April Goals: No Candy

So much to update you on, however I just wanted to drop in and be accountable to the blog. So far, I have had no candy this month. It hasn't been as difficult as I thought (although it's only day eleven). The best part about this goal has been that it has pushed me to really look at my eating habits. Here's what I've discovered:
1. I can totally live without candy (although I do crave chocolate sometimes), but without candy, I crave sugar. The addiction is obviously a sugar addiction and not a candy addiction-interesting. Something that really should be monitered.
2. I eat when I'm bored. Sitting at my computer, watching something on Hulu and playing spider solitaire or reading blogs (simultaneously), I need something to do with my left hand-which used to be in a bag of gummy worms. I've got to quit eating when I'm not hungry. That's a big problem.
3. There's still hope! I feel confident in trying something that I was really unsure about accomplishing. I've made it through Easter without consuming any chocolate eggs or bunnies, made it through two weeks of work while ignoring the candy bowl on my desk, and made it home every day afterwards without stopping at the gas station to get a bag of candy (in that sense, it's a money saver too!).

How are your goals coming along? Do you have any in particular that are a struggle, or a pleasant surprise?

Rachel May

Do we dare set April goals? Absolutely!

Although I'm not so proud of my progress with my February goals, I think one of the best things to do is to try again. I am a big believer in goals, so here it goes- my goals for April (you will notice I skipped March, I was on an unintentional blog hiatus).

April Goals

Personal: No candy.
My dentist would be so proud. This is going to be one of the most difficult personal goals I have ever set for myself. I have no idea if I can do it. Not to mention, I have a dish full of chocolates sitting on my desk every day at work and I'm a total sugar addict. I will have to resort to candy substitutes-dried fruit, regular fruit, etc, and I will have to deal. For one entire month. This blog might get a little stressful (Note: this, for me, is the equivalent to some people quitting smoking...cold turkey).

Home: One room at a time.
There are many things I want to do with our cute little rental house, but I do have limited time and funds. I want to truly design our space (I say "our" because it's me, boyfriend, and our roommate living here) and make it into something lovely. For April, my goal will be to pick one room, decide on what items need addressing, and to complete them by the end of the month.

Business: Networking.
I want to be better at it, and I love meeting new people, so here's a goal. I'm starting a card club, and you're invited. The members will determine how the club is directed, right now it's in the beginning stages. If you're into Christmas stampin' all year long, this is just like that-it was my inspiration, actually.

Here are the details:
1. Each member is required to create one card every other week, following the guidelines given. I will start with posting a blog containing the first set of requirements as well as my card. The requirements can be anything: has to have blue on it, must be larger than 4 x 5.5 in size, designed from an inspirational photo, etc.
2. Whoever writes the guidelines for that week tags another person-there doesn't have to be any order in who you tag. If you are participating, please comment so we can add you to the tag list!
3. You will have two weeks to complete your card. If you are tagged to write requirements, please have the requirements ready by the end of the two weeks, so everyone has ample time to make their cards.
4. Send your pictures to the person writing requirements-that way they can post it in their blog. This part might get confusing-we can work this out once we get started. The group will decide-do we want this on one main blog? Do we want it to jump to each person's blog? Do we want everyone to post all the cards every two weeks? We will need to make some decisions.

I will post the first week's requirements starting tomorrow morning, Sunday March 28, 2010. More details to follow. Oh and if you think of a cool name for the club, send me a comment. I'd love to hear your ideas!

Rachel May

Oh yeah...how about those February goals?

You may remember that I had goals for February, then fell off the face of the planet. Was that one of my goals? Heck no! Now I have to fess up to the blog. Here's how I did for February:

I wanted to have 3 goals a month, because there are 3 areas in my life that I think I could always improve upon-Personal, Home, and Business.

Personal: In bed by 10:00pm, up @ 6:00am.
Outcome: Goal edited! Now it's in bed by 11, up by 7...which I haven't been doing to the letter, but I'm making progress.

Home:
Start Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure.
For February, complete weeks 1-4 (of 8).
Outcome: Ouch. I did week 1 religiously, then I got to the kitchen part...where you have to clean your kitchen from top to bottom...and I hesistated...for the rest of the month. I'm not sure if this will stay on the goals list or not. I was thinking of changing this more towards one room at a time-cleaning, coming up with a new layout, redesigning, painting, etc.

Business:
Create a schedule and realistic goals.
Outcome: I did create a schedule, but I haven't stuck to it. My new schedule is to create new items for my Etsy site on the weekends and photograph them, then during the week I will post new items, renew, update bookkeeping, etc. That hasn't been fully implemented, but it looks as though it will be successful.

I'll embellish on each of these as well as progress throughout the month.
Outcome: I lied! Now I have to add a goal: Be a Better Blogger.

Sheesh. This is a rough post.

Rachel May

Monthly Goals: February

dwellstudio for target via apartment therapy

And now, on to the February Goals!
(If this seems random, see this post for an explanation.)

Personal:
In bed by 10:00pm, up @ 6:00am.
aka: end that horrible habit "hitting snooze."
This may seem like a silly goal, but it's meant as a step towards something bigger, so bear with me. I'm trying to set small goals so I'm not too overwhelmed. This only counts for weekdays, btw-I can't promise anything for the weekend. I believe that if you're well rested for the week, and if you're on a sleep schedule, it makes everything run a lot smoother. Oh, and remember that pic? That's the bedding set I have-love it (and now you see why it's hard for me to wake up)!

Home:
Start Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure.
For February, complete weeks 1-4 (of 8).
I've tried this I think 3 times before, and so far I'm really good at completing week one. Then I usually run out of ambition. When you do the cure, you're supposed to follow the apartment therapy blog and post with other people, but I don't know when the next cure is and I'm impatient (maybe that could be another personal goal-patience).

Business:
Create a schedule and realistic goals.
I need to figure out what works for me. I seem to be very motivated on Saturdays, but that doesn't always follow through. I need to create a schedule in order to attend to many different things for my Etsy site: creating items, bookkeeping, photographing items, posting items, blogging, etc etc. And then I need to account for the fact that sometimes life happens and the schedule does not. Room for error-noted.

I'll embellish on each of these as well as progress throughout the month.

What are your goals for the month of February?

Rachel May

Monthly Goals: Focus for 2010

dwellstudio for target via apartment therapy

As 2010 forges on, and rather quickly I might add...I've decided that what I really need in my life is focus.

A coworker of mine is trying to develop better habits. Each month, she chooses one thing to change about her lifestyle-in an effort to develop better habits. Each month means a new change and another step towards the lifestyle that she wants. As a new month comes, a new change is introduced-and hopefully by the end of the month, a habit is formed. although she's creating a lot of change in her life, she has attainable goals and time to figure them out.

I personally think this is an awesome idea, and I feel like right now, this is something that could really help me achieve some focus in my life.

Each month I want to have 3 areas (becuase I can only focus so much) to work on: Personal, Home, and Business.

Personal: I feel like there is so much time spent worrying about completing other things, and I need to start making me a priority. This category would include things such as: completing a project, quitting bad habits, etc.

Home: As a graduate in interior design, I believe that your home truly affects your daily life. I know that when I clean and prepare for the week on the weekends, that week goes a lot smoother. I also know that spaces affect my moods, good or bad. I want to take this and start incorporating it into my monthly goals. I want to answer questions and find solutions to things. What am I doing to make our rental more of a home? What cleaning habits could help me more? I want to learn to cook more at home and complete more interior projects as well.

Business: As much as my home and my happiness are important, so is my business. It completes my trio of goals for the month. I find that in the business aspect of my life, I tend to think and plan a lot of things, but I often fail to execute them, or I just get overwhelmed with all of the work that needs to get done. Hopefully having a monthly goal will help that.

I'm also hoping that by posting this on here, I've got to be a little more accountable-my journal doesn't talk back, and sometimes I need a kick in the butt to remind myself to get stuff done.

I will share my February goals in the next post, which will explain the picture:)

Rachel May