On the wall of my home office, next to my monitor, has hung a piece of paper for the last 12 months. It’s kind of tired-looking now. I added some post-it notes that kept falling off so I had to tape them on. A silverfish ate a hole in it. One of the corners started to curl because I could only find 3 tacks when I pinned it up there. I haven’t read it every day, but I quite like this piece of paper despite its bedraggled appearance. You see on this paper were my goals for 2019.
It’s been there when I’ve felt unanchored. It’s been there when I needed reassurance that all the hard work was for a reason. It’s been there to remind me I was headed in the right direction. For many years, I didn’t set goals at all. I had fun and life was good, but I wasn’t really feeling fulfilled. Other years, I set goals but they were in one area of my life and other aspects were ignored.
And so last year, I decided to think about the habits I wanted to adopt and the goals I wanted to achieve more holistically. I called it my “harmony list” – everything in balance, and sitting here reflecting on the year I’m just blown away by what I achieved and the impact on my family.
While I didn’t meet all the of the goals, some of them I blew out of the water! Some of them morphed over the year. Some of them were replaced. Some abandoned. But I have to say – it’s really cool to look back and see what changes I made and what I accomplished. Below I will include a synopsis for any of you that are interested.
And now, 2019 has come to an end. So I created a 2020 Goal Planning worksheet for you to use too! Pop some Palo Santo in the diffuser, or maybe some Frankincense if you don’t have Palo Santo, pour yourself a warm beverage, and set aside some quiet time for yourself to think about what you want for your life in 2020. What are some small steps you could take this year that would be impactful? I’d love to see what you come up with! (and I’d love an accountability buddy for myself!) Get the PDF worksheet here (If you are already a subscriber under ‘Emails I Want to Receive’ choose ‘2020 Harmony Worksheet‘). Once you have your worksheet, get your diffuser going, or apply some Envision or Into the Future to your temples and follow these prompts.
- Be Present – Whether it’s prayer, or meditation, or journaling, there are lots of options for staying grounded. How will you be present in 2020?
- Be Fulfilled – We never stop learning and growing. What are you doing to grow this year? How will you push yourself?
- Be Connected – In this world of screens, it can be easy to lose connection even when we have good intentions. How will you nurture your friendships, or make new ones this year?
- Be Impactful – Contribution is one of the 6 human needs. Is yours a career or business goal? Volunteering? How will you contribute this year?
- Be Happy – Fun and recreation are great ways to nurture yourself. Maybe it’s getting out in nature, monthly massages or trying a new sport? How will you have fun this year?
- Be Loving – This is all about family. Want to call your mom more? Bring back the romance with hubby? Turn your phone off after work? How will you invest in your family in 2020?
- Be Healthy – Physical health is equally important as fulfillment and our emotional health. Maybe it’s a new working routine or better eating and drinking? How will you be fit and fabulous this year?
- Be Abundant – Want to start saving? pay off debt? learn about investing? How will you nurture your financial abundance in 2020?
And so now that you’ve come up with these, how are you going to implement it? One of my 2019 habits was a monthly date night we hubby, so we created a repeating event in our calendar and blocked them out in our calendar for a year! Another was to put away my phone at 5, so I set an alarm. Make it easy for yourself. Maybe for you its inviting a friend to walk with you each week? or just sharing your goals with a friend can increase your chances of following through. Now is the time, while you are motivated, to create structures that will increase your chances of success!
And so for those of you that are still with me, I won’t go through all of them, but here’s the highlights of how I did in 2019.
- Spiritual – Meditate daily… wha wha whaaaaaa. Well, this happened for about 4 weeks. I left for Nepal at the end of Jan and kept it up briefly but it just didn’t stick. So maybe the meditation wasn’t a win, but I did definitely work on mindfulness this year, and often finish my day with some gratitude and affirmations. For 2020, I canceled my subscription to Ten Percent Happier (I really loved the meditations that I tried if you are looking for an app) and will work on a gratitude practice for this year.
- Personal Growth – I only was able to go on 1 of the 2 philanthropic trips that I put on there, but more importantly, my husband and I got a coach and it was LIFE CHANGING. (Not really a mastermind but there was so group coaching too so it kinda counts! Message me if you want more info.) If you asked us beforehand, we probably would have said we joined for the business and career growth, but the relationship growth was an amazing (and unexpected) benefit. This was one of the biggest wins of the year in my mind.
- Relationships – Monthly dinner parties were totally fun. We deepened friendships and introduced different friends that had never met. We played card games and had so much fun. I love that small group setting and, for me, I enjoy having people in my home so much more than eating out.
- Money – This is a story of amazing manifestation. I wanted to pay for our epic European trip (56 days, 12 countries for those of you who missed that fun) in cash upfront. And I did it! I reached out to a few friends to see if anyone had some consulting work. Lo and behold, one of them came back with a contract for almost the exact budget for our trip. It was meant to be!
- Health – Bloody Crow pose! #fail This one did me in too! I was practicing and practicing. Practicing so often (and clearly without the right build-up) that I got a ganglion cyst on my wrist! My wrist got so bad I had to stop yoga classes. No more downward dog for me for a while. The silver lining of all of this is that it pushed me to try some new and different classes at the gym. I’ve really changed up my workouts and it’s been super fun trying new instructors and meeting new workout buddies.
- Family – Monthly date nights with Tom was so fun. We often had to move them, and sometimes they were just grabbing a beer after we did the groceries, but we also had some epicly fun dates like Chocolate Truffle making, and cocktails at a hidden speakeasy. We both agreed it was not only worth keeping up, but we are upping the ante for 2020; one date night, and one day-date per month for brunch or looking at open houses (yes, we love to get inspired by other people’s homes).
So overall an amazing year. The 8 weeks we spent as a family in Europe was something I will never forget and has reaffirmed my commitment to spend more time investing in family experiences this year. I’d love to hear how your year went – and I hope you are celebrating everything you have. I remind myself that it is ok to have gratitude for what we already have and simultaneously strive for more. XOXO
