For the past couple of months (August, September, October) I have been getting comfortable with where I am in life and how I’m doing. Being comfortable is not a good thing for me; as somebody who is ambitious and goal oriented, being comfortable means that I don’t make progress.
It’s been awhile since I have actually made goals, worked toward them, and followed through. I mean, I have my weight loss challenge, but I have made very little progress with respect to career development, monetary goals, blogging goals, and lifestyle goals. My lack of progress in these areas have made me feel like I’m behind.
I’m stepping it up and making some goals for November. It looks like a lot, but I think they are all achievable:
Financial
Personal finance is, of course, a topic that still greatly interests me (when it comes to my own personal finances) but between travelling during the summer and into October, I haven’t saved very much.
I have automatic savings that are transferred from my bank account into my savings account every month, but they are minimal and I leave it up to my own, manual transfers to save the rest.
Before I paid off my car, I was saving aggressively. My extra income – between $1200-$1500/month – was going into various savings and investments. My car payoff was timed with some travel costs, expenses, and other financial obligations which halted my ability to save much than the automatic savings plan.
So here are some goals to get back on track:
Save At Least $1200 in my TFSA
It’s extra paycheque month, so while this seems like a lot, it’s really achievable. I was planning on putting the extra pay toward Christmas, so the challenge is being able to do that and save the $1200.
Keep Discretionary Spending Below $300
My spending has been excessive lately. Between dinners out (which I’m not willing to give up), shopping, and god knows what else, I’ve been burning through my money pretty quickly.
My blender stopped working, which is how I get my main source of nutrients (smoothies), so I need to buy a new one. I’ll just get a $50 blender at Target, but I’m considering that discretionary, so that will take me down to $250.
I don’t normally count wedding spending under my “discretionary” category, but I am buying some flatware for the wedding (it’s cheaper than renting it and we can keep it after, or sell it), which will cost around $125. I’ll still have $125 to spend on dinners out (one per week, hopefully) and other things.
If I meet this goal, I have no doubt I’ll be able to meet my savings goal.
Health
I’d mentioned that I am doing a weight loss challenge, which is still really important to me. I have been losing weight predominantly because of a change in my eating habits.
Weight loss isn’t healthy in and of itself. I need to stay fit to be healthy, too.
Step Up My Fitness
I do take the dogs for a walk a couple of times a week, but that’s not exactly a fitness building activity.
Not only will stepping up my fitness game help me lose weight more quickly, it will also help me tone up and lead a healthier life.
My workplace has a gym, and it costs $10/month to join. Apparently it has all of the basic equipment, and I’ll definitely join if I’m staying there. I have to wait to hear back about one thing before I make that decision.
Until then, my goal is to do Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred 2x per week, and walk the dogs (on a longer walk/run) 2x/week.
Career
Most of my potential goals in this category hinge on one thing, and I haven’t found out about whether or not that one thing will be happening yet. I’m going to leave the other ones for December, as I will hopefully have more information by then.
I do have some goals in the meantime, though:
Register for Professional Association
It costs almost $300/year to be registered. My current employer generally pays for it, but I don’t know if they will this time as we’ve been going through some budget cuts. Regardless, I need to register.
Attend Toastmasters
I was attending Toastmasters, which was great, but then I stopped going after I went on vacation.
My goal is to attend Toastmasters at least twice in November.
Home
This is getting to be a lot of goals, but I do want to include some home goals in here.
De-Clutter the Spare Room
When we moved in to our house, our spare bedroom/office quickly became the place where odds-and-ends go to die.
It’s driving me nuts. We are being gifted a bedroom suite from an aunt who is downsizing, and we need to declutter that room to put the bedroom suite in it.
This will help me reach my career goals, too, as I will hopefully find my long lost thumb drive in there, and be able to upload my projects that were it to my professional web portfolio.
So there we have it. I should be able to meet all of these goals with a little work, and I’m starting on the bedroom declutter today.
What are your November 2013 goals?
Good luck this month! My biggest goal is to get back into the yoga / run habit – I’ve seriously trailed off.
Good luck to you, too – I wanted to do yoga this month, but it’s too expensive and wouldn’t fit in with my financial goals!
The Shred workouts are killers! Good luck with those! My goal through the end of the year is to get healthier too and have it stick!
Having it stick is definitely one of the harder parts of it. I didn’t do so good last night on my eating, but hopefully I’ll work it off today!
My goals for November are:
– participate in a 14 day meditation challenge (you are emailed a different meditation everyday for 14 days) I’m thinking this shouldn’t be too difficult as I recently started meditating most nights (who knows if I am “doing it right” though)
– Finish a book I started last year ( I don’t read as much as I’d like and I would finally like to get this book finished. I figured out I need to read 15 pages a day in order to finish the book on Nov. 30th)
– I found an article in a magazine that had a group of exercises that takes about 10 minutes to do. I hope to do these 3 days a week.
– Continue with and finish the 30 day Yoga challenge videos (similar to the meditation challenge above I was emailed a yoga video a day for 30 days. I failed at doing it in the 30 days but I am committed to finished them all anyways. I currently have 12 videos left.
– Figure out who I’m buying Christmas presents for and then what I’m buying them (and then actually start buying them)
– I’ve recently bought some books online about anxiety that have practical exercises in them and so I hope to do at least 1 exercise this month.
As I’ve never made monthly goals before I’m looking forward to seeing how I do! 🙂
Wow, you have a lot of goals! Monthly goals are great because they are in the short term, so they are always fresh in your mind. Good luck Morgan!
Good luck with your goals, Daisy! I looove Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred DVD, this workout works magic if you do it 4-6 days a week like I used to. It only takes 20 minutes but I’m sweating so much it feels like I’ve just run a marathon! 😛
Thank you Eva.
I like it too, but I find I’m less motivated when I’m working out at home. Do you ever find that?
Not really I don’t think. It’s either an expensive membership or a DVD workout at home. I choose the latter 😛
Your list sure looks like it is a lot to take care of in only a month. However, I believe in “If there’s a will, there’s a way” so I know you can do it. Wish you all the luck!
Thanks Jen, it’s a lot to take care of but most of the goals are things that I have to take day by day anyway, so I’m sure I’ll be able to meet them.
You know ten bucks a month to go to a gym is peanuts and if you are serious I’d certainly hook up with that gym. Even if you get on the treadmill and do floor exercises and some weights it’s better than nothing. I run 5k per day and sometimes 10 on a Sunday and have a gym set up in my basement and it works out great. I walk our dog 3 times per day except the days I work it’s only 1x but I get out there and do it. Good luck with all your goals… you’re a go-getter Daisy so I know you’ll rise to the top. Cheers mate
Great goals! I haven’t done monthly goals in a while. I may be starting them again, but right now I am going to push to complete my savings and debt repayment goals for the year over the next two months. Good luck!
Wow, Blair, that’s a really ambitious goal! How do you plan on doing it?
Right now it’s to just manage my business and try save more money than on October. No fitness or weightloss for me, am actually trying to gain some so that I don’t look like a skinny pregnant woman anymore 😀
Congrats on your pregnancy 🙂 I wish I had that problem (not the pregnancy, the wanting to gain weight). But then, the grass is always greener, hey?
I’ve always been good about setting long term goals, but terrible about breaking them down into months and weeks. November was the first time I decided to write it all down, we’ll see if it helps. My goals primarily include building my freelance business, generating more content, and not gaining a ton of weight now that the marathon is over and the holiday season is starting 🙂
Good luck with all of your goals Stefanie – all good ones. Are you a full time freelancer?