January's Focus
If you're a close friend of mine, you know how obsessed I am with my Erin Condren planner. They are a true God-send if you're a workaholic, OCD, type-A person like myself. My 2020 planner features a new design that puts birthday reminders, monthly goals, and an open-ended spot before your traditional monthly calendar.
I love this layout because it encourages you to set mini-goals and, because it's the first page that you see when you pull that month's tab, it routinely reminds you of what your goals are.
My January goals were:
*Finish reading The Subtle Knife
*Workout four days every week
*Take an Intro to Pole class
*End every day with a thankful thought
*Read The Subtle Knife
Reading has always been a passion of mine. It's one of the few things that actually lets my mind calm down. Most of the time, I'm thinking about a billion things at once. It makes it hard to concentrate, I find myself checking out of conversations, and it makes it really easy to get overwhelmed. I fell out of reading because life happened. I'd read here and there but not nearly as much as I used to. I got back on track towards the end of last year when I was trying to hustle my way to 12 books (my 2019 resolution was to read one book per month). While I didn't accomplish that last year, I'm confident that I will pass that goal in 2020. The Subtle Knife, for those unfamiliar, is the second in the Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. I read this book, along with the first of the trilogy, The Golden Compass, way back in the day before I was really able to pick up on a lot of the things I am now able to understand as an adult. I 100% recommend this series if you're looking for a good read! Pullman does a fantastic job at creating a parallel world readers can escape into. I am really excited to jump into The Amber Spyglass and see how he wraps up the trilogy.
*Workout four days every week
Working out four days a week did not happen. I started off strong and tampered off towards the middle of the month. Life happened and it became more important for me to rest my mind and body after a long day than to hit the gym. While I was disappointed in missing this goal, I knew I need to take care of other things first.
*Take an Intro to Pole class
Guys. Let me just tell you I am most proud of accomplishing this goal. Not only did I take one class but I took two because I loved it so much. Pole dancing is such a fun workout and it's challenging. I cannot recommend it enough. You will not come across a more encouraging, empowering environment anywhere, I swear. Check out 'Pole Dancing is No Joke' post to learn more about the class.
*End every day with a thankful thought
We're all guilty of focusing too much attention on the one bad thing that happens during the day and throwing away all of the good things that happened. In an effort to bring more positivity into my life, I made it a point to write down something I was thankful for that happened each day. Sometimes I needed a day to soak everything in and would catch up after the fact but I wrote down a thankful though each day. When I look back into my planner for that month, I can see all the good things that happened and it helps to keep life in perspective. Recurring themes this month include taking time to veg-out with the dogs and the perseverance of Butler Cheer. My favorite thought was from January 9 when I was extremely thankful for noise cancelling headphones on the bus ride to Hershey. Sorry kids, I love you but it's nice to escape for a little!
Coming up next month?
*Read The Amber Spyglass
*Workout 4 Days a Week
*Take an Intro to Aerial Arts Class
*Partake in Social Media-Free Sundays (Unless Work-Related & Necessary)