The list of January goals was written on a piece of white printer paper that I taped to the side of the dresser in the guest room next to my desk. Every night, I would take the opportunity to revisit my goals for the month and think about the actions that I was taking to achieve my goals.
Here was my list:
1. Sub 30 minute 5 mile Fresh Pond Race (a race held each Saturday around a pond near Boston)
2. Meatless Sunday Dinner through Friday Lunches
3. Finish Advisory Curriculum
4. Be Grateful every day.
5. Be Active with 20 different people.
and I didn't write it on my list, but I made a commitment to having a drink free January.
You might expect at this point that I will be writing about my perfect completion of all of my goals, but that is not the case. I was only able to race Fresh Pond during the 1st two weeks of the months and I was able to race the 5 miles in 31:24 in sub optimal conditions. This goal will be moving onto my February list of goals and I look forward to sharing with you the outcome by the end of February.
During the month of January there was only one instance that I ate meat during the week. It was at breakfast during a snow day after finishing a great run with a great friend. I ordered a meal that had bacon by accident. It was a delicious mistake!
I wrote a ton of advisory curriculum which was definitely the result of this goal. I still need to write a few more lessons to be done for the year, but I refuse to continue to write about it because it is definitely not a "sexy" goal. The Bay State Test Blog deals mostly with "sexy" goals.
It is the last three goals that I was most excited about during the month of January and I strongly encourage that anyone who reads beyond this point considers setting some type of similar goals as the net positive that I obtained as a result of being focused on these goals was something that I felt was worth sharing.
5. I set a goal of being active with 20 different people. I tracked this in a very basic way with a strip of paper that I listed each person that I was active with during the month. Next to the person's name I wrote the date and way that I was active with that person. Throughout the month, I pushed myself to invite people to go for a run, or join me at a spin class, or go to yoga. I was active with people that I had never been active with before and I was able to reconnect with friends that I hadn't seen in a long time doing something extremely positive. I only was able to be active with 19 people, but I will set the same goal for February and plan to have a much better outcome.
I have been drink free for all of January. My mind is sharp and combined with the adjustments in diet and the absurd amount of shoveling that I did during January I have lost 8 pounds. I wasn't drinking very much in 2014, but the extra focus that I have gained as a result of this commitment has allowed me to push myself mentally, physically, and spiritually. I feel like a life-ninja.
Lastly, The goal that I was most proud of achieving for the month of January was the goal of being grateful every day. I set an alarm on my phone to buzz at 8:30 pm each day so that I would have a time to reflect and write down one thing that I was grateful for on that day ( no repeats). At the end of the month, I had a list of all of the things that I was grateful for each day. It was great reminded of all the positive things that have fueled me throughout the month of January. I look forward to doing it again in February.
I hope that you enjoyed reading this and are feeling positive as a result. I haven't written in a while and I feel a bit rusty. I apologize for any grammar or fluency issues that exist in this entry. I hope you had a wonderful January and I hope you have an even better February.
Smile!
