Goals + Priorities

Well, I’m back.

“Where did you go?” you might be wondering. The answer is, I didn’t go anywhere. Instead, it’s where I choose NOT to go: My blog. A few weeks ago, (or has it been longer? Yikes!), I got a bit sidetracked with other things in my life, and made the decision that my blog would take the back-burner for a while. At the time, I would have said it was because I lost a key on my keyboard, making it hard to type. (which is true, typing has been a b*tch ever since my daughter plucked the “i” key off. But the truth is, it wasn’t because my computer was missing it’s “i” key…It was because I was missing the “M” and the “E” TIME I needed. So I reset my priorities for a bit. I even cut my hours at my day job!

It’s no secret, personal wellness has been a high priority for me, and it continues to be. If we’re not feeling our best, everything else in life begins to suffer. I know this from experience. When I was in the corporate world, working sometimes 15hrs+/day – typically due to unreasonable deadlines – I always put work first. My ‘work-first’ attitude enabled me do well with the company…. But I wasn’t doing well with myself. In fact, my personality is a perfect cocktail of people-pleaser and work-aholic, so I actually convinced myself that doing things for OTHERS was what I wanted and needed. It’s really quite sad…

But that’s a story for another time. Let’s just fast-forward to now. I took a little break from my blog to focus on my YouTube Channel and to help out more at our motel. By focusing on my channel, that really means I was focusing on my minimalism Journey. After 6 months of going hard at this, I’ve become increasingly aware that our cluttered lives can’t just clean up overnight. Someone once mentioned in a comment that “our homes didn’t get cluttered overnight, so they won’t get cleared overnight either”. This is SO true. And yet, I still feel discouraged at times when my progress slows.

So after several weeks of sorting out my priorities (and learning a hard truth: I can’t put 100% of myself toward everything at the same time), I’ve compiled a list of priorities as they relate to my personal goals. The reason I have these two items (goals & priorities) is because neither can live on its own. A goal cannot be met if you don’t make the journey toward achieving it a priority. So here we go:

GOAL #1 : Achieve “My Vision” Of Minimalism

I say “my vision” because there’s no true definition of what minimalism looks like. We’re all different, so my vision may differ from the next persons’.

PRIORITIES:

• Remove items from garage, do NOT put more things in it. Sounds easy, right? :-/
• Make more frequent trips to the donation center.
• Put things back where they belong after using them. (No more “I’ll do it laters”).

GOAL #2 : Maintain A General Feeling Of Contentment.

Perhaps this sounds silly or even mediocre…to desire “a feeling of contentment”. But this string of words was carefully thought out. I used to think I wanted happiness. “I just want to be happy!” I would always say. But the truth is, happiness is fleeting. It’s a momentary emotion that comes as the result of an action. But contentment, (in my book anyway), is a state of being. Happiness is an excited, pounding heart. Contentment is a steady, healthy pulse.

PRIORITIES:

• Keep a consistent bedtime and wake time. (for me, it’s 11pm – 8am)
• Family meals (I’ve found that family meals are key  ‘check-ins’ to see how everyone is doing. There’s no feeling content when the family is in turmoil – so breakfast and dinner are key times for my family unit to chat, relax, and most importantly: appreciate one another.
• Don’t take on any more major projects. ‘Nuff said.

GOAL #3 : Go Full-Time YouTuber/Blogger

PRIORITIES:

• Continue to film, edit, and post 1 video/week
• Respond to comments more frequently
• Blog 2+ times a month
• Work on more revenue streams to support this.

That’s it. Those are my 3 goals and how I’m prioritizing my daily/weekly/monthly life to achieve them. Do you have any goals right now? I highly recommend you try assigning priorities to help you stay focused on achieving them. If you’re not sure where to start? You can download my FREE Goals & Priorities worksheet below!