Getting Off on the Right Foot: January Goals

As I tackle 2013 deliberately, I wanted to identify my January goals before the month got away from me.  I am focusing on six categories:  Relationships, Spiritual, Health & Nutrition, Running & Fitness, Career, and Financial. Each month I will identify several quantifiable goals in some (or all) of the categories. 

For January, I already gave myself a general challenge to start my day right by getting up when I plan to get up and spending at least 5 minutes in prayers/meditation/gratitude/free writing. I haven't exactly started the year off with a bang here, but will be working on making this a habit! As I noted previously, I think this goal actually fulfills several categories. 

As for my other categories, I have a few other things I want to check off my list for January:

Running & Fitness - I have about 17 things I want to list as goals here, but I know that is neither practical, nor safe. My January goal is to get back to running 3-4 days consistently each week. If I am going to run the Riverbank Run 25 in May or any half marathon this spring, I have got to get my base up soon and get into a training plan. Getting in these regular runs is key. 

Financial - Get back to a written budget. Spending the last two months either traveling or recovering  (and then the holidays!) has really taken its toll. We've gotten off track with both (a) writing out a budget and (b) following it. I don't expect getting back on board to be easy, but for January my goal is to actually put a budget to paper (or at least on Excel) with Mark. 

Career - Undertake some form of networking activity. Yep, I realize that's pretty open ended and most professionals are probably shaking their heads that I need to even make that a goal!  But the truth is, my family/personal life has been so consuming for the last few years that I have let nearly all networking and career development fall by the wayside. I need to slowly break back in... I haven't decided if I will attend an event or class (there are a few good ones coming up) or even just grab coffee with an old classmate. But I must do something!

Relationships - My goal for January is to have as many positive and purposeful one-on-one interactions as possible with Jhon. Jhon has slid into our family so seamlessly and easily that I fear he is not getting enough attention. This is still a very critical time in our relationship development and I want to make sure I'm taking full advantage of those little moments, like an extra cuddle before bed, or pulling him into my lap during a movie, or sneaking an extra kiss before leaving in the morning. He is affectionate and sweet but very non-demanding in many ways and I know we must be vigilant about improving attachment. 

I think that provides quite a solid start! I'm doing my best to be realistic, yet ambitious. I plan to challenge myself this year, push myself in various ways.  I have always found the best "me" comes out when pushed. When left to just see what happens, I tend to just slide by. I want more than that. We simply have too little time in this life to waste.