Each year, I use the Powersheets from Cultivate What Matters to plan out my goals and focus on my word of the year. In the beginning of 2020, I planned out my three big goals, and chose my word of the year. You can read about those in detail here.
Since we’re on the edge of 2020, I want to revisit those goals and see what went well, and what didn’t. What you’ll find are my three big goals for the year and then the smaller action steps to reach them. I’ll share what progress was made on each of them as well as overall how the year went in the space below.
GOAL #1 – SPEND TIME IN A PLACE OF MARGIN
- Margins in the space in my home -going through everything in my apartment to determine what I want to keep, donations, giving away things that no longer serve me (Update: I went through my apartment and gave away things before I moved but then bought new things for my house.)
- Margins in my calendar – intentionally less travel, intentional time that’s planned ahead for rest (Update: 2020 did this for me. I didn’t travel anywhere outside the state I lived in at the time aside from driving from Florida to PA for moving. It’s been a year of rest.)
- Margins in my finances – Un-enrolling from all sales subscriptions via email, A 90 Day Contentment Challenge (Update: Unenrolled from SO many emails. Did the 90 day contentment challenge. I was not perfect. I would say I did about 50 days very well, and then remainder was very catawampus and not done well. Saved throughout the year so I could pay up front for all my home renovations. Overall done well but part of my goals for next year is to continue this.)
- Margins in my mental space – social media off (1 hour per day, 1 day a week, and 1 month a year without social), follow those who add value, screen times on my phone set up (Update: Did pretty well in this area. I have been a lot better with social media and using it to give me insight or inspiration or knowledge rather than allowing it to affect my mindset negatively. Tip – remove the app and use only the browser to check Instagram and Facebook. It will cut down on your use a lot.)
- Give to others what has been impactful in my life – ways to make margin in theirs (Update: The Empty to give that I did for 6 months this year was a way to give some of my favorite resources to others but I didn’t do this the last 6 months in the year. This was an area I could have done a better job.)
Goal #1 Overall Update: I did well in this area and would say I hit about 80% of the goals I set in this area. Definitely progress and considering it a huge win.
GOAL #2 – CULTIVATE RHYTHMS OF RENEWAL
- Establish routines and rhythms to get out and explore and savor life – Visiting parks, FL bucket list, planned days of a few hour or a day of adventures (Update: I was able to do a bunch on my FL bucket list before the Pandemic like visit 30A and then visit some of the state parks in FL before moving back to PA. I planned adventures and was able to explore FL well before the move.)
- Developing a better routine for honoring my body – Nightly skincare, cycling classes 4x / month, closing my rings on my watch 5x per week, drinking a gallon of water a day (Update: Skincare routine improved significantly. Cycled many more than 4 times a month and then got a Peloton which I absolutely am obsessed with. Closed my watch rings for 6 months straight every single day and then I didn’t. First half of the year was wonderful, second half was NOT. Water drinking has been all over. Some days and weeks and months are great. Others are not so great.)
- Routines for reflection – Planned weekly Sabbath, quarterly days for rest and reflection, intentional days off for unwinding, quiet time every morning (Update: Weekly Sabbath was the best it’s been. Out of 52 weeks in the year, I did a Sabbath about 35 or so of them. Surely not perfect, but again much better progress. I didn’t do the quarterly days well. I did have more intentional days off to unwind and was much better about my morning routine and really do look forward to it in the mornings.)
- Weekly reflection – spending time once a week looking at various areas of how the week went and making adjustments for the following week (Update: I’d say I did this about 25/52 weeks in the year. The weeks I did it, it was AWESOME and I felt so accomplished and like I was not just being productive but focusing my attention on the best things. The weeks I didn’t do it, well was more of a circus. Highly recommend an hour on Sundays focusing on refection.)
Goal #2 Overall Update: I made progress on this goal and I’d say I hit about 60% of the goal. The progress I did make excites me to continue working on some of these areas in the next year.
GOAL #3 – CONTINUE TO LEARN WITH THE PURPOSE TO CONNECT AND SHARE
- Blog 2x / week – theme focused (Update: At the end of this year, I will have written 100 blogs for the year. I missed writing twice during the year but compared to the year before where I wrote only 23 blogs, this was a HUGE year.)
- Leadership course 2.0 finished (Update: I made approximately 2% progress on this goal. What was a priority before changed in 2020 and I’m 100% okay with that.)
- Book Challenge – Focus on reading things I have, rereading a few books, and using the local library more! (Update: I read 127 books this year and about 75 of them were from the library, ones I already owned, or were borrowed. The rest I surely bought. 😛 )
- Continue to look for connections between pieces of content and conversations (Update: This is where a lot of my blog posts or ideas for them come from. I try to think about what people have asked or shared and create content based on them.)
- Learn something new every day and write it down for reference later (Update: This happened about 20% of the time. I know I learned new things just about every day but I sparingly wrote them down. Definitely and area of improvement.)
Goal 3 Overall Update: This is an area where I did about 85% of the work, with the blogs and books being the biggest. I also signed up for a course on how to create an online courses so I can better share what I’ve learned and lessons with you all in the future. That will be coming out in 2021 so stay tuned. Overall, I’m really proud of the progress in this area.
Summary:
While this year has been very unexpected and unplanned, for me it was an opportunity to hone in on the things I wanted to focus on. I created a lot more margin in my schedule, traveling, time, and finances. I created better and more life giving routines and have really loved my morning routine and Sabbaths. They both give me energy and clarity and I am so thankful or them. I also have continued to learn this year both from books, classes, courses, articles, videos, conversations, and experiences. It’s been a year of growth and learning and while it’s not ideal circumstances, I am thankful for it all.
Now that I’ve reflected on my 2020 goals and looked at what’s grown and what hasn’t, it’s time to plan my 2021 goals. I have my Powersheets out beside me as I type this and I’ve narrowed down my focuses for next year. I just need to finalize them and then will share in the next few weeks.
Prayer:
I pray that we celebrate the remainder of the days we have in 2020 and embrace them rather than wish them away. 2020 was hard. For many I’m sure it was the hardest year of your life. But please God, remind us not to wish away the days we have left in the year. Help us embrace the tension and make the most of them. Give us wisdom to figure out how to both grieve what we’ve lost in 2020 but to remain thankful for what is yet to come. Please help us sit in 2020 and not wish it away too quickly, because we are not promised a better 2021. Let us treat each of these days as a gift and to celebrate you in each of them. In your name, Amen.
