Happy New Year! It's a new decade, and, for me, that means a chance to set some new goals for myself, as well as to continue to put work into the goals and successes I had from last year. I've been busy over the past couple days getting all my plans for 2020 together.
Many people start the year with a resolution. I think it's great that so many people want to make big changes, especially to their health. However, the broadness or large scale goal of a resolution can often become overwhelming or seem out of reach. If you're laying out your personal goals for this year, remember to break your larger goals down into smaller ones that are achievable in the short term as well. This helps create a plan of action that will eventually lead you to your overall goal. As you go through my goals for this year, you'll see that I couple each larger goal with smaller, short term objectives that will lead me towards achieving the overall goal. Remember: permanent lifestyle changes are brought about smaller, sustainable habits that we form over time.
Also, don't forget to stay organized! Write down your goals. Use a journal to help you brainstorm and take down your thoughts, feelings, and achievements as you go through the year. Keep track of your action plan by recording it in a daily planner. Use it to remind yourself of upcoming and important events that may contribute to your goals, and set achievable deadlines for completing certain objectives. Coming from someone who has to work hard to stay organized, using these sorts of tools to help keep track of all my goals helps me stay focused and on a path to success. If you want to learn more about my thoughts on goal setting, check out this earlier post!
Without further ado, here are my goals for 2020:
1. Read more books. I hardly read at all last year. That makes me sad, because I used to LOVE reading. My sister bought me the Outlander series for Christmas, and I'm very excited to start by diving into those. I am determined to finish several books this year, including several non-fictions. I would love to hear your recommendations for great books- fiction, non-fiction, inspirational, whatever! I enjoy all genres. My short term goal for the month is to read every night before bed for at least 15 minutes. Reading before bed will also help me break my bad habit of watching TV or surfing my phone right before going to sleep. All that stimulation and light is the last thing I need to help me wind down at night. As an added bonus, I'm looking forward to see if reading before bed helps me fall asleep faster as well.
2. Grow my training and nutrition businesses. This is a repeat goal, as I'm always looking to help as many people as I can. I want to reach more people, provide more fitness and nutrition guidance, and spread my healthy living principles to an even larger group. My short term goal for this one is to add at least one new long-term client per month.
3. Complete more continuing education courses. Learning new things about fitness or nutrition is, honestly, so fun to me. The more knowledge I can pack into brain, the more I can help my clients. The ultimate goal is to always be able to respond to the health questions that come up, or to know exactly where to go to find the answers. I am planning to sign up for a nutrition course in the Spring, and I would also like to complete a fitness related certification by the end of the year. In the meantime, I'm working harder to stay up-to-date with the latest health and fitness news by reading articles each morning.
4. Update my website and blog more. I'm so proud that I was finally able to get this site up and running last year. However, it's almost a year old! That means it's time to put some work into updates and plan some new things to dive into this year. I will definitely be posting blog articles as often as possible, revamping my recipe and workout sections, and I would love to work on creating a 6-week fitness and nutrition plan.
5. Hike more. After last summer, I've totally fallen for hiking. Although its been a bit chilly for any long hikes lately, I have some hikes planned for Spring/Summer that I can't wait to start. Some of those will definitely include more 14ers!
6. Do more fun things with my husband. In the second half of 2019, we really amped up our adventuring game, so I'm hoping to build upon that this year. We will take a big vacation in the late spring (more on that below), we are hoping to go to Jackson Hole for a weekend in February, lots of hiking trips in the summer, etc. My goal for this one is to plan at least one weekend activity together each month.
7. Be more adventurous with my cooking. I get stuck cooking many of the same recipes over and over. There's nothing wrong with that, necessarily, I just feel like it's time to branch out a bit. After getting my new air fryer for Christmas, I've been inspired to experiment and test out tons of new recipes! At least for the month of January, my goal is to try one new recipe per week.
8. Go to Hawaii. Shawn and I actually decided against getting each other Christmas presents so that we could save money for our next vacation. This year we have decided on going to Hawaii! I'll be working on putting together plans for that trip throughout this month, so send me all your recommendations for where to stay, what to do, where to eat, etc!
9. Continue to make fitness a priority without obsessing over it. Rather than signing up for competitions, races, or challenges, I'm working on being ok with just training for life and having fun with my workouts! My plan is to move every day, keep lifting weights at least three times a week, and making sure to give my body at least one full rest day out of the gym per week. I also want to continue branching out from my typical CrossFit workouts by adding in other forms of exercise. Specifically, I want to add in more yoga. This month, my goal is to add at least one yoga class per week into my workout schedule.
10. Continue to focus my nutrition around plants and meats, limit my sugar intake, and consume more water. Although I took some time to enjoy the holiday season with my family, I am more than ready to get back on track with making healthier choices. For me, that means cutting out the sweets, cooking meals at home, making sure to stock the house with better snack options, and filling my plates with tons of veggies. This month, I am making water a priority by constantly keeping my water bottle on hand. I am trying to drink at least half my body weight in ounces of water per day to start.
And there you have it. I'm sure these goals will grow and evolve over the year, but this is where I am starting out. I tried to cover a variety of areas of my life including personal, career, relationship, nutrition, and fitness. I feel like it's important to look at ways we can improve across all different areas of life, rather than the typical resolution biggies that tend to focus solely on one area. I challenge you guys to get to work on brainstorming your own set of 2020 goals! Make several big ones, then break them down into a smaller goals that you can achieve this month! Good luck, and let me know what some of your biggest goals for the year might be.