2014 Goals

It's may be a little late to still be setting goals, but I still have 11 months in 2014 to do great things! My previous post was from Lara Casey's Goal Setting Series and this is one is as well. This post is going to contain two steps from her series: (1) My 2014 Vision and (2) My 2014 Goals.

My 2014 Vision:
2014 will be my best year yet! I will get out and do meaningful things. I will make memories that will last a lifetime. I will go on adventures and do things that fire me up. I will wake up each day and choose to be happy. I will pick the good out of each day and forget about the bad. I will spend my days doing things I love. I will grow and not stay stagnant. 2014 will be my best year yet!

My 2014 Goals:
1. Be healthier. Exercise regularly, eat less processed foods, fuel my body with good things.
2. Be more intentional. Set aside time every day to read my bible, spend time with God and pray for others. Be more intentional in my relationships. Be transparent and open so that others can encourage and build me up and so that I can do the same for others.
3. Be more reflective. Make a point to review my progress and evaluate where I am compared to where I want to be. Accept that I am human and will fail. Learn to lean on God because I can't do it all on my own. Try again - keep going.
4. Challenge myself in at least one area. It could be sharing my faith with others in my life, taking a risk, opening up to new opportunities, or doing something spontaneous. Allow myself to be afraid and then overcome my fears. It's okay if I don't succeed as long as I don't give up.

I have already set reminders on my calendar so I can do updates on my goals. Let's keep each other accountable for achieving our goals this year!

2014 will be my best year yet - I hope it is your best year too!
~Amanda

Taking a TRIP in 2014

Last year Mitchell and I made a list of our 2013 Resolutions. We did the same this year, and then I came across this blog from a post by a good friend. I have been going through Lara's 2014 Goal Setting Series and really loving it. She has such a unique approach to setting good goals for the new year.

I have nothing against sitting down and writing out a list of things that I hope to get better at in this new year, but in all honesty my process wasn't very thorough. I took what, maybe an hour, out of my "busy" life to write out some things that I hope to be better at this year. Then what? I hopefully stick to them for at least a month, jump back in with both feet around July and then review my list on New Year's Eve and probably cross off less than half? (Yup. That's about what happened in 2013.)

This series has been so, so good so far! My original resolution list was surface level. This series is forcing me to dig a little deeper and discover why I didn't meet all of my goals last year, and how I can make some changes this year. Over the last few days, I have been writing down all of my thoughts for Parts 1 - 3 and I just finished my favorite step so far. This step involved choosing a word for 2014.

I kept bouncing back and forth between words, but I finally landed on the perfect word for all I want 2014 to be: 

TRIP

Thankful for even the little things. Striving to thank God for all he has blessed me with.

Refresh. New, fresh, clean, rejuvenated.

Intentional in everyday life. Relationships, time with God, the way I treat others, my time.

Purposeful everyday, all day. In every facet of my life, purposefully seeking joy in all things.

I know, that's technically more than one word. I just couldn't choose one of these words over the rest. The way I see it, I can't wait to take this TRIP through all of 2014.