Where are you going?

I'll be honest I struggle with setting goals, and therefore struggle with meeting them. I think for me personally, I sometimes try to bite of more than I can chew and end up trying without doing. Which is why I think over the past couple of months, we've just started "doing" things without necessarily an end goal in mind. One of the great cop-outs, er I mean benefits, of doing that is it's kind of like "trying" right? I mean if you don't really have an established goal, then you can never fail.....however can you really succeed?

My day job is working for a large Fortune 500 company that has a "pay for performance" plan for salary increases - much to the dismay of many of the new leaders within the company.  Employees set goals, or commitments, work towards those commitments throughout the year and then measured against the benchmark that they set in the end to determine their salary increase.  It's a similar plan across many businesses. 

One thing that I have seen my team members struggle with is setting SMART goals, and quite honestly this is one of the main areas where I struggle in setting personal goals.  I want to skip right over the moon and stars and go straight to another galaxy.  But that is the thing about setting SMART goals, when thought about and done correctly this technique doesn't allow you to skip the stars and you don't give up flying to the moon.

So what are SMART goals? 

S – Specific (or Significant).
M – Measurable (or Meaningful)
A – Attainable (or Action-Oriented)
R – Relevant (or Rewarding)
T – Time-bound (or Trackable)

So to say that my goal for my family is to eat healthier in 2014....if you look at it that is not really a goal - it's a lifestyle change, my dream or an end result.  The goal is the steps along the way to get there. 

So my goal might be "I will read food labels for each pre-packaged item that I bring into my home, every time I go shopping in 2014 to ensure that it is a healthy choice for my family."

Is it specific? Pretty daggone if you ask me :)
Is it measurable?  Every time I go shopping for each item - yep.
Is it attainable?  It might be a little big at first if I eat a lot of packaged items, and this is where it could be broken down to smaller goals may be helpful.
Is it relevant?  This is something I'm becoming very passionate and educated on so yes, very relevant to me!
Is it time-bound? Every time I go shopping in 2014 - check!

The other part of goal setting that I struggle with personally, (anyone else out there - come on I can't be by myself on this one) is sharing my goal so that others can help me along the way (and hold me accountable).  I guess, I almost feel like if I keep it to myself, once again no one can know if I fail (gee, can you see a reoccurring theme of fear of failure here?).  But any good support system will cheer you on in your goal when it is one to make you or the world around you better (I mean, I would really have to question your support system if your goal was to rob so many banks, or fart so many times a day - this should be the time they should step up and lovingly remind you that those are SMART goals - in any way, shape or form).

Some of my personal goals for 2014 (so you aren't getting the specific version - sorry that's reserved for the ones who actually know all of my innermost secrets!):

*Establish and maintain a monthly household budget and review it weekly
*Work out for 20-30 minutes 2-3 times a week
*Read to my munchkins at least 4 nights a week
*Remove the toxic chemicals from my home and convert to greener products
*Eat 2 fruits a day (seems silly I know, but seeing as how I don't do it daily it probably should be a goal)
*Have 1 date night a month with my hubby (no one said we had to spend money - maybe I just cook for him at home while the kids spend the night elsewhere - that counts as a date right?)

There they are published - now you can hold me accountable or cheer me along, however you best motivate!

What are your goals?  Where are you going?  How do you plan to get there?

Christmas Traditions and New Year's Resolutions

A little late I know, but better late than never right? (One of my New Year's Commitments is not to stress over the little things and take time to enjoy life!)

So the holidays were crazy however we more than enjoyed ourselves.  One of my favorite things about the holidays is not the gifts, although I do love giving them and seeing others faces light up, it's some of the traditions that we have passed down and hopefully will continue to pass down to the next generations.

As a little girl, it didn't matter where we were Santa always found us.  I say this because once my aunt in NC had my cousins, we would travel back and forth every other year so that we could all be together for the holidays.  For most of my childhood I remember being surround by family on Christmas morning - my Pop Pop and Granny, my parents, my aunts, and my uncles and cousins as they were added - there would be people everywhere!  My parents house when I was little wasn't too much bigger than mine and everyone stayed there - our beds became beds for others, the pull out couch became another bed and my sister and I slept on free space on the floor.  No hotel rooms just three bedrooms and two baths and a whole lot of family!  It was crazy but we were all together and they were all there for Christmas. 

Now, the family may not all come together from NC, however my parents and my sister and her husband all trek over from my parents early in the morning on Christmas Day to be here when the kids come out for Santa.  Because my mom is a nurse that works nights, we've sometimes had to hold the kids back for a while, but to see the kids joy and my parents in watching them - I would change a thing - especially this year!

 

Another Christmas tradition is my grandmother's dumplings (course these are good anytime of year!) - our little helpers assisted in the kitchen to get everyone involved!

(Bugs works better when his tongue is out - go figure!)

Another tradition - the wishbone!

 

 

One of our treasured traditions, and I think PopPop and Granny smile down from heaven on us, occurs on Christmas morning.  Santa doesn't wrap the presents he delivers at our house so when the kids come out - they can see the spoils that he has left.  Those are free game - they can open them and look at them as much as they want.  After that, before another present is opened - we take a couple minutes to remember the true present of Christmas. 

The kids look for baby Jesus (we have two nativity scene, luckily) who has gone from his warm place in the nativity scene to hiding somewhere in the Christmas Tree (now I'm not necessarily sure of the significance of hiding him in the Christmas Tree but this is what I remember as a child and what we are passing on to the kids - so sue me I don't have a story for everything!). 

Rosie helping Bugs locate his miracle in the manager.

Success!

 

Once Baby Jesus has been found we all (even Dad and Bodie join in) proceed in singing "Happy Birthday" to Baby Jesus.  Oh yeah!  Afterwards we all sit down for a minute, pull out a Bible, and read the story of Jesus birth.   I can remember the torture as a kid of seeing all of my presents, that I couldn't touch under the tree, and listening to a story I didn't really understand - but I can still see my PopPop sitting down in my parent's basement reading the story to us.  He's been gone for a very, very long time and while I didn't understand the words at the time, the repetition year after year ingrained a memory that is more important to me than all the presents in the world that I could have ever opened.  I can only hope and pray that one day my kids will feel the same way.....

As for New Year's resolutions, I'm refusing to make any because they always seem to get broken or fizzle out by the 15th (probably wishful thinking that they last that long).  Instead I'm continuing to make the changes in our lives that led us to this blog in the first place.  We are eating better, getting healthier, working on financial freedom, serving others - notice the word "trying" wasn't anywhere in that sentence!  We did continue our traditions into New Year's Eve (although everyone left long before the ball dropped!) where we celebrated with dear, dear friends and family just like we are blessed to do every year.  With the kids running around, and friends laughter ringing through the air - I couldn't think of a better way to close out 2013.

So what are some of your traditions and what are you "doing" this year to make your world better?