with the cost cutting.  We did pretty well last year, but we had a few major expenses and we can do better I think.  We shall see.  And we will, of course, continue with the decluttering and the home improvement with the long term goal of being “ready to go” should we decide to sell the homestead at some point in the future.  Professional development will continue to be on the list, though I’m shifting focus from technical to process and management.  And, of course, at least one bucket list item marked off.

New for 2014 I’m going to try to think out for a quarter so that if I see an opportunity to complete/trade off a later goal, I can.  I’m also adding “clean up” months or “bye rounds” throughout the year to catch up on goals that were perhaps a bit more than they seemed and to manage the months that just fly by.  Plus, it seems more sane and realistic.

So, let’s take a look at January:

• Fitness – Hit my Fitbit goals for the month (yep, Christmas present)
• Professional – Complete the ITIL 2011 Intermediate SOA qualification
• Habit – Fitness and Food Journaling
• Home – Guest bedroom
• Financial – 401K and retirement accounts
• Decluttering – File for 2013 taxes, set up 2014 files
• Cost cutting – Insurance review

And February:

• Fitness – Sign up for the NC Half Marathon Twilight 5K in March
• Professional – Complete the ITIL 2011 MALC (Expert) qualification
• Habit – Take or draw a picture every day
• Home – [month off to catch up if needed]
• Financial – 2013 Taxes completed and filed
• Decluttering – Scan/Shred old records
• Cost cutting/saving – Cut dining out to one dinner and one lunch per week

Finally, March:

• Fitness – Complete the NC Half Marathon Twilight 5K
• Professional – [month off to catch up if needed]
• Habit – [decluttering habit, see below]
• Home – Front porch and walks (getting ready for spring!)
• Financial – update wills
• Decluttering – Declutter one thing per day (sell, trade, donate, recycle, repair)
• Cost cutting/saving – Utilities review (gas, power, phone, internet, cellular, TV, etc.)

Looks doable.  Here’s to having some fun, simplifying my life, and rocking 2014!