2017 Goal Creation

I been thinking a lot about my goals for 2017. I've never been a New Year's resolution person - those always seemed so vague and useless and I've never met a person *****membered their resolutions for an entire year.  I have, however, found that having goals to work on and be cognizant of every day/month is a beneficial thing for me.  I started in 2015, my first new year after surgery.  My goals in 2015 were amazing. They were SMART and really motivated me and helped me to stay on track.  

Read at least 52 books
Watch at least 52 movies in the theater
Run at least 520 miles
Log at least 15 minutes of exercise EVERY SINGLE DAY
Start studying Aikido in May
Start working with a personal trainer in September
Lose at least 26 pounds
Complete at least 5 races
Achieve half shoulder stand in yoga practice
Continue monthly massages
Continue mental therapy 

Then I made 2016 goals and lost sight of the SMART guidelines. These goals are sucky and vague and my motivated suffered for it.  

Reach plastics goal
Run at least 520 miles
Complete a half marathon
Reach 5000 steps each day
Achieve crow pose in yoga practice
Meditate (on my own) three days a week
Work on balance at least ten minutes a day
Pass all classes with minimum grade of B
Finish AA degree
Try not to be so judgmental of my feelings
Survive whatever happens with my dad

I redid my goals a few times in 2016 as a result and ended up with these. Still not awesome, but slightly better than the original set.  

Reach plastics goal by March
Get back to running and complete Zombies Run! 5k Training Plan
Complete two races
Fitness classes twice a week
Meditation
Pass all classes with a minimum grade of B
Stay on track for 5/2017 graduation for my AA in Exercise and Sport Science
Take care of myself as best I can
Support my mom as best as I can
Average 1 mile per day running

So now it's time for 2017. I need to figure out what my priorities are and set goals that are appropriate for them and follow the SMART guidelines of goal creation.  

What's important to me? What do I want to focus on in 2017? The carry over top priorities are plastic surgery, fitness, running, college, and self care. I'd also like to focus on cooking/food blogging, reconnecting with Art and Lance, and making a change in my world. So let's break those things down.  

Plastics
1. Reach plastics goal (150 lbs) by March - I believe the surgeon I have chosen requires 3 months of stable weight prior to surgery, so I need to reach my goal and stay there for 3 months prior to surgery. Assuming I start 2017 at the same weight I am right now, that means I need to lose 18 pounds in 3 months, which is 6 pounds a month, which is 1.5 pounds a week. This should be possible with vigilance.  
2. Call plastic surgeon in January to schedule first consult for March and then surgery, hopefully, in early June - needs no explanation.  
3. Figure out finances for plastics - this will be a combination of insurance, savings, gifts, and credit, but I need to make sure all of the ducks are in rows.  

Fitness
1. Log at least 15 minutes of exercise EVERY SINGLE DAY - this is a throwback to 2015. I really liked this goal. Once I got started, I really worked hard to maintain my streak. I believe I only missed two days in 2015.  
2. Achieve crow pose in yoga practice - I don't remember why I gave up on this one during 2016, but I want to revisit it in 2017.  

Running
1. Survive half marathon in March - I'm registered for the Rock N Rock half. It's on my 40th birthday. Is there a better way to bring in my 40s? I don't think so! My plan is just "to finish." I've got 4 hours, which requires an 18 min/mi pace. This is my only 2017 race, so I need to make it count. I'm not going to have a mileage goal for the year because I don't know what will be possible considering plastics and recovery.  

College
1. Pass all classes with minimum grade of B - needs no explanation.
2. Finish AA degree - commencement in May!
3. Begin BSes - slightly vague, but involves getting registered and started at [4-year] for classes beginning in June/August. This will be a bit of a juggling act with surgery recovery, but I have a plan. Like a Cylon.  

Self Care
1. Continue monthly massages - I removed this from 2016's goals, because I figured it was an ingrained habit, but I'm putting it back because I need to remind myself that taking care of myself is a good thing and not selfish or wrong.  
2. Do one fun thing at least half the days of the month just for me - a number of things qualify for this, I'm not going to list them all. Mainly I need to work at finding fun in life again.  
3. Participate in bereavement class at local hospice - I've sent in my application already, just waiting for more information.  

Cooking/Food
1. Pick one physical cookbook when meal planning each week and choose at least one recipe from that book for the week's plan - I have a ridiculous number of cookbooks, I should use them more. No repeated cookbooks for the year.  
2. Blog all recipes from cookbooks - this is really so it'll be easier for me to find the recipes in the future. And keeping my goal just to the recipes I cook out of books is much more attainable than holding myself to the goal of blogging ALL the recipes I cook.  
3. Blog all weekly meal plans - this is so incredibly easy to do, I have no excuses not to.  

Relationships
1. See my mom once a month - I want to make sure that I continue to care and feed my relationship with my mom and I'm hoping to see her once a month. Most of the time I'll be going up to see her, occasionally I assume she'll come to see me!  
2. One fun thing a week with Art aside from watching TV - clearly there can be more than one fun thing a week, but we need to get better about doing fun things together. 2016 was all about survival mode and everything (and everyone) else sort of fell by the wayside. It shouldn't take a stated goal to make this happen, but I'm not taking any chances.  
3. One fun thing a week with Lance aside from watching TV - see previous.

Make a Change
1. Complete training for [Local] County Literacy Council and actively tutor - already registered.  
2. Establish [College] club and have, at minimum, monthly meetings - bi-monthly would be better. We'll see what happens here.  
3. Continue attending meetings in [Local Area], at least one a month - the goal here is to connect with people and stay on track.  
4. Other concrete things TBD - I'm still working on this.  

I think this is a good list.  I figured that someone out there might be curious about my goal creation process :)

What are smart creation goals? Is that a system of measurable goals?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria

Here's the wiki article about SMART goals.  I think it explains the concepts pretty well!

The acronym can have slightly different meanings but in my world it is:

S - Specific

M - Measurable

A - Attainable 

R - Realistic

T - Time bound

Hope that helps. 

This is the way I learned them too :D

Those are amazing goals, Gwen!  I just love that you do this.  And you're always so vigilant.  Good Luck to you on next year's goals.  I just know you'll be successful!!! 

Thank you!  I was not so vigilant in 2016 due to REASONS, but I know I can be due to how 2015 was, and I'd like to bring that vigilance back to 2017.  Sometimes I think that creating effective goals is the hardest part of the process.  

Well, you had a whole lot going on in 2016! 

I really wish I was a goal maker.  I just make small goals and pray I make it. 

I've definitely not been a goal maker in my past.  :)  One thing that works for me is having a variety of goals - like... some of these are daily, some are weekly, some are monthly.. some are just once for the entire year.  

Pick one physical cookbook when meal planning each week and choose at least one recipe from that book for the week's plan - I have a ridiculous number of cookbooks, I should use them more. No repeated cookbooks for the year.  

I really like that one.  I don't have a ridiculous number, but I have -- plenty -- that go unused.